Patch Adams

Adams was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Anna Campbell Stewart (née Hunter) and Robert Loughridge Adams.[2][3] His maternal grandfather, Thomas Lomax Hunter, was a Poet Laureate of Virginia. His father, a United States Army officer who fought in Korea, died while stationed in Germany when Adams was only 16.[1] After his father's death, Adams returned to the United States with his mother and brother. Adams has stated that upon his return he encountered racism and segregation amongst his peers which he stood and spoke up against it, which made him a target for bullies at school. As a result, Adams was unhappy and became actively suicidal. After a third hospitalization in one year he decided "you don't kill yourself, stupid; you make revolution."[4]

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 from 1971 to 1984.

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),[7] 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's 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.[8]

Adams was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award on January 29, 1997.[9]

In 2008, Adams agreed to become honorary chair of the "International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment" or IAACM. MindFreedom International, a nonprofit coalition that Gesundheit! belongs to as a sponsor group, launched the IAACM to support "creative maladjustment" and social change.[10]

Adams still leads trips to cheer kids up all over the world. He also teaches at one session of Wavy Gravy's circus camp Camp Winnarainbow.

Patch Adams with Nechama Rivlin in Award Ceremony of the Danielle Prize Healing with a Heart, April 2017

The 1998 film Patch Adams was based on Adams's life and his views on medicine. Adams has heavily criticized the film, saying it eschewed an accurate representation of his beliefs in favor of commercial viability. He said that out of all aspects of his life and activism, the film portrayed him merely as a funny doctor.[11] Patch Adams also said of Robin Williams in an interview, "He made $21 million for four months of pretending to be me, in a very simplistic version, and did not give $10 to my free hospital.[12] Patch Adams, the person, would have, if I had Robin's money, given all $21 million to a free hospital in a country where 80 million cannot get care."[13]

In another interview, Adams clarified that he did not dislike Williams saying, "I think Robin himself is compassionate, generous and funny. I like to think that that's who I am, and so I think he was the only actor I wanted to play me, and I think he did a fabulous job."[11] Williams also had actively supported St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for several years.[14]

Upon hearing of the death of Williams, he released this statement:

The terrible news of the passing of Robin Williams reached me here in the Peruvian Amazon late Monday night with tremendous sadness. Surrounded by over 100 friends and clowns on our annual clown trip, we mourn this tragic loss and continue to treasure his comic genius. Robin Williams was a wonderful, kind and generous man. One important thing I remember about his personality is that he was unassuming—he never acted as if he was powerful or famous. Instead, he was always tender and welcoming, willing to help others with a smile or a joke. Robin was a brilliant comedian—there is no doubt. He was a compassionate, caring human being. While watching him work on the set of the film based on my life—Patch Adams–I saw that whenever there was a stressful moment, Robin would tap into his improvisation style to lighten the mood of cast and crew. Also, I would like to point out, Robin would be especially kind toward my children when they would visit the set. Contrary to how many people may view him, he actually seemed to me to be an introvert. When he invited me and my family into his home, he valued peace and quiet, a chance to breathe—a chance to get away from the fame that his talent has brought him. While early in life, he turned to drug use and alcohol to escape, he replaced the addiction with moments of solitude to help cope with the stress that fame brought. This world is not kind to people who become famous, and the fame he had garnered was a nightmare. While saddened, we are left with the consequences of his death. I'm enormously grateful for his wonderful performance of my early life, which has allowed the Gesundheit! Institute to continue and expand our work. We extend our blessings to his family and friends in this moment of sadness. Thank you for all you've given this world Robin, thank you my friend.[15]

As a speaker, Adams travels around the globe lecturing about his medicine methods.[16]

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. Adams and Edquist married in 1975 and had two sons, Atomic Zagnut "Zag" Adams and Lars Zig Edquist Adams; they divorced in 1998.

In March 2021, Adams announced that his left foot had been amputated in a below-the-knee amputation due to persistent problems from a MRSA infection.[17]

• Adams, Patch; Maureen Mylander (1998). Gesundheit!: Bringing Good Health to You, the Medical System, and Society through Physician Service, Complementary Therapies, Humor, and Joy. Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press. ISBN 978-0-89281-781-8. LCCN 99187488.
• Adams, Patch (1998). House calls. Cartoons by Jerry Van Amerongen. San Francisco: Robert D. Reed Publishers. ISBN 978-1-885003-18-8. LCCN 98034266.
• Patch Adams wrote forewords for books by Pamela Wible (2012), Pet Goats & Pap Smears: 101 Medical Adventures to Open Your Heart & Mind ISBN 978-0985710309 and by Diana Leafe Christian (2003), Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities ISBN 0-86571-471-1.

• Adams, Patch; Maureen Mylander (1998). Gesundheit! [sound recording]. Los Angeles: NewStar Media. ISBN 978-0-7871-1828-0. LCCN 00717433. 4 sound cassettes (ca. 6 hr.) : digitally mastered, Dolby processed.
• Adams, Patch (1998). House calls. cartoons by Jerry Van Amerongen. San Francisco: Robert D. Reed Publishers. ISBN 978-1-885003-18-8. LCCN 98034266.
• Bourque, Judith (1999). The real Patch Adams (videorecording) / a film by Judith Bourque. Oley, PA: Bullfrog Films. ISBN 978-1-56029-811-3. LCCN 2003389123. 1 videocassette (53 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in.
• John Graham for the Giraffe Heroes Program (1999). It's up to us. foreword by Patch Adams. Langley, Washington: Giraffe Project. ISBN 978-1-893805-00-2. LCCN 99097193.

• Slow medicine
• Narrative medicine
• Clown Care
• Humor research

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Patch Adams.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Patch Adams.

• Official website
• Patch Adams at IMDb
• 13-minute video interview: "Patch Adams Presents: His Clown Character"