Dr. Hunter

Dr. Patch Adams, immortalized by the famous Robin Williams Film “Patch Adams,” was the creator of the Gesundheit institute and the author of the revolutionary book Gesundheit!. His courage, friendliness and intelligence are recognized around the world.

Patch was born into a stern military family in Europe, he constantly moved everywhere. He was never friendly with his father. But he was close with his mother, who instilled his most principled virtues and his sense of comedy even in the saddest of places. In school, he was known as the class clown; even though his outrageous behavior disrupted the students, he was very superior in math and science. He won many science fairs, including the All-Europe Science Fair.

His father was becoming an alcoholic, so his mother sent Patch to live with his father for a month; she thought that it might stop her husband from becoming an alcoholic. They shared stories, like his science fairs and his dad’s war experiences, the death of his dad’s best friend and others. A week later, his dad died of a heart attack.

Things went downhill for Patch after the death of his father. They moved to West Virginia, where his uncle lived. His uncle became like a father figure to him. He also found the love of his life, his girlfriend named Donna. Things looked good for him until his freshmen year of college. His girlfriend broke up with him, and around that same time, his uncle committed suicide. It was noted that he was struggling with depression around that time.

He was admitted into a mental institute,where he met many people, particularly one who showed him that he was loved. He saw what it was like to be a patient. He was also very disappointed in the way his doctors treated him. Shortly after being admitted, he left, with a heart full of spirit and love.

He entered the University of Virginia in 64’, in hoping that he could try to change the way the doctors treated their patients. In college, he would be comical with his patients, and the professors frowned upon that. He successfully graduated college and went on to a successful career.

After a while, he started to build the Gesundheit Hospital, a hospital where people can go in free and they are treated like people. Even though he does not own the hospital now, he is still known as one of its primary members. He instilled his idea of “Laughter is the best medicine there is," and to always care about the people you work with. He taught everyone to be happy in even the darkest places. He wrote 2 books talking about what he believes in too.

Dr. Hunter “Patch” Adams: born in Fredericksburg, physician for 30 years, author and known creator of Gesundheit, and hero to me.