Patch Adams
| Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams | |
|---|---|
 Adams in Anaheim, California, May 15, 2008 | |
| Born | May 28, 1945 (1945-05-28) (age 65) Washington, D.C. |
| Nationality | United States |
| Education | M.D., Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Alma mater | George Washington University |
| Home town | Arlington, Virginia |
| Spouse | Linda Edquist (divorced) |
| Children | Atomic Zagnut Adams Lars Zig Edquist Adams |
Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams, M.D. (born May 28, 1945 in Washington, D.C.) is an American physician, social activist, citizen diplomat and author. He founded the Gesundheit! Institute in 1971. Each year he organizes a group of volunteers from around the world to travel to various countries where they dress as clowns in an effort to bring humor to orphans, patients, and other people.
His life inspired the film Patch Adams, starring Robin Williams. Adams is currently based in Arlington, Virginia. In collaboration with the institute, he promotes a different health care model (i.e. one not funded by insurance policies).
Early life
Adams had a difficult childhood. His father, an officer in the United States Army, had fought in Korea, and died while stationed in Germany when Adams was 16-years-old After his father's death, Adams returned to the United States with his mother and brother. Upon his return, Adams has stated that he encountered institutional injustice which made him a target for bullies at school. As a result, Adams was unhappy and became actively suicidal. After being hospitalized three times in one year for wanting to end his life, he decided "you don't kill yourself; you make revolution." According to Adams, ever since this realization, he has been active with no breaks in his revolution for love, peace, and justice.
Early career
After graduating (1963) from Wakefield High School (Arlington County, Virginia),[1] Adams completed pre-med coursework at the George Washington University. He began medical school without an undergraduate degree, and earned his Doctor of Medicine degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1971. In the late 60s, one of his closest friends (a man, not a woman as depicted in the Patch Adams film) was murdered. Convinced of the powerful connection between environment and wellness, he believes the health of an individual cannot be separated from the health of the family, community, and the world. While working in an adolescent clinic at MCV, in his final year of med school, he met Linda Edquist, a fellow VCU student who volunteered in the clinic. Soon after graduation, Patch, Linda, and friends founded the Gesundheit! Institute (originally known to many as the Zanies), which ran as a free community hospital for 12 years.
Adams and Edquist married in 1975 and had two children, Atomic Zagnut Adams and Lars Zig Edquist Adams. The couple divorced in 1998.
Gesundheit! Institute
Main article: Gesundheit! Institute
A revamped Gesundheit! Institute, envisioned as a free, full-scale hospital and health care eco-community, is planned on 316 acres (128 ha) in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Its goal is to integrate a traditional hospital with alternative medicine, with the organization developing educational programs in sustainable systems design targeted to medical students and the general public.
Since the 1990s Adams has supported the Ithaca Health Alliance (IHA),[3] founded as the Ithaca Health Fund (IHF) by Paul Glover. In January 2006 IHA launched the Ithaca Free Clinic, bringing to life key aspects of Adams' vision. Adams has also given strong praise to Health Democracy
, Glover's book written and published the same year.
In October 2007, Adams and the Gesundheit Board unveiled its campaign to raise $1 million towards building a Teaching Center and Clinic on its land in West Virginia. The Center and Clinic will enable Gesundheit to see patients and teach health care design.
Adams urges medical students to develop compassionate connections with their patients. His prescription for this kind of care relies on humor and play, which he sees as essential to physical and emotional health. Ultimately, Adams wants the Gesundheit! Institute to open a 40-bed hospital in rural West Virginia that offers free, holistic care to anyone who wants it.
Adams was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award on January 29, 1997.
In 2008, Adams agreed to become honorary chair of the "International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment" or IAACM. In a number of his speeches and essays, Martin Luther King, Jr. had called for such an IAACM, but none was ever created. MindFreedom International, a nonprofit coalition that Gesundheit! belongs to as a sponsor group, launched the IAACM to support "creative maladjustment" and social change.
Views and beliefs
Adams has criticized the film made about him, saying it sacrificed a lot of his message in order to make a movie that would sell. He said that out of all aspects of his life and activism, the film portrayed him merely as a funny doctor. Patch Adams also said of Robin Williams in an interview "He made 21 million dollars for four months of pretending to be me, in a very simplistic version, and did not give $10 to my free hospital. Patch Adams, the person, would have, if I had Robin's money, given all 21 million dollars to a free hospital in a country where 80 million cannot get care."
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