1998 film see patch adams film . patch adams adams in anaheim california may 15 2008 born hunter doherty adams 1945 05 28 may 28 1945 age 71 washington d.c. u.s. nationality american education m.d. virginia commonwealth university alma mater george washington university home town arlington virginia spouse s linda edquist 1975 98 ; divorced children atomic zagnut adams lars zig edquist adams parent s robert loughridge adams anna campbell adams relatives robert loughridge wildman adams jr. brother hunter doherty patch adams born may 28 1945 is an american physician comedian social activist clown and author . he founded the gesundheit institute in 1971 . each year he organizes a group of volunteers from around the world to travel to various countries where they dress as clowns in an effort to bring humor to orphans patients and other people . 1 adams is currently based in urbana illinois . in collaboration with the institute he promotes an alternative health care model not funded by insurance policies . 1 as of april 2015 he serves on the green shadow cabinet of the united states as assistant secretary of health for holistic health . 2 contents 1 early life 1.1 early career 2 gesundheit institute 3 in media 4 bibliography 5 references 6 external links early life edit adams was born in washington d.c. the son of anna campbell stewart n e hunter and robert loughridge adams . 3 4 his maternal grandfather thomas lomax hunter was the poet laureate of virginia . his father an officer in the united states army had fought in korea and died while stationed in germany when adams was a teenager . 1 after his father s death adams returned to the united states with his mother and brother . adams has stated that upon his return he encountered institutional injustice which made him a target for bullies at school . as a result adams was unhappy and became actively suicidal . after being hospitalized three times in one year for wanting to end his life he decided you don t kill yourself stupid ; you make revolution . 5 early career edit after graduating in 1963 from wakefield high school 6 adams completed pre med coursework at george washington university . he began medical school without an undergraduate degree and earned his doctor of medicine degree at virginia commonwealth university medical college of virginia in 1971 . in the late 1960s one of his closest friends a man not a woman as depicted in the patch adams film was murdered . convinced of the powerful connection between environment and wellness he believes the health of an individual can not be separated from the health of the family community and the world . while working in an adolescent clinic at mcv in his final year of med school he met linda edquist a fellow vcu student who volunteered in the clinic . adams and edquist married in 1975 and had two sons atomic zagnut zag adams and lars zig edquist adams ; they divorced in 1998 . gesundheit institute edit gesundheit institute gesundheit institute logo founded 1971 founder hunter patch adams type not for profit health care tax id no. 52 1573251 location hillsboro west virginia united states services integrative medicine key people chair cari brackett pharm.d john t. glick md susan r. parenti dma 7 website http www.patchadams.org soon after graduation patch linda and friends founded the gesundheit institute originally known to many as the zanies which ran as a free community hospital from 1971 to 1983 . a revamped gesundheit institute envisioned as a free full scale hospital and health care eco community is planned on 316 acres 128 ha in pocahontas county west virginia . its goal is to integrate a traditional hospital with alternative medicine with the organization developing educational programs in sustainable systems design targeted to medical students and the general public . since the 1990s adams has supported the ithaca health alliance iha 8 founded as the ithaca health fund ihf by paul glover . in january 2006 iha launched the ithaca free clinic bringing to life key aspects of adams vision . adams has also given strong praise to health democracy glover s book written and published the same year . in october 2007 adams and the gesundheit board unveiled its campaign to raise 1 million towards building a teaching center and clinic on its land in west virginia . the center and clinic will enable gesundheit to see patients and teach health care design . adams urges medical students to develop compassionate connections with their patients . his prescription for this kind of care relies on humor and play which he sees as essential to physical and emotional health . ultimately adams wants the gesundheit institute to open a 40 bed hospital in rural west virginia that offers free holistic care to anyone who wants it . 9 adams was awarded the peace abbey courage of conscience award on january 29 1997 . 10 in 2008 adams agreed to become honorary chair of the international association for the advancement of creative maladjustment or iaacm . in a number of his speeches and essays martin luther king jr. had called for such an iaacm but none was ever created . mindfreedom international a nonprofit coalition that gesundheit belongs to as a sponsor group launched the iaacm to support creative maladjustment and social change . 