Clown around for a cause
A lot of people have been clowning around in Coeur d’Alene lately, and it’s time they took some lessons on how to do it right.
Kootenai Medical Center started the Smile Squad in 1997, a group of clowns who run rampant in the hospital once a week to bring a little color and silliness to an often serious and scary place and time.
“Humor in healing environments has really taken off in the last few years,” said Jeanne “GiGi” MacConnell, an experienced clown and member of the Smile Squad. “Laughing, just like exercise, increases endorphins, which make you feel better.”
The Smile Squad is sponsoring a clown school Friday and next Saturday at the hospital.
“We want people to come with a heart to help,” said MacConnell, “… where they want people to laugh and to feel, just for a little moment, someplace outside of the pain they’re in lying in the hospital.”
The clown class is open to anyone at least 12 years old who has a love of people and for raising their spirits.
Smile Squad members hope many of the new clowns will volunteer 40 hours to the hospital in the upcoming year, but it isn’t a requirement of attending the class.
The Smile Squad also participates in community events, such as fairs, parades and the Relay for Life, and it frequently visits elderly care facilities to bring a little cheer to the residents’ day.
“I’m not really good at jokes,” MacConnell said as she tells one of her old standbys. “We’re not rocket scientists. Our jokes are silly, but for that one little moment of laughter, people are feeling healthy and good about themselves.”
MacConnell says there’s a huge difference in how people react when she walks into their room as herself and when she walks in as GiGi.
“There’s an instant acceptance of a clown,” MacConnell said. “People will look up at you and smile, laugh at your costume and comment on your colors. There’s an immediate opening where they will tell you things that they wouldn’t tell anybody else. You’re nonthreatening.”
The newest addition to the Smile Squad is 32-year-old Crystal “Twinkle Toes” Reiber.
“I love making people smile,” said Reiber. “If you walk anywhere dressed as a clown, everyone suddenly forgets about their day and they just smile.
“I put skates on the first time I clowned, and I hadn’t skated in years. Part of my routine was to run around and act like I couldn’t skate. Of course, I really couldn’t, so I wasn’t acting at all.”
Many of the clowns also are hired privately to supplement their income. “The going rate for a clown at a birthday party is around $120 for one hour,” said Reiber. “How much you make depends on how much you want to work and how well you market yourself.”
The $55 class, titled Learn to Be a Caring Clown, will feature instruction by a favorite Boise-area clown, Al “Boomer” Bryant.
“The funds the Smile Squad earns from the clown class will go into the treasury and will be used to help our clowns attend conventions or more clown schooling. The money also helps pay for supplies and is basically a maintenance program,” said the president of the Smile Squad, Vicki “2NuNee” Ball.
Four years ago, Ball found herself facing a frightening bout of cancer. Not only did she continue clowning for others while undergoing chemotherapy, but she also was visited by clowns.
“The clown’s been there for me through some tough times,” she said. “There’ve been times when bad things happen, and I’m already scheduled to clown. Somehow when that happens, the clown takes over my whole being and takes me away from the bad that’s going on.”