Serious funny business planned for Care Clown Week

You would expect to find a medication cart in a hospital, but soon a new kind of cart at the Yarmouth Regional Hospital will literally be “fun on wheels”.

The first humour cart will be unveiled during Care Clown Week on Friday, Aug. 8 at the south entrance of the Yarmouth Regional.

Everyone is invited to the care clown picnic, Friday, Aug. 8, from 11:30 to 1 p.m. at the Yarmouth Regional Hospital.

The humour cart is a portable collection of comical items designed to help get hospital patients of South West Health laughing.

“All items on the humour cart have been donated and include games, props and a television for playing funny videos,” said Marie Atkinson, care clown coordinator.

The cart will be introduced on the alternative level of care unit. Nurse manager Debby Hill-Leblanc says the humour cart will be a welcome addition to the unit.

There will be a picnic held during the unveiling that will feature fun, games, refreshments and, of course, lots of clowning around. The picnic is part of Care Clown Week, which is held the first week of August each year.

South West Health started Nova Scotia’s first care clown program at the Yarmouth Regional Hospital in 2004, with trained volunteer care clowns now at the Digby General Hospital and at the Roseway Hospital in Shelburne.

Atkinson believes Care Clown Week is the perfect time to encourage volunteers to enroll in the care clown training planned for this fall.

“Our care clowns take humour seriously, and our training ranges from makeup tips to infection control,” she says.

People interested in becoming a care clown must register for the fall training by Monday, Sept. 1.