Volunteer at Dana-Farber
Volunteer Profiles
Clowns deliver humor prescription to cancer patients
HumorUs Healers clowns Dr. Earl the Pearl (Earl Stafford) and Dr. Apple-A-Day (Joan Frutkoff) visit patients undergoing cancer treatment.
Catherine Turner makes one mistake from her infusion chair. She smiles. That's the only invitation Drs. Earl the Pearl and Apple-A-Day need.
Decked out in a flowered hat, bright blue clown shoes, green and blue plaid pants, a white doctor's coat, and his signature strand of pearls, Earl the Pearl, aka volunteer Earl Stafford, gets right to work.
He uses his stethoscope to check Turner's funny bone. Chuckles magically emanate from the clown's pocket and Stafford declares, "It's intact." Turner laughs and playfully replies, "I have more than one, you know."
With her bizarre kazoo made out of a fabric softener bottle and a painter's funnel, and decorated with ribbons, Dr. Apple-A-Day, aka Dana-Farber's English as a Second Language Program Manager Joan Frutkoff, asks the patient for requests.
Joking freely with the clowns, Turner's friend inquires, "Can you play tenor? Ten or 20 miles from here?"
Frutkoff quips back quickly, "That's better than the 'Two clowns take a leap out of a window' request I once got."
The clowns talk a bit more with Turner and leave her with a smile before turning their attention to their next "victim" anyone who signals them with a wave or an inviting look.
"I think they're fun," says Turner, a teacher from Middleborough, Mass., who is receiving treatment for colon cancer. "They are looking for the internal kid in everyone."
The HumorUs Healers clown troupe is part of the humor initiative at Dana-Farber. Started in 2002 by the Creative Arts program, which is part of Patient and Family Education, the clowns aim to ease the cancer experience through laughter.
Currently only three clowns make twice-monthly rounds to the adult and pediatric clinics, but overseers of the popular program are hoping to beef up the ranks.
"Our clowns who have been doing this for a number of years have a following," says Thomas Edward, director of Volunteer Services. "It's a gentle way of introducing humor to patients. Making their stay more enjoyable is what it is all about."
Volunteer Peggy Coonley has been clowning as the personality Dr. Molly Mirth for years. Her blue eyebrows, gigantic purple shoes, and mint-green-colored bloomers showcase her infectious spirit that allows her to almost instantly befriend and engage patients and family members.
"The patients and their needs are at the center of the ring, not us clowns. It's not like at the circus," says Coonley. "Instead of patients sitting isolated in their seats, we create camaraderie in the room."
Clowning doesn't only benefit the patient: It also supports the caregiver and family. Coonley spent time recently with the mother of a young woman patient, listening to her story of how it feels when someone you love has cancer. The clowns take the patient's or family member's lead about their needs at that moment in time.
In a recent visit to Leslie DeThomaso's bedside, the need was laugher. Stafford got huge roars from DeThomaso's daughters Amy and Kristin when showing off the "diamond" ring he bought for his girlfriend, which is a dime perched in a ring setting.
"This is the most she talked all day," said Amy of her mother. "It's great. Come back anytime."
When it comes to adults, a joke or Stafford's invisible dog may get them engaged, but after that it's about listening, observing, and bringing sensitivity to the patient's experience. Visits are unscripted and vary depending on how a patient reacts.
Pediatric patients, by contrast, always want the circus clown. They are looking for more silliness, and the clowns bring it with card tricks, noise effects, or funny eye exams including reading this: U-R-A-Q-T.
When one mom in the Jimmy Fund Clinic tells the clowns, "Come back, especially if you bring the dog," they know their mission is accomplished.
If only they could find where that invisible dog ran off to.
