Jacques Peustjens
Jacques Peustjens, 49, runs Cliniclowns, bringing clowns to entertain children in hospitals
I used to be a clown, now I train them and do the organising and fundraising. When I see the clowns at work in hospital, I really miss doing it myself.
They go from room to room, entertaining each child with some magic tricks, a little music, an improvised game, whatever will lighten their stay in hospital.
The nurses brief us and we always ask the child’s permission before entering the room, in case they would rather be alone. The atmosphere can change completely from one room to the next, so the clowns need to be very sensitive. The children might be sleepy after an anaesthetic, or nervous about an upcoming operation. They might be feeling sad or angry or very homesick.
Just because we’re wearing red noses, doesn’t mean we always have to be funny. Sometimes it’s better just to tell a story. The point is to give the child something else to think about. Even if they’re feeling very ill, a clown can take their mind off it for a while. Often the mothers say, “That’s the first time today my son has smiled.”
It’s not an easy job but there’s a great richness to it. Many performers think they can be Cliniclowns, but that can change once they get into hospital. When they experience the atmosphere and meet the children, some decide it’s too heavy and can’t cope.
It’s a different world inside hospital. We’re not just entertainers, often we’re counsellors too. The parents sometimes want to talk about their problems, and want to tell the clowns the whole story about the sickness of their child. Often, just having someone to listen can help them.
Working in the children’s cancer ward can be both the hardest and the most rewarding. Those children are often in hospital for months, so the clowns build up a relationship with them over time. It’s wonderful to see them improving week by week, but some of them don’t get better.
We pay our clowns for their hospital visits, but the hospitals don’t pay Cliniclowns and we receive no state funding. All the money comes from sponsorship and donations. We hold auditions to find new clowns. They usually have a background as actors or entertainers. Being a Cliniclown is probably the most difficult job they do.
At the moment we have 16 clowns, making weekly visits to 16 hospitals in Flanders and two hospitals in Wallonia, with each clown working between 12 and 16 hours a week.
We organise training and workshops for new clowns, then I watch them at work and give feedback. If they make the grade, we give them a contract and hope they stay. Some of our clowns have been with us for ten years. They choose their own names and costumes and they develop their own characters. We find it works best having a mix of male and female clowns, working in pairs or small groups.
You’re never too old to be a clown. In fact, older people sometimes make the best Cliniclowns because it’s important to be mature, and to know how to get along with all sorts of people, adults and children.
The idea began in the United States; Cliniclowns has been working in Flanders since 1994. At first, some doctors were sceptical, so we agreed to try the project for a year and then re-evaluate. After the first year, the doctors decided there were definite therapeutic benefits to having clowns in hospital, and no undesirable side effects!
It’s impossible to measure the benefits of what we do, but it’s certain that amusing the children and giving them something else to think about, can help take their minds off their pain and illness. It’s not our intention to try to cure them, just to lighten their time in hospital, whether it’s a long or short stay.
Sometimes when you see children ill and unhappy, you can’t help thinking that it’s not fair. These things happen, though, and we must just try to live with it in the best possible way.
www.cliniclowns.be
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