A new Medical Clown’s first day

Olivia Lehrman is training to join the MCP roster.  Here are some notes from her first training shift with Calvin Kai Ku on a Laguna Honda ‘neighborhood’ for people with dementia:

“Intros, and took time with names.  Calvin played ‘Sandy Beach’ on uke, which led to bravos and our tauting him as the “Artista Spectaculo”.  So Calvin played Sinatra, followed by egg magic and then he called for Olivia the Magician. I walked on my hands back and forth, trying to find the right place to do the handstand.  Then I played 3 songs on the concertina, which two residents perked up for, one of whom was excited to share her life story with the new clown, and then seemed to lose interest until I played more music. The last song sparked a resident to talk about Casablanca and WWII, which prompted Calvin to look for a Casablanca song on his iPod.  We closed with Tiny Bubbles, and then made the rounds of goodbyes.  Received more interaction in the goodbyes than the greetings.”