NEW YORK ( CNN ) -- Oooooooshie the clown knows the instant effect he has on patients . The Lev Leytzan clowns perform for children and patients in hospitals to spread laughter and joy . `` When you walk out of a room hearing people laugh and smile , you hear them talking about it , '' said the clown , whose real name is Asher Mechanic . He entertains children and patients as part of a clown troupe in New York called Compassionate Clown Alley , bringing laughter to those in hospitals . `` It 's the spreading of giving from one person to another , like a chain reaction , '' Mechanic said . The clown organization is also known as Lev Leytzan , a name derived from the program 's roots working with Jewish youth . In Hebrew , lev means heart , and leytzan is a clown , so the translation is `` The Heart of the Clown . '' Watch the clowns talk about their work . » . `` Lev Leytzan allows me to take [ something ] scary and mundane for the patient and into something exciting beautiful and playful , '' said the group 's founder , Dr. Neal Goldberg , a Woodmere , New York-based clinical psychologist . For the last two and half years , the clowns have been bringing cheer to the patients at the South Nassau Communities Hospital . `` The patients get satisfaction from having some sunshine coming to them in the hospital , '' said Phyllis Citera , director of volunteer services at the hospital . `` Sundays at the hospital are typically quiet , especially for those patients who do n't have visitors stopping by . The clowns especially cheer them up . '' A positive approach empowers people who are ill , said Goldberg , who works with children , teenagers and young adults . Six years ago , while working on a bereavement project , he realized he was making a clown of himself and others in an effort to help people cope with pain . He wondered what would distract the patients from their pain and bring joy . Inspired by the work of Dr. Patch Adams , who was portrayed by Robin Williams in the 1998 film `` Patch Adams , '' Goldberg thought of running a similar program in which he and others could bring joy to people in orphanages , hospitals and retirement homes using the same whimsical approach . Goldberg researched the subject before putting on a red nose and trying out therapeutic clowning for himself . `` I found it powerful in terms of my own growth and freedom of expression and creativity , and thought it would be something wonderful and powerful to bring back to the community , to teens in particular , '' he said . Goldberg 's clowns range from 13 to 22 years old and say they find it both empowering and humbling . `` As a clown , you get more than you give , '' said Dassy Newman , a former clown . `` You ca n't hold back , you have to give it all . You have to give your heart , your soul , your energy , everything . It 's the most exhausting thing you 've ever done , but at the same time it 's the most exhilarating . '' Dr. Carolyn Fein-Levy , a pediatric oncologist at Schneider Children 's Hospital in New Hyde Park , New York , said Goldberg 's clowns provide relief to the patients . `` Whenever the clowns are around , the children are happier , '' Fein-Levy said . `` When they are happier , their parents enjoy watching them . They recapture their childhoods lost as a result of being sick . Clowns are a good distraction and it helps them feel normal . Nothing is more important for them than feeling normal , because their lives are not normal while going through therapy . '' She also teaches an oncology class to the Lev Leytzan clowns . `` It adds another dimension to their training and gives them an overview and an understanding to know what it 's like to be a kid with cancer , '' she said . Fein-Levy also draws from her own experience , having survived ovarian cancer as a child after a year of chemotherapy . `` I teach in the clown school but I 'm not worried about patients being harmed , '' she said . `` I 'm more worried about harm for clowns because it 's hard to see sick children . Some of the clowns have never really seen illness , and they can be afraid , and that 's OK. '' Clowning might be assumed to be all fun and games , but Goldberg takes the work very seriously . `` Some of the kids may have told you there 's intense amounts of hours of training and rehearsals with doctors and clowns and debriefings , '' he said . Ultimately , Goldberg said , the goal of Lev Leytzan is to `` change people 's worlds , create worlds for people that need it , and to help people play . '' He does it all under the mantra of `` serious clowning , a story behind every smile . ''
Clown group Lev Leytzan gets name from working with Jewish youth . Founder says he was inspired by Dr. Patch Adams to bring joy to patients . Clowns who perform for patients say experience is humbling . Mantra of group is `` serious clowning , a story behind every smile ''