Patch Adams

Living and teaching the proof that “laughter is the best medicine” Patch has long been an innovator and an inspiration in the field of health services and hospital management.
When beginning his studies in medicine in 1967, Patch’s humanitarian expectations found little support in a system that was toxic to doctors and patients, and made profitability as important as treatment. Seeing the flaws and the suffering endured on all sides, he was driven to create a hospital model that delivered both services and caring to those in need, regardless of financial compensation.

This became the “Gesundheit! Institute”, started as a pilot program that ran from 1971-1983, offering care to over 15 000 patients, via all forms of healing arts, and closed only to focus on building a new hospital, designed to eliminate 90% of the cost of care in standard hospitals. This model is attracting real doctors and nurses whose willingness to be of real service, with compassion and efficiency outweighs the dramatic pay cuts.

 Another of the innovations Patch brought to rejuvenate health care is clowning in hospitals, as portrayed in the very popular film of his life released in 1998, which has sparked a movement to bring laughter into hospitals in 120 countries. Since 1984, Patch and his team have also been engaged running Global Outreach in 68 countries, leading clown trips into troubled regions, instigating construction of orphanages, clinics and community centers in 24 countries.

Patch has published 2 books, lectured, performed, and received countless awards around the world, and still works tirelessly to redefine hospitals as ‘nests of care for the community’.

www.patchadams.org