Since May 2000, the Big Apple Circus Clown Care^SM (BAC-CC) program has been bringing laughter and joy to the bedsides of acutely and chronically ill children at Miami Children's Hospital.

Dr. Pescado (John Lynch) and Dr. Florita (Beatriz Montenez) are two of the Clown doctors at Miami Children's Hospital.

BAC-CC" clown doctors" are specially selected professional performers who are trained to work in the sensitive hospital environment. They make one-on-one bedside visits throughout the hospital, including the intensive care unit, bone marrow transplant center, emergency room, in-patient wards, physical therapy unit and outpatient center/clinic.

Miami Children's five clown doctors use parody to help take the mystery out of, and simplify complicated medical procedures by performing their own, "highly technical" clown medicine including red-nose transplants, kitty "cat" scans, chocolate milk transfusions, and plate spinning platelet tests. In addition to the one at Miami Children's, there are currently Big Apple Circus Clown Care^SM programs operating in Boston, Chicago, New Haven, New York, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

"A child's natural need to laugh can get lost in the tangle of hospital procedures, technologies, and structures."
Michael Christensen, co-founder Big Apple Circus, creator Big Apple Circus Clown Care Care^SM program, 1986.

(Image courtesy of John Rhodenizer)

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