Humor in healthcare | Gary Edwards | TEDxBrno
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 พ.ค. 2024
- This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Kamera: Kuba Jíra, Roman Zmrzlý
Střih: Roman Zmrzlý
www.cinetikstudio.cz
Gary Edwards is friends with 82 clowns. He founded Zdravotní klaun (Health Clown) in the Czech Republic in 2001 and for several years funded it with his own money. In Slovakia he established Červený nos Clowndoctors. Together with Red Noses International, he has helped to develop humor in healthcare projects all over the world - he has travelled and trained clowns in New Zealand or Palestine for example. He received the Czech Medical Association honorary medal for his long-time service to the medical community. Edwards was born in Ohio, USA. He studied music and theatre. After graduating, he travelled through 20 countries with two other clowns. In 1998 he settled down in the Czech Republic, where he also got married. He speaks 8 languages and plays at least that many musical instruments. In his spare time, he composes music.
About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
I have no reason to not believe this beautiful man. I am an ICU nurse and I am in tears hearing that bird story, because i know how life-changing can one such event be, God bless you.
I recently moved to Canada from India, preparing to get my RN here. In the long term, I really wish to do something like Gary but i don't know how, where, or when. One thing I know is that I love my job and I really wish that healthcare could be more humane but the workload never allows it. I am hoping that one day soon probably in a few years, I could go up there in TedX and present myself and share few insights and help bring a positive change as I felt touched with Gary.
As a Paediatric nurse I salute you and your team for your efforts to distract ill children from their illness and hospitalizations which is often horrendously traumatic to them if not handled with care
This is what health care needs. Physicians and nurses are trained to be professional which is necessary but it has become almost an extreme. It is very hard to build a personal relationship and bond with a patient when being professional makes the conversations almost uncomfortable. There is a time when seriousness is needed but when it is practiced in such an overpowering way it can make the whole atmosphere seem more stressful and anxiety filled. If nurses and doctors could make patients laugh and smile more instead of being so serious they fill the patient with worry, fear and anxiety would lessen. I love the example he gave about drawing blood. People are so serious when coming into a room to draw blood. They walk in, say hello, grab the patients arm and draw away in silence. How awkward is that? It's almost as if the patient isn't human at all. Making the health care system seem more inviting and happy for the people they are caring for instead of treating them as if they are just 'a patient' instead of a human being can make a world of difference.
Terrific
I absolutely loved how u could put it in words. I feel the same. Superficial treatments just are not enough, we need to treat humans like humans. It would help healthcare staff to work more efficiently and patients would respond better to their care for sure.
This man is doing what he loves and seems passionate about. Great work. Thank you for sharing
I would like to start this off by saying thank you to Mr. Edwards for sharing his knowledge and experience with us today. This topic of humor in healthcare is extremely interesting because I think that humor can unlock certain aspects of the healing process that we thought were not possible. When we ask ourselves of what it means to be beneficent and non-maleficent humor in healthcare can really do no wrong with appropriate boundaries to the humor of course. Beneficence means to promote the most good and non-maleficence means to do no harm in essence. I think that humor addresses these concepts swiftly and easily. I really enjoyed Mr. Edwards’ example of Lisa who had a spontaneous remission from cancer. Although it is unlikely there is causation between the clowning and the remission, we can certainly say that the humor did not hurt.
The only way that I can see clowning being a bad idea is when the patient either is scared of clowns or has a different type of humor. With Mr. Edwards reference to the expansion of the clowning project, I think it would be a good idea to branch out and provide several different styles of humor that can be tailored to the patient’s interests. I think, referencing my previous point about beneficence, this would most certainly promote the most good. I truly believe that this is a great idea and maybe doctors and nurses can follow suit and use humor to their advantage. I would again like to thank Mr. Edwards for sharing his experiences and successes with us and I hope this continues into the future. Thank you for reading.
Why this doesn't have more comments and views is beyond me! I would LOVE the opportunity to talk with him! What a pure and great soul destined to change lives!
Me too... this is one of the most beautiful and fresh concepts. I wish I could have a chance to chat with him too. I wonder how many more stories he must have got.
Love the passion with which you speak.
Beautiful 🥰
This is really interesting and should definitely be more present in all hospitals... I hope one day your project reached my home ☺️
Wish this video had more views and more comments so we could share our opinions more though!
I really love this concept , would love to hear more from you
So inspiring! Thanks for the work that you do
Dear Edward, this is amazing. Happy to connect on LinkedIn/FB . Salute.
It was a great concept. Nice talk!
Amazing work!
Really lovely 🥰
This is so beautifully wholesome.
