Finally! Medicine for people not for profit!!

books:


	• Gesundheit!: Bringing Good Health to You, the Medical System, and Society through Physician Service, ... Patch Adams Healing Arts Press, 1998 - 248 pages average customer review:based on 19 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Finally! Medicine for people not for profit!!

+++++

This book by Hunter "Patch" Adams, M.D. (with Maureen Mylander) is about a social revolutionary who has devoted his life to giving away health care. Adams is founder of the "Gesundheit" Institute, a home-based medical practice in West Virginia that has treated more then 15,000 people for free. The Gesundheit Institute's dream is to build a free, full-scale hospital that will be open to anyone in the world.

This book is divided into two parts. The first part generally deals with Patch's philosophy on medicine while the second part describes the dream of opening up a free hospital.

Below I will state the title of each chapter for each part and give a quotation that represents the essence of each chapter.

PART 1: (About Patch and his medical philosophy)

(1) A health care system in pain. "I believe that health care [providers] who feel burned out are not allowing the "enrapture potential" in the doctor-patient relationship."
(2) An ideal medical practice. "Nosy, curious healers who make house calls will have the time of their lives!"
(3) Humor and healing, or why we're building a silly hospital. "People crave laughter as if it were an essential amino acid."
(4) Art, nature, and imagination. "Nature tops the list of potent tranquilizers and stress reducers. The mere sound of moving water has been shown to lower blood pressure."
(5) Rebuilding self, family, community, world. "I graduated from medical school `head smart.' While living in community, however, I have built buildings, farmed, raised goats, produced movies, and learned rope walking and unicycling."

PART 2: (The dream of a free hospital)

(6) The pilot period. "People often ask, 'How did you earn a living [at the Gesundheit Institute] if you weren't charging your patients.'"
(7) The dream defined. "[In our hospital], we are a company of friends, of givers and receivers, of doctors and patients."
(8) *Gareth's Story. "We watched a beautiful, orange sunset in silence and Patch turned to me [Gareth, a patient] and said, 'Do you have arthritis while watching this.'"
(9) *Organizing dreamers. "The entire purpose of a structure at Gesundheit is to support people's enthusiastic efforts to make the world a better, therefore healthier, place."
(10) Building a dream. "The atmosphere of [our free] hospital is intended to avoid the indifference projected by so many [other health care] facilities and to convey joy, enthusiasm, peace, caring, and openness."
(11) *Living on the land. "Dream. Dream wild. Extremely wild dreams. Somewhere back there is a wild seed waiting. Of that I am sure."
(12) Light a candle: how can I help? ("I" refers to readers of this book.) "Medicine practiced as a business [as it is today] hurts everyone. The true reward of medicine come from helping others and from self-discovery...Service is essential to healing and the pathway to inner peace."
(13) Passion and persistence. "I don't want people to be amazed by our passion and persistence, but inspired by us to work long and hard for what they believe in."
(14) Five years have passed. (This chapter is for the year 1998). "[This] book has really helped bring our ideas more clearly to a much wider audience all over the world. We get thousands of letters telling how our work has inspired similar projects and people-not just in the health field but in all human endeavors."

(* These chapters are not written by the authors.)

There are fifteen black and white pictures found in the middle of this book. There are also diagrams. I found all of these amusing and informative.

Those people who feel or have been brainwashed into believing that there is nothing wrong with today's health care system will probably not appreciate this book. (This statement especially applies to those people who profit from it.) All other people should find this honest book enlightening.

The movie "Patch Adams" starring Robin Williams was, I felt, very good. Even though I saw this movie first, I still learned a lot from this book.

Finally, to catch up on the latest developments of the Gesundheit Institute, I recommend visiting Patch Adams' internet site.

In conclusion, I have not seen a family physician for fifteen years (and have vowed never to see one or any other medical provider for the rest of my life). However, if I do become seriously ill (and the illness would have to be severe), I would gladly welcome the services of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams!!!

(first published 1993; last chapter for the year 1998; publisher's preface; foreword; author's acknowledgements; co-author's preface; introduction; 2 parts or 14 chapters; main narrative 195 pages; bibliography; index)

+++++

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This laughing doctor is no joke!

If you are interested in making this world a better place and if you are looking for role models, read about Patch Adams.

I've seen the movie, I've read the book, and everytime I think of Dr.Adams or speak of him to my friends and students, it's an inspiration.

I promise you. This laughing doctor is no joke. We need more people like him in this world.

So, read the book, watch the movie... and hopefully it will inspire you to take action!

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The World's Doctor

Whoever reads this book and absorbs its messages will become a healthier individual and a better citizen of the world.

First, Patch examines the American healthcare system. He explains why corporate healthcare is a contradiction and cannot be permitted in a healthy society. He shows how the doctor-patient relationship has become more like a business interaction, and how this is relationship in itself is a fundamental plague on America.

Extending his experiences in healthcare to all society, Patch observes that we have lost touch with ourselves and each other, with nature, and lost perspective on the joy and wonder of life.

This criticism is where 99.9% of books and people stop. Patch is one of the few in the world who is not only deeply aware of the problems but has detailed plans on how to fix them and acts on those plans. In the book, he outlines his model for personal living and for a better society. A model based on the radical principles of joy and fun:

"The most revolutionary act anyone can commit is to be happy."

"We hear far more about pain because it seems to be associated with maturity. Enthusiastic joy is associated with childhood--as if it were something to outgrow."

Reading this book gave me a new conception of health. It's not just physical or personal like the parts of a car, it's psychological, intellectual, spiritual, social, political, economic, local, international, and interpersonal. Live creatively! Discover the fun we can have together! Live in peace! Now that's good medicine.

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He Is The Real Deal

This book was an inspiration to read and also a trip down memory lane for me. I had the pleasure of knowing Hunter "Patch" Adams many years ago in Northern Virginia. I was a Stewardess at the time and was working for United Air Lines. I was based in Washington DC and lived in Norther Virginia. I first met Patch at a nutrition clinic where the woman running the clinic relied on muscle biopsies to let her know what nutrients a person was missing. Patch did the muscle biopsy. From that encounter a friendship developed and I used to visit he and his group at their home on weekends. I did this for several years and was able to observe the kindness and caring first hand. During those years many people came to the commune for medical care, myself included. It is joyful to see that Patch is getting the recognition he deserves.

Rose

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Good for anyone in medicine, healing, etc

This was required in my studies and I thought it'd be kinda lame. It's much better than it seems and reminds you to keep the joy in your life and bring it to others.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

The inspiring and hilarious story of Patch Adams's quest to bring free health care to the world and to transform the way doctors practice medicine

? Tells the story of Patch Adam's lifetime quest to transform the health care system

? Released as a film from Universal Pictures, starring Robin Williams

Meet Patch Adams, M.D., a social revolutionary who has devoted his career to giving away health care. 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. Ambitious? Yes. Impossible? Not for those who know and work with Patch. 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. 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.
All author royalties are used to fund The Gesundheit Institute, a 40-bed free hospital in West Virginia.
Adams' positive vision and plan for the future is an inspiration for those concerned with the inaccessibility of affordable, quality health care.

Today's high-tech medicine has become too costly, impersonal, and grim. 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.

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