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Summary: A MAGICAL BOOK!
Review: Behind Patch Adams clown nose and jokes lies a social revolutionary who has devoted his life to transforming the health care system. In his book "Gesundheit" he shares a vision of a free holistic medical practice based on faith, friendship and fun. Adams life and work even inspired the producers of Universal Studios to make a movie titled "Patch Adams" staring Robin Williams.
Patch Adams is the founder of Gesundheit, a holistic home-based medical practice that managed to see more than 15,000 people without bills, malpractice insurance, formal facilities and paper work. Adams' vision is a wake-up call for all of us.
Like Adams I became discouraged when the art of counseling and medicine was replaced by the science of business and technology. During my 20 years of working as a children's counselor at a Mental Health Center I witnessed how mental health and medicine, the nations number one industries today, shifted from the community to the corporate level. When the loving human interchange between a client and counselor became more a business transaction, and the paperwork not the people became the bulk of our services due to fear of litigation, I decided it was time to retire.
In "Gesundheit" Adams discourages health care professionals from carrying malpractice insurance. When fear is the baseline from which to practice healing it encourages caregivers to prescribe "cookbook" treatments even when they believe them to be inadequate or potentially harmful. Fear and distrust makes physicians reluctant to explore alternate therapy and leads them to put patients through procedures and tests that are unnecessary and defensive. When professionals see patients as passive recipients of wisdom there is no room for humility or mistakes. A malpractice climate denies physicians the right to be imperfect.
Third-party reimbursement is also a problem. It has diverted medicine from a service to a business and become a circus act with many hoops to jump through. Doctors tend to over-order tests and overdo procedures when patients are insured. It's easier to order tests than provide care or comfort. Hospital supply companies, medical technology and pharmaceutical firms have become multimillion dollar moguls of medicine.
Another problem is that the professional distance ethic often leads to aloofness and arrogance. Many patients are described as diseases, lab values, or treatments. When people are called the names of their diseases other facets of the patient's life are neglected such as family, friends, faith, fun, work, nutrition and exercise. Life itself is bigger than illness, diagnosis, treatment and disease.
When touching is taboo and getting close to clients is forbidden we loose the magic of vulnerability and trust in a relationship. Healing happens in the relationship between the healer and the patient. A healer cannot offset the pain and suffering of a client without intimacy. Healers need the freedom to cry with and hug their patients. Transference is inevitable. Every human being has some kind of impact on another. A solid relationship creates a loving, human, creative, cooperative and open environment.
Privacy or confidentiality rules make intimacy difficult. Public disclosure strengthens relationships and helps develop a greater sense of support and understanding. Like 12-step programs the surrendering of privacy is the cornerstone of friendship and an antidote to loneliness. Our stories are important and listening to each other's stories provides the magic for healing. We are a tribal people and we need community. We need to move from the insurance of cash to the insurance of clan.
Progress has become synonymous with "advances in technology." Although modern medicine has made great strides in knowledge and technology, health care professionals are rarely vibrant with the joy of human service. Many doctors feel naked without their instruments and machines. Even though comfort, empathy, and reassurance-so vital to a medical practice requires no technology. Our magic as healers is not in our tools but in ourselves.
We also need to integrate humor and nature in healing work. Humor is a powerful antidote to pain and nature tops the list of potent stress reducers. An individual's health cannot be separated from their natural and human environment and wellness needs to include prevention of ecological disasters.
Adams' book "Gesundheid" is an excellent summary of how today's high-tech medicine has become too costly, dehumanized, mistrustful and grim and gives us a vision of what good health care could be. We not only need a better health care system but a healthier one. Profit, paperwork, medication, and medical procedures cannot be a substitute for time spent talking to and observing patients.
Mother Teresa's Mission of Charity has provided free services to the poor in over 52 continents since 1952. They accept donations from individuals not companies and have not only survived but thrived. Gesundheit, a non-religious modern day version of the Missions of Charity, also offers free services in faith not fear. Both demonstrate how giving is intoxicating and produce intimacy as a byproduct. Both show how fulfillment that comes from service is one of the great medicines of life.
Although most of us cannot give our services away for free we can learn from Adams' vision. Putting people before profit is a win win situation. When people are happy they're less likely to litigate and surprise, surprise the business ends up making a profit.
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Summary: A fantastic social revolution in the making !
Review: Dr. Hunter D. "Patch" Adams is one of those rare social prophets who sacrifice their entire lives for the belief that a common good for the whale of a humanity can be achieved by their never ending and tireless efforts.I would say that this virtually 'burn out' free environment he's creating is purely a result of 'psychoneuroimmunology' to the bottom. This book is not only for doctors but laymen like me wouldn't be able to put it down until they have breathe the complete soul of the book into themselves. Patch explains the importance of the miracle of life and how we must cherish it by being happy from within and share our joy with the world and bring about peace to the earth one step at a time. "No matter how insignificant you think you are, you can make an unbelievable difference to the lives of your immediate family and your community as a whole", that's Patch's message. The individual's health cannot be separated from that of the community. Marvellous.
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Summary: Not what the synopsis says it is!
Review: Except for a brief introduction, this is not the "hilarious story of Patch Adams" as the synopsis says. It is a long commentary on the benefits of communal living and of caring medical treatment. How many ways can you say "care about your patients"? I found it repetative uninteresting after a short time. **** This is my second submittal. Are you going to post it?? ****
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: For all those patients who are suffering with your HMO and all those doctors who are wondering if medicine will every be a joy again, read this book. Dr. Adams puts forth some very radical ideas that would truly revolutionize our health care system.
