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Clowns bring hope, joy to Beebe Medical Center

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Patients and staff respond to unannounced visit

Chuckles the clown happily bounces through the hallway at Beebe Medical Center with his sidekick Specs the clown.

They ask a floor charge nurse which patients they can visit and then peek into the first room to see how the patient responds to their unannounced visit. They get a welcoming reaction and pop in. If they had not, they would have steered clear, not wanting to disturb those patients who would rather be left alone.

"You want a brownie?" Chuckles asks. When the patient says yes, he winks and pulls out a brown sponge in the shape of a letter "E."

"Ha ha. Gotcha."

Specs, not to be outdone, asks his own question. "Did you hear about the little boy who is in the next room? He swallowed a dollar bill," he said to the unsuspecting patient. When the patient looked at him, he finished, "They are keeping him here to see if there is any change.

"And another little boy swallowed a roll of film. They are keeping him at Beebe to see if anything develops."

Chuckles, who is really Bud Frampton under the bushy red hair and white face paint, and Specs, who is really Bill Martin under the lush green hair and huge eyeglasses, are members of the Clowning for Joy Ministry at Epworth United Methodist Church in Rehoboth Beach.

Donna Baker, the wife of senior pastor the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Baker, founded the ministry nearly two years ago. Baker, whose clown persona is Grace Note, entertains people with her tiny piano that she wheels behind her. The mission of a clown ministry, she says, is to bring laughter and joy. Today, the ministry has about

33 clowns who visit a variety of places including retirement and rehabilitation homes and schools, and attend all kinds of church and community events.

The idea for the ministry to visit Beebe Medical Center came early in the planning stages. Baker, who had worked as a nurse in the medical surgical floor and in the operating room for 17 years at Beebe Medical Center, had done research on clown ministries in hospitals.

"Clowns can bring laughter and joy, and divert the patient's focus on illness for even a few minutes," she said. "And, it is believed that laughter can help us heal."

Frampton and Martin, who are longtime friends, decided from the very beginning that they wanted to bring the ministry to the hospital. They have been regular clown volunteers since the beginning, arriving in costume every other Saturday.

For Frampton, a retired high school teacher and director of the AP Summer Institute held at Cape Henlopen High School, it is a way to help others.

"I want to cheer people up and make them happy," he said. "Hopefully, we contribute to a feel-good atmosphere in the hospital, and make the day a little better for the patients and their families, as well as the staff."

For Martin, a business professional who oversees the practice Cardiologist Consultants in Lewes, clowning offers another way to help patients.

"When patients are facing a stressful

situation in their lives, I enjoy helping them, lightening the day and making them smile."

"They do make a difference," says Molly Hessenauer, RN, BSN. "They cheer up the patients and make them laugh. They are definitely a break in the day."

Martin said that often patients want to talk. "We let them talk. We believe there is a reason that we are there to listen"

The clowns who visit Beebe Medical Center go through the same background checks and training given to all volunteers. Part of the training deals with understanding the federal privacy regulations that govern those who work with patients.

Frampton said he spends quite a bit of time researching new jokes and ideas.

The jokes have to be short so the clowns are able to keep a fast pace. They can visit as many as 40 rooms during the few hours they are at the hospital. They also stop in the waiting rooms, and give a trinket to a child.

"We've got all kinds of corny, silly jokes to make the day a little better," he says.

A few other clowns have visited Beebe Medical Center now and again, but for the most part Frampton and Martin are the hospital's regulars. Ministry member Linda Norris, who is a cancer survivor, becomes Sunshine the clown and often visits patients at Tunnell Cancer Center.

"Nothing makes me happier than to see them laugh," he says. Her husband Ray Norris is Elvis Parsley, the clown.

'THEY CHEER UP THE PATIENTS AND MAKE THEM LAUGH. THEY ARE DEFINITELY A BREAK IN THE DAY.'

-MOLLY HESSENAUR, RN, BEEBE MEDICAL CENTER





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