| For 8 years Glen performed as "Dr. Bovine", the well-known Clown Doctor and Supervisor of the Big Apple Circus Clown Care program, entertaining pediatric patients and their families at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. |
|
|
Web News Story from NBC's WBIR.com - Posted 7/4/2008 11:54:39 AM |
This doctor's a real clown |
|
A program at a New York City hospital brings laughter to the children who need it most.
Makeup, a red nose, a floppy hat is not exactly what you'd expect a doctor to wear. They are not real doctors but clown doctors at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. And though they may not practice traditional medicine, they do help heal. The clowns are part of the big apple circus clown care program. Their work is coaxing smiles from seriously ill children. Leslie Jones is President Of The Society Of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, which raises money to support the program. "These children are in the hospital not just for a week or two weeks. They are here for many, many months and years and it's an incredible strain on a family," explained Jones. The clowning around here at Memorial Sloan-Kettering is serious business. The clowns are here four days a week, year round, bringing laughter to children who desperately need it. "They make me not feel nervous that the nurse is going to hurt me or anything," said patient Aiyana Middleton. Many of the children like seven-year old Aiyana are going through tough treatments. Her mother, Aoah Middleton, explains she receives daily chemotherapy. "It's a bit overwhelming sometimes. So they just add a certain feel around here when you see the clowns, you know that laughter is coming" said Middleton. Certainly the clowns bring an emotional comfort to the clowning around but could there be a health benefit as well? "When kids feel better, they heal better. When anybody feels better that person heals a little bit faster," explained Dr. Farid Boulad. Part of feeling better is the gift of forgetting, even for a moment why they're here. "They forget that they're sick for five minutes. And for me that's a reason to come to work," said Clown Glen Heroy. |
| LIVE LINK CLICK HERE |
|
|
| THE HOLE IN THE WALL GANG CAMP | |
| Glen has also lent his talents as a Clown in Residence for six seasons at Paul Newman's The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Connecticut, which serves children and their families coping with cancer and other serious illnesses. |
|
Camp Clown Workshop
|
|
|
|
|
|