I agree with every point brought up by Greg Edwards. This is such a creative and fun idea for people all ages. With Greg Edwards having the experience he does with going to the first clown school ever created, he is able to offer so much to this industry. The first story told about Melissa in room four instantly brought you on board of Clowndoctors. All of Melissa's bodily functions shut down and she was completely inactive besides listening. When Gary performed his skit with the bird, and returned Melissa's sweet smile back onto her face, he also ensured hope into her mother. Melissa's mother, thinking her daughter was on her last stretch of life due to not being able to operate on her own, was given a chance to see her daughter smile and light up the room with joy. She offered to pay Greg, but he refused. He is there to make children smile, and by succeeding that, no amount of money can top it. Greg Edwards left that institution, and later returned to news that Melissa had made a complete 180 in her life and is now functioning normally and was sent home to live a normal life. This is what inspires Greg today and keeps him going and expanding his company. Hearing that story and all the emotions involved gives me no question to not believe that Clowndoctors is an amazing idea and should be carried on through every hospital and institution in not only America, but the world. Kids who are bedridden still deserve to have a good time and be able to live as close to a normal life that they can. But, because they are so sick that they are bedridden, Clowndoctors work one on one with the kids to make sure they can smile through all of the pain. I personally loved the story and example Greg gave during his presentation of the girl getting blood drawn. This is such a good example for him to use because it is so relatable to anyone at any age. I was beyond terrified to get my blood up until I turned eighteen. The way Greg brought humor into such a scary time for some patients and really involved them in an activity to distract them was mesmerizing. In conclusion, I agree with every point made by Greg Edwards. He was spot on and the way he cares about his patients is so inspiring. A lot of healthcare professionals could learn a lot from Greg alone, as well as healthcare systems learning from Clowndoctors.
what an observation Alex, the fact that you put so much thought into it and wrote it down.Great insight dear.
Brilliant
Bless you Heyoka
This is a amazing I love this so much
NOTE: The House of God is *back in print!*
In 1989 I was reading a book, 'The House of God'. I was an RN.
My daughter was hit by a car on April 4th and medivacced into CHOP while I was driving home from work. I was forced into a detour to allow passage of emergency vehicles from Springfield, PA., the larger small city/town west of the really small town in which we resided.
Whatever it was, was bad. Whatever it was somehow effected me. This is what every cell in my body was screaming. I kept trying to tell my brain to knock it off; the paranoia was very unnecessary. Still, I *knew.*
I was forced behind the old Boeing plant where they used to make helicopters. Ironically they were loading a stretcher onto a medical-transport helicoptor. I saw that happen but from far-enough away that i couldn't view the victim's face. I didn't know I was watching the rescue of my child.
When I finally pulled into my parking-lot, my neighbor was waiting to drive me into Philadelphia, to The Children's Hospital. I'd only been there once, while in Nursing school. You know-a long-ish ride in someone's car. Filled with people, laughter and conversations. The vehicle stops, the doors open and everyone tumbles out, a little wrinkled but none-the-worse-for-wear. Voilà! We are where we are meant to be. I had to give directions to a place I *did not know how to get to!* In rush-hour traffic. In the CITY! OMG! Triple panicked!
When we got there my only child was in surgery, in a coma and not expected to survive the night. TBI. All the way into the city I prayed to whatever God(s) that might exist, "Please, God, not her head. Please, God, not her head… " I was a nurse. I understood brain injury. I feared it more than anything. I was Wiccan at the time and worshipped a very loving Goddess. Very nurturing. She was, like almost *all* pagan gods, trinitarian-the Maiden, the Mother, the Crone. I *never* questioned, "Why *me?* Why *MY daughter?"* I believed then and do now, *All things happen for a reason.* Even with all the things that have happened since: really bad marriage to a man met online; lost friends; lost belongings; lost career; homelessness; being hit by a car myself, left severely disabled and unable to work as a nurse; separations from family and friends; cancer; Phoenix! There is a lesson(s) to be learned in each of those situations. I hope I am learning the lesson(s).I *do not* want to have to repeat those situations again. *EVER,* in the next life/lives!
It was six hours more before I could see her as she was transferred from Trauma to ICU. In a coma. Intubated. Being bagged until ICU, where she would be vented.
My ex could not be located. My Mother-in-law drove from motel to motel in Central New Jersey most of the night before finding him.
With TBIs, periods of frenetic activity take place as the neurons misfire. Erin kept extubating herself. Continuously pulled out the central and arterial lines. Staff kept replacing lines and the endotrachial tube. And she fought everything. She tore through cottony wrist restraints. They placed three splints under her elbow, stacked one atop of the other. They were over an inch thick. She kept *breaking them* as she bent her arm. It took six *grown men* to hold her down when they reintubated her.
After the sixth reinsertion I said, *"No more! Stop torturing my daughter!"* They explained to me the necessity of reinserting the endotrachial tube. I understood all of that. If they didn't reintubate, she would die. With the extent of her btain injury and the fact that the brain stem was as swollen as it was, it would be an impossibility for her to breathe on her own. I acknowledged that but I told the doctors that there were forces in the universe greater than they. If my child was meant to live-she would live.
