28/09/2026
Last week, we celebrated 10 years of the Clown Doctor program at Gosford Hospital! 🌈 (Central Coast Health).
For the past decade, our Clown Doctors have been creating moments of laughter, play and connection for children and families across New South Wales' Central Coast.
To mark the milestone, Dr Nose-Nothing and Dr Nose-Best joined hospital staff, volunteers, donors and supporters for cake, celebrations and a look back at a decade of care 🎂🤡
Among those celebrating was Belinda Shaw, Child Life Therapist at Gosford Hospital, who has seen firsthand the difference the program makes to local children and families. Reflecting on the partnership, Belinda shared:
'"Our" Clown Doctors visit everyone they can and often are in the right place at the right time to provide distraction to an upset child, or a nursery rhyme for a baby, and leave smiles and happiness in their wake.
They sing and play beautiful music, they make children and families smile and laugh with terrible Dad jokes and squeaking rubber chickens, and I love walking around the ward seeing balloon swords and sausage dog balloon sculptures on patients' tables or beside them in bed, or parents and grandparents marching after a child holding their balloons.'
Thank you to the wonderful Gosford Hospital staff who have welcomed our Clown Doctors into their care teams over the past 10 years and helped make this partnership possible. And thank you to our incredible volunteers, Tricia and Leslie, and to the Trevor and Joy Hill Foundation for their generosity and ongoing support of the Clown Doctor program at Gosford Hospital.
Together, we're helping build a future where people don't fear hospital visits or ageing alone 💖
