During the next twelve years, they operated a fun-filled, home-based family medical practice and managed to see more than 15,000 people without bills or other compensation, malpractice insurance, formal facilities, and other necessities of modern medicine. It tells, in Patch’s voice, how he and a few colleagues came to found the Gesundheit Institute in Northern Virginia in 1971. We decided to collaborate on a book about a unique and positive approach to health and healing.
Gesundheit hospital Patch#
Patch Adams, M.D., a social revolutionary and one-man show, who believes in horse and buggy medicine and never charges his patients a cent! Patch has become a celebrity in medical circles because his ideals-and his plans for transforming them into reality-kindle the hope of rediscovering the joy in practicing medicine, for health care professionals and patients alike. He stood before an audience of Maryland hospital administrators who snickered at first, then smiled, then fell silent, and ended up thunderously applauding and inviting him to their regional conference. Beneath the rubber nose was an elaborate handlebar mustache on the back of his head, a ponytail that reached to his waist. The first time I saw him, he was wearing a rubber nose, a multi-colored print shirt, and a polka-dot tie over yellow balloon pants held up by suspenders. We at Healing Arts Press hope that this film and the new exposure it gives to the story of Gesundheit! will prove the catalyst that finally brings to Patch and his friends the support, recognition, and success they deserve. Thousands of readers have been moved by the story of Patch’s life and work and his dream to build a hospital that uses laughter as a form of medicine, love as its currency, and trust and acceptance as the very bricks of its foundation. It is easy to see these two men as kindred spirits, two individuals who are blessed with the ability to make us laugh and who enrich the world around them through the generous expression of their gifts. It seems only fitting that an actor of such unique comic and dramatic talents as Williams should be chosen to play Patch. In December of 1998 Universal Studios is releasing a film version of Patch’s life, starring Robin Williams, bringing this important story to an international audience.
Gesundheit hospital free#
It is a testament to Patch’s conviction and tenacious determination that he has never abandoned his quest, and that he continues to help and to heal people, as well as to believe that his dream for a new paradigm of medical treatment-a free hospital-will soon become a reality. Their inspiring vision of a different sort of medicine and their unflagging belief in a dream that too many shortsightedly called impossible has won respect and admiration, not only from us but from people the world over. From the time the Gesundheit! manuscript first arrived in our office we have been avid fans of Patch and his band of healer-clowns, and of the true spirit of life and love they bring to their work.
Gesundheit hospital movie#
When Universal Studios expressed interest in making a movie about Patch Adams and Gesundheit! we at Healing Arts Press couldn’t have been more delighted. In his frequent lectures to colleges, churches, community groups, medical schools, and conferences, Patch shows how healing can be a loving, creative, humorous human exchange-not a business transaction.
Today's high-tech medicine has become too costly, impersonal, and grim.
In his frequent lectures at medical schools and international conferences, Adams's irrepressible energy cuts through the businesslike facade of the medical industry to address the caring relationship between doctor and patient that is at the heart of true medicine.Īll author royalties are used to fund The Gesundheit Institute, a 40-bed free hospital in West Virginia.Īdams's positive vision and plan for the future is an inspiration for those concerned with the inaccessibility of affordable, quality health care. Whether it means putting on a red clown nose for sick children or taking a disturbed patient outside to roll down a hill with him, Adams does whatever is necessary to help heal. Impossible? Not for those who know and work with Patch. Adams is the founder of the Gesundheit Institute, a home-based medical practice that has treated more than 15,000 people for free, and that is now building a full-scale hospital that will be open to anyone in the world free of charge. Meet Patch Adams, M.D., a social revolutionary who has devoted his career to giving away health care.