Jean-Paul Bell aka "Dr B Loony" has given child patients across Australia a reason to smile and laugh this National Smile Day. He believes, "When you're in pain and suffering ... it's not like the last thing you want to do is have a laugh…You'll grab a laugh instantly just to escape where you're at - humour has that effect where it gives you a brief out-of-body experience."
He has been instrumental in starting the Humour Foundation alongside a real doctor, Dr Peter Spitzer also known as "Dr Fruit-Loop, in the late 1990s with a strength of 70 clown doctors now. These clown doctors sport the usual white lab coat but have a red nose attached and are a delight to the children with their bagful of tricks. The aim of this exercise is not only to make the sick children happy but also "release the pressure valve" amongst parents.
The visits are usually twice a month but the clown doctors would love to drop in every week.
According to Mr. Bell the best of his performance is often targeted towards the children’s burns units saying, "To reduce pain by distracting a child is a great skill…It does take a little bit of lunacy at some times ... to get them to a state of half-crying, half-laughing.”
For almost five years now Dr Kerfuffle, also known as Steve Davis, has been working as a clown doctor under this program. According to him the finances of the program are tight and he really hopes they get more support for this noble work especially on the National Smile Day. “What we hope to achieve through the day is generating financial support for the program…We have suffered because of the global financial crisis and are, as a result, spending less days in the hospital…We are also trying to raise awareness of the great work clown doctors do.”
A spokeswoman from the Humor Foundation said that this day was an opportunity for Australians to “wear a smile or share a smile” and help get clown rounds running at full capacity again.
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