Recently, I was asked by another hospital clown about ‘when’ the proper time was to depart from a patient’s room. “We shouldn’t leave while the patient is still enjoying us, should we?”
My answer is a question, “Why are you here?” While my asking this may at first seem unclear, your answer tells all.
Some folks will respond that they are here because they want to serve others, or they feel led to come and ease another’s pain and suffering. Both noble causes, to be sure.
Some are true entertainers at heart, and want to share their gifts and talents with others, for their enjoyment. In the process, it is hoped that the patient’s pain and suffering will ease at least a bit, for that moment in time.
Some want to be part of a dedicated group of like-minded folk who want to serve in a significant way, and so they come.
All are perfectly wonderful reasons, with pure-hearted motivations for spreading laughter, cheer and entertaining patients in the hospital. However, none of them are “Why you are here.”
You see, the reason we are in the hospital or healthcare setting in the first place is the patient. If the patients were not there, as hospital clowns or healthcare family entertainers, we would not be there, either. The patient is our primary audience, our true reason for “being there.”
Our mission is to do nothing more than to cheer the patients through a gentle presence, as a means of taking their mind off their current health condition or painful situation. Patients are always the primary focus during visitations. Success is measured if only for just a second, after entering a patient’s room they can forget or not think about their situation, through your intervention.
Spreading laughter and cheer in a healthcare setting is no joke. It is not about being silly, wild, over-the-edge or uncontrolled in any way. It is intentionally acting with focused effort to accomplish the important work set before the clown or healthcare family entertainer.
Sizing up the audience, including the patient’s condition and alertness, is the second rule of the day on Rounds. Analyzing the environment in the room also plays an important part in determining performance – are there visitors? What is the mood in the room? Sometimes, a gentle presence is enough, with a smile and a wave, to brighten a patient’s day. Sometimes that is all the energy they may have to take in what is offered.
A healthcare family entertainer or hospital clown must continue to watch the patient, for signs of their growing drowsy or possibly experiencing pain or nausea. Often a patient will valiantly put their best face forward upon your entering their room, but then slip into a state that does not allow them the ability to take in the performance as a participant. All of these factors impact your performance or interaction with the patient.
Every patient’s reaction varies to the gift of your heart to them, and most “welcomes” are as different as each individual visited. The bottomline of the mission is accomplished through the simple act of being there — entertaining one-on-one, injecting healing humor with the greatest of care, and provoking smiles, laughter and cheer…
But still begs the question, “We shouldn’t leave while the patient is still enjoying us, should we?”
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