Hilber,
UCLA pediatrician Lonnie Zeltzer and child psychiatrist Margaret
Stuber believe that laughter can reduce the pain and trauma of children
fighting for their lives from orthopedic injuries, cancer, or severe
wounds and burns. Many of these children are languishing in Intensive
Care and Pediatric Critical Isolation while receiving chemotherapy,
dialysis, bone marrow treatments and organ transplants.
“Comedy is not just cute and fun and trivial,”
said Hilber. “We take comedy very seriously. If we can find
that positive emotions through comedy programs can help heal in
specific ways, then we can prescribe these shows during treatment
for these ill patients in ways that no one has done before. This
can open up a whole world of possibilities for the link between
happiness and health.”
“We want these children to talk and laugh
with each other,” she said. “We already know that it
reduces pain, now we want to see if it actually improves the immune
system.”
The foundation’s vision is to create an
expansive Rx Laughter Hospital Network, a hospital in-house cable
station that will carry television shows and movies that have already
been proven to make children laugh.
This comes along with a communication system
that is set up so the children can talk and laugh with each other
from their isolated wards as they watch the programs together.
“Rx Laughter” wants to eventually
expand that program to all hospitals and to all age groups.
Hilber wants to go even further with her program
for children, and envisions creating animated film shorts that will
talk of the fears of these children, such as being afraid of the
doctor, overprotective parents, and other issues that loom large
in a child’s mind.
The Royce Hall performance was so successful
that “Rx Laughter” and Comedy Central is going to make
it an annual event, so comedy buffs that missed this year’s
performance will have a chance to catch it next year. |
