As part of the "Year of France in Brazil", two hospital clown associations, one Brazilian and the other French, have joined forces, with the support of LFB and the Brazilian company Hemobras.

The presence of clowns in hospitals plays a key role in the well-being of hospitalized children.

Paris, August 25, 2009 – As part of the “Year of France in Brazil”, two hospital clown associations, the French Le Rire Médecin and the Brazilian Doutores da Alegria, have joined forces in a series of performances aimed at bringing a smile to the faces of Brazilian children hospitalized in pediatric units.

This initiative won the support of the Brazilian company Hemobras and the French biopharmaceutical company LFB.

The program designed by the two associations is a natural extension of their common goal. "Our joint mission is to bring professional clowns to pediatric units to make the hospital environment less dramatic and give back to hospitalized children the ability to play and laugh to help them better cope with their disease,” explained Caroline Simonds, the founder of Le Rire Médecin.

Ten professional clowns from Le Rire Médecin traveled to Brazil in March of 2009 to meet their Brazilian alter egos from Doutores da Alegria. According to Wellington Nogueira, founder of the Doutores da Alegria association in Brazil, “The goal was to share our combined knowledge from years of experience to find new ways to improve and become more creative.”

The French and Brazilian clowns met both in the hospitals and elsewhere to design and perform a final show.

In addition to the shows in the pediatric units of several hospitals in Recife, the clowns shared ideas and clowning practices in workshops focusing on the issues affecting both their daily life and artistic techniques. This was made possible through discussion groups and training sessions led by three Brazilian artists and one French artist.

The Brazilian photographer Helder Tavares de Oliveira captured the intense and tender moments of the "clowning" performances given by the Brazilian and French clowns in the pediatric units in Recife to share this unique experience with an international audience. A few representative photos of the work of the clowns in the hospitals will be on exhibit on September 10, 2009 in Niteroï hospital (Rio). The exhibit will then travel through several Brazilian hospitals in the AMIL group and, naturally, the hospitals in Recife.

As an illustration of the pride in the professionalism brought to these performances and the continuous search for ways to share yet further between the French and Brazilian clown groups, the founder of the Le Rire Médecin association, Caroline Simonds, will participate in September in the training program provided by the University of Rio by Professor Anna Achcar who has designed the first university program to train hospital clowns.

At every step of this project, both associations received the support of two actors in the healthcare sector that are highly aware of the issue of the well-being of patients in hospitals and of that of children in particular. Hemobras, the public Brazilian company specialized in plasma-derived products, did not hesitate to extend its support to the program proposed by the two associations in partnership with the French biopharmaceutical group, LFB, that has been present in Brazil since 2004 through its subsidiary LFB Hemoderivados. "LFB considered that it was natural to provide its active support for the “Year of France in Brazil” through this initiative that is an extension of its long-standing support since 200 for Le Rire Médecin,” stated Sandrine Charrières, Communications Director of the LFB Group.

The press conference organized at Niteroï Hospital (Rio) on September 10, 2009 will be an opportunity for the participants and partners of this program to present its multiple facets as an illustration of a human component of the “Year of France in Brazil 2009”.

About Le Rire Médecin 

The French association "Le Rire Médecin" (The Doctor’s Laugh) was created in 1991 and already includes more than 78 actors who perform at least twice per week in 36 pediatric units in 14 hospitals. Each year, the clowns make over 58,000 personalized visits overflowing with joy, poetry and affection.

About LFB Hemoderivados and the LFB Group

LFB Hemoderivados, present in Brazil since 2004, distributes four plasma-derived medicinal products to hospitals through the Brazilian Minister of Health. Thus, it contributes to the treatment of thousands of patients each year in the areas of Hemostasis, Immunology and Intensive Care. The plasma-derived medicinal products commercialized by LFB Hemoderivados in Brazil are manufactured by the sites of the French pharmaceutical company LFB, in part using Brazilian plasma collected through voluntary donations. LFB Hemoderivados coordinates the technology transfer that will make it possible to begin construction of a plasma fractionation plant near Recife in 2010.

LFB Hemoderivados is the Brazilian subsidiary of the LFB Group, a French public biopharmaceutical group that develops, manufactures and commercializes medicinal products for the treatment of serious and often rare diseases in the following main therapeutic fields: Hemostasis, Immunology and Intensive Care.

 About Doutores da Alegria

Doutores da Alegria (or "Doctors of Joy") is an association that has taken on the mission to promote the organization of moments of joy for hospitalized children, their parents and healthcare professionals. The association also includes a core group of experts in the art of clowning who devote their time to the production of knowledge and to artistic expression. With nearly 45 professional clowns performing in 14 hospitals in São Paulo, Recife and Belo Horizonte, the Doutores da Alegria are recognized throughout the country for their professionalism and innovative performances. The association won the "Prêmio Criança 1997" (Childhood Award) award from the Fundação Abrinq pelos Direitos da Criança (ABRINQ Foundation for children’s rights) and was on the Habitat 100 Best Practices list of the United Nations.

 About Hemobras

HEMOBRAS is a Brazilian public company whose main activity is the production of plasma-derived medicinal products. Among its other activities, it has a mastery of the fractionation of plasma or intermediate products for the production of blood derivatives, their distribution, the development of exchange programs with national and foreign entities as well as biomedicinal products and reagents produced by genetic engineering for use in the field of hematology.

 Press Contacts

Financial Dynamics 

Florence de Montmarin

 Le Rire Médecin

Marie-Céline Kas, Communications Manager

 The LFB Group

Sandrine Charrières, Communications Director