‘Laughter Is The Best Medicine’
I once spent several hours finding different translations for the phrase “laughter is the best medicine”.
If I hadn’t pulled myself up short, I’d probably still be there, giggling hysterically - positively consumed with my own wit!
But the medicinal value of a good giggle is a universal truth and the only surprise is that is has never been put to practical use.
’הצחוק הוא התרופה הטובה ביותר’
Not until now – and not before Israeli doctors became interested in the discipline and helped to make ‘Medical Clowning’ one of the country’s biggest and most successful exports.
Local medics suddenly realised that harnessing the natural potential of the hormones released in laughter makes it a vital component in a patient’s recovery. So medical clowns are now considered co-therapists in patient care and study the art during a three-month bachelor’s degree course in Israel - the only one of its kind world-wide.
“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” (Proverbs, 17:22).
Indeed last month’s conference on medical clowning in Jerusalem saw more than 250 delegates from 25 countries come to learn more about it and heard, for example, how a study of an IVF (‘fertility’) clinic discovered that the pregnancy rate almost doubled when a “medical clown” paid a visit after embryo transfer.
’الضحك هو أفضل دواء’
The conference, organised by Dream Doctors included workshops on clowning and the use of medical clowning as a unique means of intervention.
“I’m learning that we are definitely a part of a very big, global community,” Wellington Santos, a medical clown from Brazil, told the Arutz Sheva news service: “It’s very important that we all co-operate to take this to the next step.”
'געלעכטער איז די בעסדט מעדיצין'
Paul Miller, aka Pauly the Clown who works at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, USA, said that despite his hospital having a high-ranking paediatric unit, it presently employed only a few medical clowns, several hours per week.
“A Risa Es La Mejor Medicina”
But Hagar Hofesh, a medical clown with Dream Doctors, says that in Israel the clowns work very closely with doctors and nurses, something which is not always the case in other parts of the world.
‘La Risata E La Migliore Medicina’
msniw
1 comment:
When we happened to visit the Rambam Hospital in Haifa on Wednesday this week, one of the first people we saw was a tall, elegant clown sporting a tiny guitar and a huge grin. He even said "Good Morning!"
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