Hunter Campbell ‘Patch’ Adams

Patch Adams with Pierrot nose (http://www.rochester.edu/currents/V34/V34N19/calendar.html)

Once, my English teacher in my junior high school presented us ‘Patch Adams,' the movie which is played by Robin Williams. It is a true story about a man named Patch Adams. Later, my teacher gave us a project. We must make a speech about the most favorite character according to us. I remember, mine was Patch Adams. But I did it perfunctorily. I thought that some scenes of the movie were fake. One of them was the ‘Butterfly scene’. That’s the reason I made that idea. One day, I discovered more about him. Surprisingly, he did more than I’d seen in the movie. Since then, Hunter Campbell ‘Patch’ Adams has become my own hero. I am really impressed with every single thing he did. Like most people said, He is both a doctor and a clown. But in other aspects, He is a hero.

“Tak kenal maka tak sayang”.
This is one kind of popular sentence in Indonesia. It means “Don't recognize then don’t love”. Thus, I tell you about Patch Adams. Hunter Campbell ‘Patch’ Adams was born on May 28, 1945 in Washington and grew up in Northern Virginia. His father passed away when he was 16. He attended Wakefield High School in 1963. After a brief learning at Sewanee University, he accomplished pre-med coursework at the George Washington University. He learned medicine at Medical College of Virginia, Health Science of Virginia Commonwealth University and earned his Doctor of Medicine Degree in 1973.

After he graduated, he and his friend in Medical College of Virginia, Linda Susan Edquist, founded a community hospital, Gesundheit! Institute or known as Zanies. It gave free medical service for 12 years. Patch Adams married Linda Edquist and had 2 children, the eldest named Atomic Zagnut Adams, after a personal laugh with life of him and his close friend, and the younger child was named Lars Zig Edquist Adams. They divorced in 1997.

His friend’s death convinced him about a new paradigm. Patch Adams believed that there was strong relationship between environment and wellness. He believed that the health of a person couldn’t be separated from the health of family, community and the world. Patch Adams believed that the curing process can be accelerated by laughing and happy feeling. He always amuses his patients, especially children, by performing as a clown that makes them happy. He thinks that his patients will improve soon when they get happy feelings.

His vision that health depends on environment and family encouraged him in Gesundheit! Institute. Gesundheit means ‘Health’ in German. Gesundheit! Institute is a hospital which integrates with a traditional hospital. It combines integrative medicine with performing arts, crafts, nature, agriculture, and recreation. Patch Adams gives a big care to peace among nations. Every year he organizes a group of volunteers from around the world to travel as clowns to bring hope and joy to orphans, patients and the people.

History will look back on his work. Up to now, he serves his patients with care and love, laugh and joy.