Invitation to Play

A therapeutic doll was created especially for the children who cannot express themselves verbally

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 29.08.2023, 11:54

Surely, we have all experienced moments when we didnt feel like talking to anyone, either out of sadness or disappointment. But there are also serious cases of children who cannot express themselves verbally — whether because they are shocked, abused, physically or sexually, are autistic, or have other disabilities. A doll the size of an older child was created for them, and not only, which they can make and unmake to their hearts content. It is an invention by physician Dana Jianu, plastic surgeon, awarded with gold medals in 2006 and 2007 at the famous exhibitions for inventions and innovations in Brussels and Geneva. This invention also got the attention of UNICEF and the UN, as coming to the aid of the worlds less fortunate children. Dana Jianu told Radio Romania:

“Its an invention born out of my love for plastic surgery, and I thought that not only surgeons, not only those who study medicine, could transform an entity. It could be anyone, children and adults, it could be a family activity, or maybe even for therapeutic purposes. And so, from the very beginning, I shaped it, I shaped this body out of foam with my own hands, and I dressed it in a skin. This skin allows many attachments, practically an indefinite number, and we have made it possible for a child or a player, regardless of his age, to have a companion, because once you transform this doll into your desired companion, you become attached to it. And it practically allows games of fantasy and games of boundless situations. You practically become a shaper, a plastic surgeon, but not only, you are more than that, you make a companion, a playmate.”

Dana Jianu confessed to us that she imagined her profession as a plastic surgeon as a game. Thus, using the aforementioned doll, the player-creator can transform a schematically represented body, a fuzzy silhouette, into a young man or a young woman, by adding either musculature (biceps, pectorals, abs, etc.) or specifically feminine features (breasts of different shapes and sizes, thighs, buttocks, thin waist); however, for this doll that can be male or female at will, we can create unlimited expressions by gluing on, through an ingenious system, eyes, nose, lips, ears, eyebrows, hair, of different colors and shapes creating new and different expressions (happy, sad, smiling, angry, playful, embarrassed, angry, etc.) according to the players imagination and mood. Physician Dana Jianu gave details:

“It can be both a boy and a girl, thats why its name is Dan. A. Joy or Dana Joy, as we endow her, as we give her bodily forms. It is a doll for which we can change both the physical features, by adding muscles and then it becomes a boy, or by adding feminine forms and then it becomes a girl. And all the features of both the boy and the girl can be changed as the player wants. We have a set of facial features, at some point it had Asian eyes, now its Caucasian eyes.”

Dana Jianu has two invention patents: this doll with changing features, DAN.A.JOY, and a surgical pincer for quick suture of wounds. The clear national and international success is the doll, which develops creativity, and which is a new means of communication and non-verbal expression. Raised in a fairy tale village, Vama, in Suceava county, plastic surgeon Dana Jianu still reminisces with delight today about life in the mountain village, where daily responsibilities were childs play. And also in the village, she developed the desire to help, as well as the skill in taking care of, first of all, the animals in the household, guided by her grandmother, but also the ability to prepare dishes, such as chicken or mushroom stew, going through all the preparation stages, including picking the mushrooms or slaughtering the animal, under the guidance of her grandfather. How did you decide to become a doctor? Dana Jianu said:

“Everything starts from the desire to take care of a being in need. And because I was very close to my grandmother, when she took care of all the creatures in the household, I realized that I like to contribute to their health. That was primordial, but it grew out of the culture in my family, my father being a doctor. I was also very close to life at the village clinic, where at that time they did everything: obstetrics-gynecology, minor surgery, all patients were treated for blood pressure, heart and diabetes. And I realized that I really like medicine and caring for beings in need.”

For plastic surgeon Dana Jianu, health is important. Although she is, in Romania, among the pioneers of aesthetic surgery, setting up the first functional private aesthetic surgery office and operating on thousands of patients, Dana Jianu encourages recourse to aesthetic or corrective surgery when necessary, so that we do not remain burdened by our own physical complexes. At the same time, she urges us to resort to cosmetic surgery out of need, not on a whim.