People with a terminal disease possess the ability to have meaning in their life. It just depends upon their psychology, their religious issues and if they can laugh, he said. Just being able to step back from the seriousness of a situation is important, Vanderbilt said. Wingard said that as a nurse she has seen pain and suffering lead to loneliness. People feel really alone in their pain and in their suffering and in that aloneness they tend to push people away and then they make it even more lonely, she said.
Clowns have a way of getting past that barrier.
When someone comes to visit us we entertain them in a way, she said. But when you're sick in bed, feeling bad, and a clown is there, they are the ones who are at the center of attention. They're not drawing energy from the sick person. The clown can expel the energy and the sick person can rest. Wingard told her clown troupe that as clowns, they are not supposed to touch people because of the patient's stress level.