The Dream Doctors Project operated in the hospital is a unique enterprise significantly enhancing the health of our patients.
The project began its operations in the hospital in 2004, and first included only one clown employed at the Pediatric Department. The project soon extended to other departments - geriatrics, orthopedics, surgery, outpatient clinics, ER, oncology, gastroenterology, pre-operation children, TNA Center for the Treatment of Sexual Assault Victims, and even the Premature Babies Department. We have learned that each patient can benefit from the work of a Dream Doctor in accordance with their age and condition. "Dream Doctors" accompany the children during the anesthetic process and as soon as they awake after the operation. For the children, this is a direct and natural continuance of events taking place prior to the administration of anesthesia and the operation, and Dream Doctors accompany them back to the department and stay with them until their discharge.
The TNA Center operates a unique and unprecedented version of this project. Dream Doctors accompany the child patient during medical tests, including while the child is undergoing the medical examination itself. The purpose of this is to transform the visitation and testing experience, which may be traumatic in itself, to a positive experience and to the beginning of the healing process, by permitting children to control the interaction between them and the clown, restoring their faith in strangers, and providing a refuge, if only temporary, to the children and their companions from the horrible trauma they had undergone.
"Dream Doctors" are welcome in the hospital's various departments, and they constitute as an inseparable part of the medical staff. They bring hope and strength to deal with severe diseases and conditions, and substantially contribute to the healing and recovery process.