2015 Junebug and Tripper/Kathy at a Hospital Visit. Scarborough Corp of Clowns, Toronto, Scarborough, Canada
On the last Sunday of each month, my clown partner Junebug and I go to the Childrens’ unit at Scarborough General Hospital to visit the children. We bring our bag of clown magic tricks, and our camera, to take a picture of each child that they can keep and bring home to show the rest of their family. We also bring our smiles, our songs and good cheer, to hopefully brighten their day.
Sometimes we only can see one or two children and it would be easy to conclude that it is not worth our while to put on makeup and costumes and drive across the city to see so few children. This would be an error to think that these visits are not meaningful! We are able, often times, to bring a smile to their faces. We distract them from whatever discomfort they are experiencing and provide a breather for the parent who has typically been there all night and is concerned about their child’s well being.
Sometimes we meet new parents whose baby is in hospital and a picture with the clowns is a moment of levity in a stressful situation. We really cannot know what effect our visits have on the children and their parents but we feel good about what we are doing and their positive responses support it. Not everyone is open to our visits but, if we are given permission to come in, we can make a difference!
Tripper the clown
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