Siri Seltveit Danielsen and her daughter Hedda know the clowns at the local hospital well. Hedda has a chronic illness, which means that she is often in the hospital for examinations and blood tests. Danielsen thinks it is tragic that the Hospital Clowns can no longer be financed by the grassroots share of Norsk Tipping. – I think it is very broken if they disappear or the offer is reduced. They make a very big difference for very many children, but also for moms and dads and other adults, says Danielsen. Siri Seltveit Danielsen together with her daughter Hedda (7). Danielsen encourages everyone to contribute financial support to the hospital clowns. She also hopes that the scheme can be included in the state budget. Photo: Solfrid Leirgul Øverbø / news – A motivation to travel to the hospital For 13 years, the Hospital Clowns have been one of the organizations you have been able to choose to give a grassroots share to. Now it’s over. The Norwegian Lotteries Authority’s rules state that only voluntary activity at local or regional level can receive this money. Once the Hospital Clowns have become nationwide, they drop out of the scheme. – If we do not receive any support from the public sector in any other way and are left with a permanent loss, we have no choice but to scale down our offer, says general manager Nina Elisabeth Eidem to Nettavisen. According to Eidem, the hospital clowns will lose a total of NOK 7 million from the grassroots share and the gift reinforcement scheme, which was abolished by the government in December last year. The hospital clowns follow Hedda when she has to take a blood sample at the hospital. Photo: Siri Seltveit Danielsen / Private A quality study at Oslo University Hospital shows, according to the Hospital Clowns, that the use of clowns has a therapeutic effect and leads to significantly less coercion. Danielsen and his daughter have experienced this up close. Because Hedda does not like to take blood samples. But with the help of the hospital clowns, she has stopped taking sedatives when the samples are to be taken. – It takes away the focus and she thinks of other things. It does not hurt to take blood samples then. For Hedda, it has been a great help. It has been a motivation to travel to the hospital, says the mother. – The world will not be so scary Children and adults in vulnerable situations can meet the hospital clowns at 19 Norwegian hospitals. Silje Elde is one of 50 hospital clowns and has had this job for seven years. She is an actress and stage artist, specializing in health clowning, as they call it. Elde believes that clowns are of great importance to many children. – The clowns open up the game in a different way. It makes the world no longer so scary, dangerous, threatening and adult. It helps to mobilize the powers of the child, by taking the child seriously. Elde wants a debate about the societal benefits of the profession as a hospital clown. She wonders if the clowns could have been funded by the health service. – It could have been a nice discussion to take. Should one just rely on ordinary people opening their wallets and giving? The job is perhaps more important than that, she says. Hedda watches the silly hospital clowns from the tricycle in the corridors of Telemark Hospital. Photo: Siri Seltveit Danielsen / Private
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– Kjempetrasig – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