I made her a 'no code' and signed all the papers for organ donations. I prepared my heart and my mind for her transition into the next life. If she died, her life would have meaning beyond the memories I would have.
An hour later she once again thrashed uncontrollably and pulled out the ET tube. Everyone was very still, watching. Waiting. After almost a minute, her chest heaved and she breathed on her own. The staff was incredulous. *"She can't be breathing. This just doesn't happen!"* I said nothing to the staff, but to the Goddess I said my thanks. When my ex arrived 13 hours after her being struck and learned of my decisions, he was *Pissed* with a capital 'P'. I didn't much care. He was a terrible father.
I wrote our custody agreement. My lawyer changed *two words* and submitted it to the judge. We were the second couple in the state of Pennsylvania to have joint-custody. I included several clauses, conditions whereby full and sole custody would revert to the other parent, if invoked. It took a little less than a year for him to act such that one of the clauses *would be invoked.* I had sole-custody of our child and he had no say in her care without taking me to court. For whatever reason, he chose not to do that.
On Easter Sunday we walked into the neighborhood of The University of Pennsylvania to attend the Easter Eucharist at an Episcopal Church. Keep in mind that this is probably the busiest Sunday of the year for the Rector. Still, I approached the man post benediction and told him of our daughter's condition. Following his meal with his family he came to Erin's room. She was out of ICU but still comatose and in a monitored bed. The priest annointed her with oil, prayed for her, placed a *literal* crumb of the wafer on her tongue and a *drop* of wine beneath her tongue, measured with an eye-dropper. Three hours later my daughter's eyes opened.
The following day my friend came into the city to visit her/me. Chris phoned her daughter to give her the phone number and instructions. She put the phone receiver to Erin's mouth and told her to "… say 'hi' to Mel." Immediately her lips parted and she responded, "Hi, Mel!" Melissa was Erin's bestie. Me, she ignored. Melsey, she speaks to! Don't even *begin* to think of telling me there is no God! I *know better!* God(dess), Yaweh, Allah, or the estimated 30-million Hindu Gods. Name and number are all man-made constructs-imagined with our limited intellect and understanding. But the being is *real.*
After CHOP Erin went into a neuro-rehab at A.I. Dupont Institute in Wilmington, Delaware. I was reading 'The House of God" at the time of Erin's accident. Every doctor and nurse coming in to tend to her saw what I was reading and advised me, with honest sincerity, not to read it while Erin was hospitalized.
It is the tale of interns and residents in a large teaching hospital; the stories of their rotations, their patients, their introduction to the reality of hospitals. It is gruesome. It is irreverent. It is honest and it is hilarious. My daughter, with the extent of her injuries, might well have been a GOMER at a smaller, less equipped and not-trauma-certified hospital!
It's not written with patients and families in mind as prospective readers. It is written for medical personnel. It is now out of print and I want a copy-very badly! If you know where to find a copy, *let me know, PLEASE!*
the house of god
Thanks for bringing this attention. I have witnessed/benefited from a Medical Clown "practicing" with my family before visiting the hospital --- in the country of ISRAEL, not palestine.
Shining example of embracing adversity, uncertainty and unfairness of life. i had the luck of experiencing clown doctors work during a clinical placement, which was experimental at the time. And us (student nurses and staff) benefited as much
I often wonder what and how the everyday fear and awfulisation of life here in Britain could be counter-acted? Humour has definitely gone from healthcare around here (i.e. Central London) only pockets of it existing. Also indicated by the fact that when one reads job adverts aimed at nurses and sense of humour or GOSH are listed as essential, measurable skill to be tested in the second round of recruitment - the job interview. To me - even though allowing for the nation to be an islander one, this is unhealthy, a sign of some kind of societal pathology that something that is inherent to human existence and part of Reality and Common Sense - i.e. humour - needs to be listed on a job person's specs as a skill.
I've said many times this about Central European culture:it is not so much of a particular region or countries but more of a frame of mind or mental state. It has just dawned on me what was shown on a map in the presentation in this speech: this project gained momentum predominantly in those territories of that distinct culture and many languages that I label as Central Europe - although formally there is no such entity, yet anybody who ever experienced it will know what I mean. 😎👍🌈🆒
All I can think of is Patch Addams
CAN WE DO THIS FOR ADULTS?!
I’m mean more often! Because I feel that the middle aged are a under seen group when it comes to comedy in stressful situations!
The Spanish comment was not funny!
I find it strange that clowns are not naturally funny people so I find it weird that anybody would want to be a clown. I could see if it was a naturally funny person who naturally makes people laugh all the time going into clowning because they should but otherwise I find that these unnaturally unfunny clowns who have a forced sense of sense of humor just get on my nerves and annoy me. The last thing I would want to do while I was in the hospital was to expend energy trying to be polite and fake laughing so not to hurt their feelings. I can see how this is good for younger children though if they are feeling up to it. But I still find it weird to want to be a clown regardless.