BOSTON -- When your child is critically ill, you want the best technology has to offer.

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Watch Heather Unruh's Report HOSPITAL CLOWN TROUPE To Contact: Jeannie Lindheim's Hospital Clown Troupe P.O Box 600621 Newtonville, MA 02460 (617) 558-2834 Click here for more info.

NewsCenter 5's Heather Unruh said that at Massachusetts General Hospital that's the biggest part of the equation. But they're also treating sick kids with a healthy dose of humor and finding the distraction makes powerful medicine.

Clown rounds are so ridiculous that the children can't resist, and as it turns out, the old bag of tricks may have a valuable healing function.

"We help hopefully to change the environment and the room when we walk in because hospitals are very serious places," hospital clown Jeannie Lindheim said.

Laughter, according to many new studies, can be powerful medicine, working like magic to ease kids anxiety and tension. It can be a good distraction from important treatments they need to get well.

Parents see the immediate benefit.

"He definitely was happy. Laying in a hospital bed gets boring. So having people like the clowns and other events have highlighted their days," one patient's mother said.

The specially trained hospital clowns volunteer at the hospital twice a month and at other area hospitals. They use gentle touch and simple props. They've discovered that's really all they need to make a powerful impact on a child's mood.

"She's been in here almost 7 weeks, and we've been through a lot. You can tell she perked right up when they came in. This was wonderful. She loved it," another patient's parent said.

"To me, it was an opportunity to bring just a small moment of happiness. It's just wonderful, and it's a circle of love. You're giving it out, and you're getting it back, and it's this wonderful moment that's created," one clown said.

For a few minutes songs replace the sounds of beeps, blips and drips.

A little clowning around may be just what the doctor ordered to help speed the recovery and get kids home where they belong.