{"id":5448,"date":"2016-06-24T14:12:29","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T04:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/?p=5448"},"modified":"2016-07-01T16:24:45","modified_gmt":"2016-07-01T06:24:45","slug":"behind-the-scenes-rocco-and-his-puppeteer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/behind-the-scenes-rocco-and-his-puppeteer\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Scenes: Rocco and his puppeteer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Video producer, host, performer and puppeteer extraordinaire! This week we caught up with Emre, who wears many different hats as part of our talented Educational Resource Centre<\/a> team.<\/p>\n

The team produce a variety of in-house television programs, including Be Positive<\/em><\/a> which helps patients understand more about the RCH and what happens within our walls.<\/p>\n

Rocco and Jazz, our friendly puppets, appear on the Be Positive<\/em> show. They also get out on the wards meeting children and families. We spoke to Emre, who slips into the character of Rocco, and has enormous fun doing so!<\/p>\n

What does a typical day look like for you? <\/strong><\/p>\n

“There are no typical days! Some days I\u2019m filming, some days editing and\u00a0some days performing. If a patient requests a visit from Rocco, then I\u2019ll go up and have a chat. We know how much it means to the kids and it\u2019s great to see their faces light up when Rocco arrives.”<\/p>\n

What is the role of Rocco? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Quite simply, Rocco provides a way for patients to connect to something fun and non-threatening. Rather than an adult going and talking to a child, Rocco allows me to tap into my childish side and interact with the kids on a level that really relates to them. I can use their interests, like Taylor Swift, to communicate with them. If you want to connect with kids you really have to let go of your inhibitions.”<\/p>\n

What do you love about being Rocco?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Rocco brings out the fun side of me and that makes patients happy. Rocco\u2019s a bit silly and funny, and deep within, that\u2019s how I feel I am too, so I guess Rocco is an extension of who I am.”<\/p>\n

What do you enjoy about working at the RCH?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“There aren\u2019t a lot of jobs where you can interact with such lovely, kind, understanding people and where you can make a difference to kids\u2019 experience of hospital.<\/p>\n

“At the end of the day, we\u2019re all here to benefit the kids during a time when they might feel isolated or afraid. If the Be Positive<\/em> show can give knowledge that empowers them, or Rocco can bring a kid joy and make them laugh, then that\u2019s a great achievement.”<\/p>\n

Is there anything we might be surprised to learn about you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I\u2019m also a singer\/songwriter and write around two songs a month in Turkish. My background is Turkish; I came here as a refugee, and speak Turkish and English fluently. Music helps me connect with my heritage.”<\/p>\n

Has your child met Rocco or Jazz?<\/p>\n

\"Rocco<\/a><\/p>\n

You can visit the B+ website for more information: http:\/\/www.rch.org.au\/be-positive\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Video producer, host, performer and puppeteer extraordinaire! This week we caught up with Emre. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":5450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5448"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5471,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5448\/revisions\/5471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}