Česky
Health clowns regularly visit the children's ward at the hospital in Hořovice once a week, every Friday. They cheer up and entertain all the children in the ward with their presence and reserve their time for each patient. The clowns work with various tools, toys, scents, they are active and calm, they can make people laugh and calm down, depending on the situation. "They cannot prepare for working with children in advance, they never know what mood a patient will be in. Their visit is very much about improvisation and empathy. In the few moments they enter the room, they have to sense what kind of communication with the patient will be the right and desired one," explains Daniel Blažek, M.D., the head of the NIP.
Health clowns do not only visit young patients in the children's ward of the NIP, but have also started to focus on the staff who care for the children. "In an environment like the Children's NIP, where doctors are caring for patients who often do not show immediate significant improvement and whose health status sometimes stagnates or even temporarily worsens, doctors and nurses and other staff might become somewhat sceptical over time. There are quite a few cases where colleagues from similar departments have experienced burnout syndrome and had to leave the job," Blažek explains.
The health clowns know that if the doctors and all those who care for the children are in a good mood and psychological condition, it will reflect positively on the mood of the hospitalized children. It is equally important that the staff sometimes experience first-hand what the children experience and how it affects them.
Recently, the clowns dedicated one Friday to the doctors, nurses and all the therapists in the NICU. They were able to experience for themselves what it is like to go through music therapy. Letting the powerful power of the sound of each instrument affect you while indulging in relaxation. The short session did not take anyone more than half an hour, but all participants agreed that it was an unusual, powerful, very pleasant and calming experience.
The health clowns are also in close collaboration with the play therapists of the department. For these non-medical techniques to work best, it is essential that they are all in tune with each other and complement each other. In addition to the nurses, special educators, physiotherapists, play therapists or occupational therapists, for example, meet regularly.
Together they mainly work with the children on preschool and school education, but they also work on improving psychomotor skills, teaching the children better non-verbal communication and of course having fun with the children.
