Founded in 2002, the Dream Doctors Project integrates professional medical clowns, ‘Dream Doctors’ into Israeli hospitals by training them to work as members of multidisciplinary care teams.  Dedicated to improving patients’ wellbeing and enhancing the efficiency of healthcare delivery, Dream Doctor’s trailblazing approach aims to promote medical clowning as an officially recognized paramedical profession so that every child and patient has the opportunity to benefit from Dream Doctors’ specialized, therapeutic care.

Today, 100 Dream Doctors work as integrated members of medical teams in 31 hospitals across Israel, assisting in more than 40 different medical procedures.  Dream Doctors offer specialized care to over    200, 000 child and adult patients a year including preemie babies, youth-at-risk, victims of sexual assault, veterans, and communities in trauma, among others.  Dream Doctors receive specialized training in crisis intervention and serve as military reservists in IDF humanitarian relief missions around the world.

Mission

In addition to providing emotional relief to patients and their families, advance healthcare efficacy and improving treatment outcomes, the project aims to achieve the official recognition of medical clowning as a paramedical profession in Israel’s healthcare system so that every patient in need can encounter a Dream Doctor.

Core Values

Dream Doctors serve all people, regardless of their age, race, religion, nationality or socio-economic background.   The core Jewish values of respect for human life and dignity, care for the others, generosity of spirit and a good sense of humor are at the heart of all the organization’s activities.

Project Goals

  1. Empower patients to fight illness and improve their hospitalization and treatment experience.
  2. Improve patient wellbeing and provide emotional relief
  3. Establish an academic curriculum for training medical clowns.
  4. Promote the professional development of medical clowning through academic and clinical research in the field.
Click here to learn more about our work in hospitals across Israel