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Summary: This bood should be retitled "Medical Care a la Woodstock!"
Review: I am a RN who specializes in special needs pediatric nursing. When I went to see the movie "Patch Adams" I feel in love with a doctor who I felt had found the root of the black abyss that today's modern medicine has found itself. Politics and monetary gains have taken over, what in reality, should be altruism and compassion. The children I work with are constantly denied medical care and services under the guise of not medically necessary, cosmetic, not severe enough to warrant continual care, etc. Each day I wish that I were 20 people, 100 people, more, so that I could grasp these special little ones out of the claws of bureaucracy and give them the care they need, and deserve, without politics or price tags. In Gesundheit I thought I had found that Oasis I had so longed for. I even told my family that if I merely disappeared one day they would know where to find me. I searched the Internet for information about this eutopia and was looking forward to my clown nose as I entertained the idea of donating to the Institute fund. But, alas, I read Patch Adams' book and I have found a fossil of the '60's. A physician who has misptaken free love for free medical care. Many of his theories of the Neroism of today's medical care are correct. But his approach to the correction of these problems are too Woodstockish. I can say that after listening to the tape in its entirety, I can honestly report that I only came away with one truly new insight in regards to my approach to working with families. His theory that the actuallty of dying is the mere minutes of hypoxia that is the catalyst to death. That all other time is living. That no one is "dying" of cancer, but living with it, and should be treated as such by those around them. That medicine can not cure death, for death is inevitable for all living things. But medicine can postpone the inevitable and that we, as practioners, must accept this fact. Through this acceptance, and only through this acceptance, can we, with fullness of heart, treat our patients with the optimal of compassion, empathy and altruism as is afforded us. For this point I thank Dr. Adams. For the rest of his book's theories and analogies I say...put away your love beads and realize that medicine is a profession. I think that Robin Williams actually best summed up the problem with our medical system when he played Mork. He once told the "great one" that we humans pay the physician to care for us when in reality the physicians should be paying the patients to allow them to practice their profession.
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Summary: Uplifting true story
Review: I loved the movie PATCH ADAMS, starring Robin Williams . . . even though it got mostly poor to fair reviews, see it if you can . . . you'll be uplifted by the true story of a doctor who has challenged the foundations of modern medicine not only by making healthcare personal, but by making it free . . . the movie naturally took some liberties with Adams' life, so for the whole tale I just heard the taped version of GESUNDHEIT! . . . this gives all the details
of how he and a few colleagues in 1971 founded the Gesundheit
Institute--a free hospital in West Virginia . . . it is dedicated to an unorthodox view of medicine and of the patient-doctor relationship: one employing laughter, listening and mutual respect . . . imagine being able to see a doctor and actually smiling when you do . . . and have him or her smile back at you! . . . you'll come away thinking that health care could be different; i.e., if practitioners would take heed of Adams' advice . . . the narration by Artie Johnson (of LAUGH-IN fame)was excellent.
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Summary: A truly fun and heart warming book
Review: If you have seen the movie Patch Adams, the screen writers took some liberties with the life of Mr. Adams. The movie only tells a small distorted version of what is Patch Adams. Patch has some unconventional ideas about medicine. These ideas have led to a movement to change health care for the better. Patch has dedicated his life toward helping the less fortunate and still lives on this creed. The one story in this book which sticks out in my mind is the story of the man with arthritis. To summarize, Patch discovered that the man did not feel the pain of his arthritis while watching the sunset. The man really enjoyed watching the sunset and pleasure from this event helps him forget his pain. Thinking of something pleasurable or performing a pleasurable act helps us forget pain. As Patch Adams himself said, The best medicince is not to treat the illness, but to treat the patient." Thanks for your inspiration Patch! A great book!
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Summary: A wonderfully inspiring healing experience - readingthisbook
Review: In this book Patch Adams discusses the idea of holistic healing and the importance of humor and joy in the healing process. It will be hard to put down once you start and it will inspire you to act on your dreams.
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Summary: You can never get enough!!!
Review: Patch Adam's life was portrayed by Robin Williams on the Hollywood Movie with the same name. Nevertheless, Patch Adam's life isn't just what you see in the movie, actually it is much more interesting and valueble when you read the true insights of this now-famous doctor. Patch proposes a new way to treat diseases, by treating the persons. Humor, fun, magic tricks, sunsets, animals, or whatever is needed to make a person feel better and forget about his/her pain; is his philosophy. The book describes the road Patch has taken to fullfill his dream, and the goals he has fixed for himself and his team. Working to give free, highest quality medicine is not an easy job. Still Patch smiles with his red nose, clownish hair, and funny clothes. You can never get enough about Patch, he is inspiring, funny, and intelligent. Surely this book will make you rethink lots of concepts and ideas. Great Book!!!
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Summary: don't knock it till you've tried it
Review: READ THE BOOK, WATCH THE MOVIE AND THEN TRY THIS SIMPLE TEST ; on a day when you have pain, place yourself into a situation that you know will make you earnestly laugh AND THEN TRY TO FEEL THE PAIN WHEN YOUR LAUGHING...Patch Adams has the right idea.
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