Clowning for the big kids
By Susan Zwirn aka Polkadots the Clown

Once in a while, I get asked to clown at Nursing Homes. Usually, such requests are for Christmas Parties, barbeques, or Grandparent’s day. Sometimes I might be needed just to do cheer up visits, where I’ll mostly be doing balloon twisting and shticks. One of the barbeque visits a few years ago, led to regular monthly visits at a nursing home in the Bronx section of NY.

A lot of my fellow Clowns, turn down nursing home jobs for squeamish or emotional reasons. Having had two parents and a grandmother in Nursing Homes, I don’t have a problem with either. I can also probably relate better to how lonely residents can get when they’re not able to get downstairs to see shows or do activities, for physical reasons, there friends and family not always being able to make it down to see them, or the elevator being out of order. Once in a while, the staff will take some of the residents downstairs, but a good deal of the time, they’re bedridden. From my own personal experience, I know how a cheer up visit can be; even it’s for a short amount of time.

When I first started doing my cheer up visits in the Bronx, I noticed that I was listed on the activity schedule for the day, as “The Laughter Therapist”. Wow!, how cool is that?!, I thought…I’m no longer just a Clown, but a member of the Psychiatric staff! I even remember one of the staff coming around with an evaluation sheet of the residents’ reaction to me. It was then that I realized that I might be able to make a difference. I was told by the agent who set me up with this job, that I’m one of the few clowns that would go over to the comatose residents. A lot of clowns I’ve spoken to seem to think it’s a waste of time or that they’re just not going to get through to these people. I still had my doubts about approaching people in this state of mind sometimes. My doubt was broken one visit, by a paraplegic by the name of Edith. Edith was missing all of her limbs. During my usual visits, she would respond to my balloons and shticks with a blank stare. A week before one of my visits, I attended one of my balloon twisting workshops, and learned how to make balloon earrings. It’s not as hard as it sounds to make. It takes just one straight balloon to make three single earrings which can be made in about two minutes, plus they pinch fit very easily onto the earlobes. I decided on a whim to try my new skill out on Edith, since I didn’t see any earrings on her. After placing them on her ears, I took my Turkey Sandwich Mirror, and held it up to her face. As she gazed into the mirror, her eyes seemed to have widened. She then turned toward my ear and said something in a low muffled tone. After a few whats’ and huhs, I finally understood what she was saying…”I want to kiss you”. As I turned my cheek to let her kiss me, my eyes started welling up with tears. I had to turn away and compose myself, for fear of revealing myself as a human being.

What had happened here? Had I brought back some beauty to this woman that she thought was lost, by adding something pretty and feminine to her face? I now realized that I wasn’t wasting my time with Edith and people like her. It was then that I realized that I was more than someone clowning around with these people. I was was a “Laughter Therapist”!