Yesterday I went to St Philomena's Hospital and met Dr Rajeev, a paediatrician with a very endearing smile and twinkling eyes. (Gladys says there must be a clown in him or he wouldn't look that way.) I have to go back on Monday to meet the hospital's director and also the "HOD" (found out that means Head of Department). Once they give us the authorisation, we just have to finalise which day. Dr Rajeev suggested that 12 noon is a good time, as docs would have finished their rounds, and nurses would have got done with whatever the doctors have ordered. (Actually I think later on, once we're better established with the staff, they might PREFER us to come while the nurses are drawing blood etc. because there's nothing like a good clown to make such procedures fade away from a little kid's attention.)
Dr Rajeev showed me around the pediatric sections and now I'm terribly excited and looking forward to doing clown rounds there. They have a Level III neo-natal and Level II ICU, as well as one room with 4 beds downstairs. (I was delighted to see that he washed his hands after putting on his shoes again - you have to take them off before going into the ICU and neo-natal.) Upstairs right at the end of the B Ward corridor, are two more pediatric rooms that make up the general pediatric ward - each room with about 8 beds. I'll also get to clown all the way down the corridor going back downstairs, and finally, if we have any energy left, we could also pop in to pediatric OPD.
Now I must get things ready .. a new pair of trousers to crop and patch, fill up my clown case, finish up my puppets. The juggling .. sigh .. is still abyssmal .. but eternally optimistic, I have already invested in a set of plastic bowling pins so that I can soon also be abyssmal at that too.
Ah. How I love being a clown doctor. Especially the part where you don't have to spend four years in medical college and dissect dead people, but still get to have a white coat and stethoscope and use all the fancy terminology.
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