How do we do it?
The red nose each ClownDoctor wears is the instant signal that some fun is about to happen! And even before the red noses appear, there is a big poster up to tell everyone Northern Ireland ClownDoctors are here today. Two ClownDoctors go from bedside to bedside, offering a visit and using all their professional skills to suit the age, temperament and medical condition of the child. From a wide repertoire of skills, they may draw on:
* Clowning and physical slapstick
* Music and rhythm
* Singing
* Dancing and movement
* Mime
* Puppetry
* Improvised storytelling
* Juggling
* Problem solving
Where do we do it?
We began our visits in February 2005 to the Craig and Maynard Sinclair children’s wards in the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald. Later in 2005, we started weekly visits to Withers Wards for children in Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast; and to the children’s wards 6 and 16 in Altnagelvin Area Hospital, Derry/Londonderry. Visits to Paul Ward (neurosurgery) at Belfast Royal Children’s Hospital began in autumn 2007. Since 2005, an extended team of three or four has made visits to Forest Lodge Respite Care Unit, Belfast, during special school holiday periods when children and young people are in residence for respite care; these visits have now expanded to cover all school holiday periods.
Young people moving out of the youth health provisions at the age of 19 may go to day centres, where places are available. We visit BenBradagh Adult Day Centre, Limavady, fortnightly, introduced there by a client who had moved there after a long-term hospital stay in Altnagelvin, and whose demands for ongoing contact with the ClownDoctor team were endorsed by staff there.
