A mysterious group has been visiting hospitals, providing what members call “secret lessons” to young patients while using their powers to provide them with moments of empowerment and joy during some scary times.
Volunteers with Open Heart Magic have been entertaining and educating young patients through bedside magic at 12 children’s hospitals for 20 years.
“There’s power behind magic and we teach kids magic too,” said Christine Gravel-Lippoldt, of Homer Glen, a longtime volunteer magician at Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn, one of nine hospitals in the Chicago area with Open Heart Magic volunteers. “They get to learn what we call ‘secret lessons,’ and they can do magic for their friends and family. It’s very empowering.”
She said volunteer magicians are trained via the organization’s Magic University, and not just about how to do tricks. “It’s all about the things you can do to put power in their hands. It’s asking if they want the door open or closed, or if they want you to stand on this side of the bed,” said Gravel-Lippoldt, the group’s marketing and branding specialist.
Eighteen years ago, she was looking for a way to give back and joined the organization, which was founded by Mike Walton in 2003 at Rush University Medical Center.
“You didn’t have to have any experience. They would teach you what you need to do for magic,” Gravel-Lippoldt shared. “You’re making a child like a child again. There’s hope. When a parent thanks you for getting their child to smile for the first time, my exact reaction is ‘Thank you for telling me that, but it’s entirely my pleasure.’
“Becoming a magician is probably one of the most rewarding volunteer opportunities you could ever have as far as I’m concerned. … There’s nothing like it.”
She described a recent encounter with a 13-year-old patient who was quiet at first “but started engaging more as I did more magic for her.”
“At the end, the mom said ‘That was the first time I’ve seen a smile on her face all day. And now she wants to paint because she’s feeling better,’” Gravel-Lippoldt said. “It seems like small, incidental moments, but they mean everything to the child who is in the hospital.”
Eric Steigerwald, senior director of marketing and program development, joined Open Heart Magic as a volunteer magician in 2010 and, along with Gravel-Lippoldt, is now one of the organization’s five employees. He said its name was meant to indicate people were “opening their hearts” to the program.
“Unfortunately, people only think we see open heart patients. Hindsight is 20/20. We want to see all the kids because whether they’re there for heart surgery or a broken arm or the flu, a kid deserves to be a kid and we want to see them and bring them magic,” he said.
In addition to magicians performing at Chicago area hospitals, including University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, the organization operates programs at two children’s hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, and one in Ann Arbor, Mich. Aspiring volunteers are always needed, especially at Advocate in Oak Lawn, which has just nine magicians on its roster.
“A lot of people assume we are a group of magicians who volunteer. That is not the case,” Steigerwald said. “What we are is a group of volunteers who happen to know magic: fun, magnetic, committed individuals who want to learn new skills.”
Potential volunteers are screened and trained so they fit in with the organization’s approach, and those who don’t know magic are especially welcome.
“Sometimes if someone comes to us with a lot of magic background it’s hard for them to get out of that lane,” he said. “It’s very different from performance stage magic. We’re working one on one or with a family at the bedside, so the magic and approach needs to be sensitive. The magician needs to be able to adapt, perform for a patient who can’t sit up or use their arms or not speak at all.”
The group tries to recruit volunteers who live near the hospitals because magicians visit every other week, totaling 23 or 24 visits annually. Chicago volunteers train at the 12-week Magic University at 67 E. Madison Ave. in Chicago, and there are ongoing education opportunities, Steigerwald said.
Right now, the organization has 20 Magic University instructors across the three cities, although most are in Chicago. “Typically for our volunteers we ask for a year, but the average lifespan is probably three to five years. We have some who have been doing it for 10,12, 15 years.”
Volunteers must be post college and have a fairly set schedule. Some are as young as 25 or 26 and others are as old as 76. The magic they do is considered professional closeup magic.
“A lot of it has been based on traditional, historic restaurant/bar magic. We want it to happen in the patient’s hands,” he said. “We want the child to find that laughter and joy through the magic and don’t want to create a sense of ‘I fooled you.’ …. That’s why in addition to performing we also teach the kids tricks so they can ‘fool’ doctors, nurses and their friends.”
An added bonus is hospital staff can see the magic wand or trick left behind and have something to talk to the patient about. “They don’t have to focus on ‘How are you feeling today?’ They can say ‘I heard you did some magic. What’s that wand doing over there?’” Steigerwald explained.
“A lot of our approach and our design of the experience is all scripted,” he added. “The way we introduce ourselves is very child-focused, approachable. Even how we leave the room is about offering a sense of control for the child. Our magicians wear black coats because doctors wear white coats. … We’re not there for any medical purpose. We’re there to provide fun and to provide a sick child a chance to be a child again.”
Steigerwald called the volunteers dedicated. “We don’t make it easy – we have high standards because it’s a very sensitive environment. It’s humbling to walk into a child’s room, meet a child and their family at a very difficult time. Some kids and families just received challenging news. Our volunteers have been pulled into emergency visits and life-threatening procedures to help calm the child or the situation.”
In 2024, Open Heart Magic made 1,727 individual visits, helping 7,637 children and working with an additional 14,365 families, siblings and guests, he said.
Some of those visits were from Jason Kilarski of Western Springs, who not only performs at Advocate in Oak Lawn but also trains others at Magic University and serves as a “magic depot,” where volunteers can restock their supplies. He joined the organization in 2018 and hadn’t done magic before.
“It gives me a chance to give back in a way that I think very few people can do,” he said. “And I see the good that it does when I am at the hospital.”
Kilarski, who likes card tricks best, said performing for a patient can be emotional. “The impact of walking into a hospital room cold, not knowing what I’m going to see, seeing those clouds turned into enchantment after 15 minutes – it’s moving. I’ve had to gather myself after leaving a room many times.”
At Magic University, he said, “People go from knowing no magic to bedside magic in three or four months. It’s quite a transformation.”
Learning magic tricks is just one aspect of the training, however, and he said the graduation rate is about half. “Some self-select and realize it’s more than they thought. Others have to be politely told they are not a good fit for a variety of reasons,” Kilarski said. “There’s the actual technique and then there’s that bedside manner. … Are they going to act good with children and their parents in a vulnerable moment?”
For those willing to open their hearts, the organization provides a “unique opportunity” to volunteers, Steigerwald said. “I have volunteered in many places, but what made me fall in love with OHM is I see the impact on the front lines. There is something truly unique about getting the shy 5-year-old girl in the dark room to sit up, turn on the lights and start belly laughing through pain.”
Melinda Moore is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
