Circus Memories - Hospital Visits 1995

In the clipping above Benny Schultz, Gina Allison and I spend some time with the kids on the pediatric floor at Huntsville Hospital.

One of the most challenging and rewarding experiences on the road as a circus clown were the times we'd visit the hospital pediatric wards. We'd go into the rooms for a couple of minutes to hoping to make a child smile. We bring a few props and usually a little gift like the teddy bear you see in the photo above.

I'd never visited a children's ward before joining the circus. And in the past when I had been to see a sick relative in the hospital entertaining them wasn't exactly on my mind. Hospital etiquette required one to be serious in the presence of a patient. That kind of etiquette didn't necessarily apply with a child. I soon learned that even when hospitalized a child usually wants to laugh and play.

The first couple of rooms we were at were tough for me. I felt bad for those kids but the kids didn't want me to feel for them. They had plenty of other folks doing that already. They wanted to smile and laugh and be silly. That's why we were there. It got a little easier after that.