Hospital clowns help in difficult situations
A stay in the hospital is often a big emotional burden for the entire family. The child is confronted with separation, fear, pain and sometimes boredom; the parents feel worried, are unsettled and anxious. In order to make the hospital stay more pleasant for the children and their families as well as to ease difficult or painful moments, hospital clowns regularly visit the Children’s Hospital Zurich. Hospital clowns make the hospital world less frightening and a friendlier place for children.
Hospital clowns accompany patients and their families before and after surgery, they visit long-term oncology patients, are present during painful interventions such as bandage changes and punctures or they visit the emergency ward. Their presence can be both planned and spontaneous. The patients and their parents can thus be distracted in a positive way and the hospital staff is supported in their work and interaction with patients.
Imaginative and empathic distraction
The hospital clowns Flippa, Dada, Knopf and Giga work with storytelling, suggestions or music and imaginatively translate the hospital processes surrounding the children into their own language. The hospital clowns provide valuable support in the prevention of anxiety and pain:
- Chronically ill patients who need to go to the hospital frequently receive continuous support for painful interventions.
- Thanks to the accompaniment of hospital clowns, patients experience recurrent interventions in a more positive manner and are therefore more likely to cooperate.
- The treatment team receives input and guidance in communication and techniques of distraction through the hospital clowns.
Your donation
What began as a pilot project with two hospital clowns has now grown into a permanent project with four hospital clowns, thanks to the support of the Little Big Hero Foundation. The Kispi Clowns accompany specifically those children who need to come to the hospital often and regularly. Especially for those children, it is important that they are cared for and accompanied by the same people – both from the treatment team and the hospital clowns. This creates a strong bond, intimacy and empathic communication. Therefore, the Zurich Children’s Hospital launched this pilot project, which was developed in close cooperation with the nursing and medical treatment team. It is financed through donations.