Contact: Alice Warchol at (757) 668-9049 or email Alice.Warchol@CHKD.org.
Norfolk, Va. — Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters (CHKD) welcomed The Dream Doctors Project on Monday, March 23, for a day of patient visits and staff workshops.
The Dream Doctors Project is an Israeli nonprofit organization that integrates professional medical clowns into hospital care teams. The organization’s visit to Hampton Roads was made possible through the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, providing an opportunity to highlight how humor, empathy, and creativity serve as therapeutic tools in a hospital setting.
During the visit to CHKD, a medical clown with The Dream Doctors Project engaged patients in playful, therapeutic interactions designed to reduce anxiety and tension while creating meaningful moments of joy.
“The Dream Doctors Project was amazing,” said Shannon Hood, director of Integrative Care at CHKD. “It was incredible to watch the medical clown communicate and connect with our patients without using any words. Sometimes patients don’t know how to verbalize what they’re feeling or how they’re feeling but it comes out through play.”
The Dream Doctors Project CEO Tsour Shriqui and medical clown Nimrod Eisenberg also led workshops for CHKD staff focused on therapeutic communication. The exchange marked an opportunity for CHKD clinicians and child‑life professionals to learn about integrating therapeutic arts into medical care.
