Dr. Red Nose’s Diary – Auntie Dr. Red Nose—The Intersection of Three Points

I’m Pei-Chi, Dr. Red Nose administrative coordinator stationed in southern Taiwan, a self-proclaimed nanny to the southern Medical Clown. Children who know me call me “Auntie Dr. Red Nose.” My task is to serve as the liaison among the association, our Dr. Red Nose partners, and hospital medical teams, assisting with the planning, communication, and coordination of performance services.

Visiting different hospitals is part of my daily work. Over the past few years, I have gone almost every week to the wards where we regularly provide services, observing whether Dr. Red Nose’ performances are running smoothly, gathering feedback from the medical teams about working with us, and checking in on the children and their parents in the wards.

Because the people we serve are not just the children, but each and every family in the ward. When Dr. Red Nose work, they carry their characters with them—that is, they remain in a continuous state of performance. I, on the other hand, have the time and flexibility to listen to their feelings and suggestions from the perspective of an association staff member and a friendly auntie, then bring that feedback back to Dr. Red Nose and the association.

There have also been times when relations between family members and the medical team became tense, and I tried to serve as a buffer by listening separately to both sides. Then I would quietly ask Dr. Red Nose, when they returned to the nursing station later, to set aside some time especially for the affected nurse, using music and singing to help her relieve some stress so she could go to lunch in a better mood.

I may not be the children’s “playmate,” but I need to become familiar with the people we serve from another point of entry. I serve as the bridge between “performance” and “daily life,” introducing the association to families and explaining the mission and nature of Dr. Red Nose’ work. We may meet in the ward only once; this is our one and only opportunity, and also an important starting point.

For hospitals and medical teams, Dr. Red Nose are partners who come into the wards to work alongside them and care for the children. Some hospitals even have resident art therapists and child-life specialists. Using our different areas of expertise, we help children with different medical conditions better understand the treatments the hospital is about to provide. Through different approaches, we accompany children of different ages and psychological states in finding soothing mechanisms suited to them, allowing the medical procedures carried out by the medical team to proceed more smoothly and achieve better results. Working together and cooperation are our shared principles and beliefs.

But the process of introducing Dr. Red Nose does not always go smoothly. Early on, we once encountered a new chief resident who was eager to do things well but did not yet know us. At the time, we were in the doctors’ lounge changing clothes and warming up in preparation to leave and serve the children. The chief resident entered the room and sternly berated us for being too noisy, saying that the attending physician would soon be coming for a meeting and asking us to leave the ward area immediately—a very awkward situation.

There was also a tense moment when parents encountering us for the first time thought we were strange people who had barged into the ward (we could perhaps blame the clowns for being too convincing? 😂) and almost pressed the emergency button to call the nursing station. There was also a warm-hearted grandfather who loved his grandson dearly: after we finished performing for his two-year-old grandson and were quietly about to leave the ward, he hurriedly pulled banknotes from his pocket and insisted on stuffing them into the clown’s hands as thanks (of course, we couldn’t accept them!).

Of course, there was also the time in the treatment room when the overhead lights were turned off and only the vascular light was on. Two nurses, sweating profusely, worked for nearly half an hour to find a deeply hidden vein in the baby’s arm. Throughout, we accompanied the wailing baby, the tearful parents, and the tense, exhausted nurses with gentle music and humming, until everyone finally felt relieved after the injection was successfully administered. Dr. Red Nose then escorted the mother and baby back to their room to rest with cheerful music playing all the way. We truly felt the satisfaction and pride of having completed a mission together as a team.

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