Hearts & Noses started our partnership with the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center in the fall of 2014 with four clowns in the pediatric unit. Shortly after that, we increased the time we spend there, and our visits now include the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and the Neely Bone Marrow Transplant Unit as well.
Beginning in Spring 2015, additional visits were added, enabling expansion of the program to include clinics, such as infusion, MRI, pediatric hematology, and oncology.
Our latest initiative has been a small pilot to add clowns to the pediatric pre-op and waiting areas. Children scheduled for surgeries start their day in a large waiting area. Then, they are transferred to a prep area where they are given hospital pajamas and are introduced to the tubes and mask that will be coming soon. With four rooms of waiting children and their families, the clowns busily find ways to engage and empower. Sad, bored and frightened children are responding positively to the addition of clowns, who eagerly help them discover that hospital face masks, which at first might appear to be scary, can easily be turned into a perfect telephone, bubble blower, magic lipstick box, or cow caller — so there’s nothing scary there in the end!
Cheryl Lekousi, Executive Director of Hearts & Noses and our clown Tic Toc, puts it quite simply: “How wonderful it is to receive smiles and kisses through the air from children on their way to anesthesia.”
Andrea Colliton, Director of Child Life Services at the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center commented: “It is an absolute pleasure to be a partner with the Hearts & Noses Hospital Clown Troupe. Being able to provide our pediatric patients with such a talented, compassionate, and professional program is priceless! Thank you for all that you do!”