Rire Medecin

PRESENTATION

The Rire Medecin dreams of a world where all hospitalized children, especially the most vulnerable ones and youngest ones will have allies by their side that will help them restore the carelessness of their age, listen to them, understand them, bring them play, imagination, fantasy, and make them laugh.

The professional clown actors from Le Rire Medecin are trained to the specific needs of hospital environment, and accompany children in order to minimize the impact of hospitalization. The overall objective is to help children remain children while not forgetting parents, caregivers, and supervisors.

Le Rire Medecin is a pioneer in the development and recognition of the profession of hospital clown and aspires to remain one of the major players in the French and European Federations. In order to operate in full cooperation with the healthcare teams, the Association aims at expanding their operations by promoting innovation, creativity, and by further strengthening its integration within the hospital’s organizations.

Le Rire Medecin also has a mission to pass on knowledge and contribute to the profession of hospital clown’s influence. In order to live out this mission, Le Rire Medecin has created their own Training Institute which includes training hospital clowns, showcasing their know-how, the quality of their actions, and their professionalism.

By using this approach, the Association wishes to promote the playful approach in the child care process leading to the recognition of the beneficial contribution of clown play as an essential component of the care protocol.

The missions of Le Rire Medecin are the following:

• Set professional artists for improvised and tailor-made duo shows throughout France all year round for children in vulnerable situations
• Bring life, joy, lightness, poetry, laughter and humor to help children go through difficult times in sickness
• Accompany children in their care path and parents to better live the experience of hospitalization
• Intervene alongside caregivers while being fully integrated into the hospital environment
• Participate to a benevolent care process for children
• Promote the therapeutic benefit of laughter through a playful approach of medical care while also conducting research and evaluating the results of actions
• Contribute to the official recognition and the influence of the profession of hospital clown in France and abroad while ensuring the transmission of our know-how and providing quality training
• Promote professional best practices especially within the collective of associations of hospital clowns (FFACH, EFHCO, ...)

Date of creation: 1991

Operations conducted in 70 medical wards in the following 18 hospitals:

• Necker Hospital - Sick Children (Paris)
• Armand Trousseau Children's Hospital (Paris)
• Robert Debre Hospital (Paris)
• Jean Verdier Hospital (Bondy)
• Bicetre Hospital (Le Kremlin Bicêtre)
• Gustave Roussy (Villejuif)
• Louis Mourier Hospital (Colombes)
• Ambroise Pare Hospital (Boulogne)
• Intercommunal Hospital of Créteil
• Nantes University Hospital Center
• Angers University Hospital Center
• Rennes University Hospital Center
• Gatien Hospital in Clocheville (University Hospital of Tours)
• Orléans Regional Hospital Center
• Nancy University Hospital Center - Brabois Hospital
• La Timone – Children Hospital (Marseille)
• Intercommunal Hospital Robert Ballanger (Aulnay Sous Bois)
• Besancon University Hospital Center
• Home hospitalization (AP-HP)

Website: www.leriremedecin.org

Contacts:

• Solidarity races: Eva DE FOUCAUCOURT e.defoucaucourt@leriremedecin.org / 01 44 84 40 93
• Institutional: Clotilde MALLARD, c.mallard@leriremedecin.org / 01 44 84 40 90

OUR PROJECT

We are launching a new multi-year associative project named Etoile 2025. It is made of 25 actions relating to the development of the association and its resources, in order to pass the milestone of 100,000 visits to hospitalized children per year.

The goal of this project is to allow Le Rire Medecin to keep opening new programs in more medical units and in more hospitals.

It also deals with:

• the artistic organization
• the evolution and the recognition of the profession of hospital clown
• the know-how transmission, whether it is through the continuing education of the clowns at Le Rire Medecin or the training offered more generally to artists and caregivers
• the evaluation of our programs impacts through research projects and scientific publishing

Le Rire Medecin continues to work with hospitalized children and their families always in close cooperation with the care teams.