Yesterday was extremely busy but awesomely interesting and fun. I was wearing my white lab coat in the morning, normal street clothes in the afternoon, and then a full-blown clown costume. The day didn’t just end there; I also had my band rehearsal in the evening. My day went from 10am to 10pm.
In the morning, a few classmates and I had our first clinical rotation at the pediatrics ER department of the Soroka Hospital. This is part of our course “Clinical and Global Medicine” which is aimed to give us clinical exposure, and gain insights and inspirations as a physician. We met at the lobby where Winnie the Pooh, Spiderman and all the Disney Princesses gather, and put on our white coats. Feeling like a quarter of doctor, I followed our instructor into the building. The whole place looked very children friendly, with a Hollywood walk of fame touch to it. There is even a cinema on the floor to entertain our little patients. We were told that there are 12 classrooms throughout the hospital to provide children with whatever class they would normally get in a community, be it academic or extracurricular.
We interviewed a young patient’s mom to know more about her son’s disease, and how the family is coping with it. She was speaking Hebrew the whole time and I was listening intently, leaning almost to her nose, trying to extrapolate as much information as I could with my pathetic Hebrew. It worked! Somehow? I felt I was able to understand 30-40% of what she said, catching familiar words here and there, and interpreting her facial expression and body language. Normally I would say my Hebrew is only 15% good. In 2 years, hopefully I’ll be able to interview patients using simple sentences and not feel like a clown.Speaking of clown…I know…awful transition…
Probably the most fun class I’ve ever taken and will ever be able to take in med school is “Medical Clowning”. It fulfills one of the four global health clusters requirement. We had many attractive choices for the clusters and I wanted to take all of them, but as soon as I saw the description for medical clowning I knew I had to take it. This class is full of excitement, surprises, embarrassment, and inspiration. Oh, have I mentioned, laughers? Medical clowns not only work with pediatric patients but also with adult patients, especially in the oncology wards. Clowns provide the patients empathy, and a sense of control, in addition to the endless joy they provide. Happiness is the best medicine; this cannot be more true when it comes to medical clowning.
In my medical clowning class yesterday, we all had to dress in something that we thought would make us look like a clown. I never go to any Halloween parties because I don’t have any costumes. Dressed like a clown?? I had to scratch my head for a whole week before I came up with my clown idea: hey, the once in a life time chance to be the class clown, go big or go home eh?
Wearing a rainbow color fluffy wig with tiger ears and a tiara on top, purple sunglasses covering my normal glasses, tiger bowtie, pink toy guitar hanging from my neck, yellow black striped PJ, pink polka dots pants, and a pair of bear claw warm slippers, I showed up in my clowning class. We had to dance to the music in our clown characters and later tell the whole class who we are in our clown voice. I got used to improvisations and surprises in this class. All the activities we do in class helped us get out of our comfort zone, pay attention to people around us and not feel embarrassed. So when it was my turn, I shouted in my lowest possible voice:” Helloooo!! I am Princess Tiger Bear!! Rawwwrrrr!! I am good at playing guitar, and painting my own hair!! My name is Bumble Bee!!” I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was slightly more comfortable to be myself, act funny, and get out of my inhibitions when I was in my clown costume. Our instructor told us that the essence of being a medical clown is to connect with patients, and help them build a fantasy world that they can temporarily escape to. So communication and authenticity is very important to a clown.
Well, this is my first time writing a blog. I never know how to end my writing. But I had a great day!
- blogger of the month, Jixi He
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