Author: Megan

The Dream Doctors Project is incredibly proud of our founder, Yaacov Shriqui, one of this year’s recipients of the “Presidential Volunteer Medal”, which was presented by Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin. The moving ceremony also featured a performance by Dream Doctors Hagar Hofesh and Nadav Yalon who prepared a song just for this very special occasion.

We wish Yaacov many more years of success in achieving his dreams and helping make our country a better place for all who live here! Watch the short highlights video (in Hebrew) here!

As part of the staff at Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot, Dream Doctors Anat Zonnenfeld and Noam Inbar give lectures to the public on the “impact of humor on health” and on their work as medical clowns. They speak to various populations in the area, such as children, teens, senior citizens and religious groups.

In addition, this is the third year that they were part of the hospital’s “Medicine on the Bar” project, in which they joined a team of 30 different experts who lectured on their professional fields in a variety of places throughout the city, such as cafes, restaurants and pubs.

We congratulate Anat and Noam for giving a sold-out lecture as part of this exciting initiative!

Mazel tov to Dream Doctor Shuli Victor who presented at the International Society for Humor Studies 2018 Conference in Tallinn, Estonia!

Shuli presented on the topic “Medical Clowning in an Earthquake Zone” and competed in (and WON) a stand-up comedy competition!

We are absolutely thrilled to announce to the publication of Dream Doctor Amnon Raviv’s book “Medical Clowning: The Healing Performance”!

“Professor Doctor” Raviv, the first practitioner in the world to be awarded a PhD in Medical Clowning, takes readers on an incredible journey through his history with the Dream Doctors Project and into the mind of the medical clown. He shares results of many of the research studies that have been conducted on medical clowning and practical tips on how to incorporate medical clowning into the healthcare system.

Watch the report on Israel’s Channel 11 news (with English subtitles).

The Dream Doctors Project was honored to help a group of Yazidi refugees from northern Iraq travel to Israel to become the first people from their war-torn region to be trained in medical clowning.

The group of 5 students was brought, through the support of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Hadassah Hospital for a week-long intensive training with master teacher and veteran Dream Doctor David “Dush” Barashi.

They learned theoretical and treatment principles of medical clowning and had lots of hands-on experience with “Dush” and the medical clowning team at Hadassah, including Dream Doctors Fulla Falfulla, Shiri Dan Kirkasum, Maya Ben David, Nechama Perel and Amichay Azar. Seeing the Dream Doctors in action, meeting the medical and nursing staff, and working with child patients were the highlights of the program.

One participant said, “We gained superb techniques on how to really reach out to the kids, particularly when they are distressed, ill, and frightened. A child who receives special attention before undergoing surgery or other medical procedures will surely feel more protected, and will be able to forget, at least briefly, the ensuing pain or difficulty. We are grateful to everyone involved for making this possible — without which we would not be here.”

We congratulate Dream Doctor Shoshi Ofir, who recently presented at the 16th World Association for Infant Mental Health – WAIMH World Congress in Rome, alongside her colleague at Ziv Hospital, Occupational Therapist Orna Gavrieli.

Their workshop, Medical Clown Therapy for Young Children with ASD, was based on their work and research with children with autism and gave valuable new skills to medical professionals from around the world who were previously unfamiliar with medical clowning.

A one-year-old baby born with a congenital malformation that affected the bladder and kidney underwent two operations before being referred to a video-urodynamic test to determine if another surgery was needed.

Video-urodynamic testing is complicated and very uncomfortable for babies. In order to avoid anesthetizing the child, which may impair the results of the examination, Dream Doctor Keren Asor-Kliger was summoned to the examination room. She held the one-year-old’s attention during the entire test and in fact made it possible for the doctors to achieve optimal results.

“Thank you to our medical clown Keren! We have never seen a child who does not cry during this test. Now we can make a better decision about how to continue treatment” said Prof. Kobi Stav.

The Dream Doctors Project is proud to announce that a research study by Dr. Uri Ilan, “Disaster Zones – Should we be Clowning Around?”, was published in a recent issue of the European Journal of Pediatrics.

Dr. Ilan served side-by-side with Dream Doctors medical clowns in the IDF Field Hospital in Nepal after the devastating earthquake in 2015. His study on their work found that “medical clowns have an important role in helping patients cope with their pain and distress.”

The abstract can be found on the research page of our website.

 

Dream Doctors medical clowns don’t just work with children. For the last few years they have also been in the Maternity Wards of 4 hospitals across Israel where they are valuable members of the multidisciplinary treatment teams.

Watch this short but very sweet video to see the incredible impact Dream Doctors Hagar Hofesh and Keren Asor-Kliger have had on the Delivery Rooms in Barzilai Medical Center!

 

Employees of Keller Williams Realty, Inc. all over the world spent a day supporting local nonprofits with their colleagues and KW Israel chose to spend their Red Day with us! Dream Doctors  Smadar Harpak, Paz Kshatot, Rotem Goldenberg, Nimrod Eisenberg, Keren Asor-Kliger, Roni Ashur, David Schilman, Reut Tsoref, Vitaly Azarin, and Ori Noazgave workshops to the real estate agents to teach them the basics of medical clowning and give them tools that they can use in their communication with clients and with each other.