Healthy Humor continues changing lives within hospitals daily. The non-profit organization aims to spread laughter, joy, and happiness to children in various hospitals.
Founders Dina Paul-Parks, Karen McCarty, and Deborah Kaufmann started the organization in 2016 in an effort to spread positive energy throughout hospitals.
The organization serves over 600,000 kids and families nationwide. Healthy Humor operates across 15 hospitals, including Loma Linda Children’s Hospital in Southern California and Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
So what does Healthy Humor do to spread happiness across hospitals? Healthy Humor utilizes forms of clowning in order to entertain. Throughout the numerous programs that the organization provides, many sick patients are distracted with immense smiles and laughter. The most popular program is the Red Nose Docs. This flagship program uses a variety of professional artists from many genres, including musicians, magicians, actors, and more, that dress up and perform. The organization combines theater and circus in an effort to spread happiness and joy.
These children are stuck in hospitals for weeks or even months at a time, making Healthy Humor such an important organization. Bringing happiness into their lives makes that much of a difference and becomes something these children constantly look forward to.
Healthy Humor also offers a plethora of additional services which benefit others. Vaudeville Visits is a program that focuses on meeting the needs of elders that are in critical care. Performers are able to create an experience using characters, playing popular music, and providing other entertainment for their liking. Other services Healthy Humor offers include Special Events, Connections Workshops, and Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.
So what is there to expect from Healthy Humor this year? CEO Dina Paul-Parks explained how, “We are planning a smaller, more intimate event/cocktail party this summer with one of our new celebrity connections from the Bash at Bootys’s event.
The Bash at Bootsy’s event, held earlier this year in LA, brought together performers that showcased their clowning and took a closer look at Healthy Humor’s efforts in order for guests to donate/support the cause. The event took place at Bootsy Bellows, David Arquette’s nightclub. Arquette and his wife, Christina McLarty Arquette, hosted the annual gala. Arquette has been working with Healthy Humor for about a year now.
Paul Parks went on to explain more about the upcoming Summer party event “Details forthcoming when we settle on a date and are ready to make a public announcement. We are also planning a national professional development conference this November for all of our performers. They only have the opportunity to bond in person like this once every 18 months, and it’s been a few years because of Covid, so we are really looking forward to having everyone together.” It is crucial for the performers to collaborate well together in order to put on great performances.
To see how Healthy Humor continues to spread joy across hospitals, check them out here.
