A staple at the Winnipeg Children’s Hospital is hanging up his wigs for good.
David Langdon, the hospital’s resident therapeutic clown, is retiring after 30 years on the job.
“It’s the best job in the world. If I didn’t truly believe that it’s time for somebody else to be here and be here for a long chunk of time I’d still be here,” said Langdon.
Langdon started therapeutic clowning at Winnipeg Children’s Hospital in 1989. He uses two different personas – Hubert, a non-speaking clown, and Onri, a more boisterous character.
“We’re trying to bring focus on what’s healthy in the child and take focus away from the symptoms of why they’re in the hospital,” said Langdon. “What you’re trying to do is to reach and get kids playing again and being creative.”
The Winnipeg Child Life Clown Program began in May of 1986 as part of Humor Therapy, and is the longest running therapeutic clowning program in Canada. The goal is to reduce the stress and anxiety of hospitalization on children and their families.
Humor therapy is funded by donors to the Children’s Hospital Foundation.
“The job itself isn’t about making people laugh,” Langdon said. “There’s lots of laughter and there’s lots of fun in that but sometimes it’s just you being there for them where they’re at.”
The Winnipeg Children’s Hospital hopes to have a new clown very soon.