11 adams still leads trips to cheer kids up all over the world . he also teaches at one session of wavy gravy s circus camp camp winnarainbow . in media edit the 1998 film patch adams was based on adams life and views on medicine . adams has heavily criticized the film saying it eschewed an accurate representation of his beliefs in favor of commercial viability . he said that out of all aspects of his life and activism the film portrayed him merely as a funny doctor . 12 patch adams also said of robin williams in an interview he made 21 million for four months of pretending to be me in a very simplistic version and did not give 10 to my free hospital . patch adams the person would have if i had robin s money given all 21 million to a free hospital in a country where 80 million can not get care . 13 however in another interview adams did clarify that he did not dislike williams 12 and williams had actively supported st. jude children s research hospital for several years . 14 upon hearing of the death of robin williams he released this statement . the terrible news of the passing of robin williams reached me here in the peruvian amazon late monday night with tremendous sadness . surrounded by over 100 friends and clowns on our annual clown trip we mourn this tragic loss and continue to treasure his comic genius . robin williams was a wonderful kind and generous man . one important thing i remember about his personality is that he was unassuming he never acted as if he was powerful or famous . instead he was always tender and welcoming willing to help others with a smile or a joke . robin was a brilliant comedian there is no doubt . he was a compassionate caring human being . while watching him work on the set of the film based on my life patch adams i saw that whenever there was a stressful moment robin would tap into his improvisation style to lighten the mood of cast and crew . also i would like to point out robin would be especially kind toward my children when they would visit the set . contrary to how many people may view him he actually seemed to me to be an introvert . when he invited me and my family into his home he valued peace and quiet a chance to breathe a chance to get away from the fame that his talent has brought him . while early in life he turned to drug use and alcohol to escape he replaced the addiction with moments of solitude to help cope with the stress that fame brought . this world is not kind to people who become famous and the fame he had garnered was a nightmare . while saddened we are left with the consequences of his death . i m enormously grateful for his wonderful performance of my early life which has allowed the gesundheit institute to continue and expand our work . we extend our blessings to his family and friends in this moment of sadness . thank you for all you ve given this world robin thank you my friend . 15 the 2003 bollywood film munna bhai m.b.b.s. 16 was inspired by the movie patch adams based on hunter doherty s life and his unconventional methods of treating patients . the film brought his methods to the forefront in india and pakistan where conventional methods were predominant . as a speaker adams travels around the globe lecturing about his medicine methods . 17 bibliography edit adams patch ; maureen mylander 1998 . gesundheit bringing good health to you the medical system and society through physician service complementary therapies humor and joy . rochester vermont healing arts press . isbn 978 0 89281 781 8 . retrieved 2008 12 16 . adams patch ; maureen mylander 1993 . gesundheit bringing good health to you the medical system and society through physician service complementary therapies humor and joy . rochester vermont healing arts press . isbn 978 0 89281 442 8 . retrieved 2008 12 16 . adams patch ; maureen mylander 1998 . gesundheit sound recording . los angeles newstar media . isbn 978 0 7871 1828 0 . retrieved 2008 12 16 . 4 sound cassettes ca. 6 hr . digitally mastered dolby processed . adams patch 1998 . house calls . cartoons by jerry van amerongen . san francisco robert d. reed publishers . isbn 978 1 885003 18 8 . retrieved 2008 12 16 . bourque judith 1999 . the real patch adams videorecording a film by judith bourque . oley pa bullfrog films . isbn 978 1 56029 811 3 . retrieved 2008 12 16 . 1 videocassette 53 min . sd . col. ; 1 2 in . john graham for the giraffe heroes program 1999 . it s up to us . foreword by patch adams . langley washington giraffe project . isbn 978 1 893805 00 2 . retrieved 2008 12 16 . references edit a b c doctor in a clown suit battles ills of his profession . new york times . december 15 1998 . green shadow cabinet members . retrieved 2015 04 07 . http familytreemaker.genealogy.com users g r a kenneth a graybeal bellevue gene4 0035.html 1 interview with patch adams http www.youtube.com watch v fgkvgnsdzv4 alumni news wakefield high school pdf . fall 2008 . p. 5 . retrieved 2009 09 12 . http patchadams.org board archived september 11 2013 at the wayback machine . g links . archived from the original on december 10 2006 . retrieved 2008 12 16 . ithaca health fund member owned non profit mutual health security www.ithacahealth.org marsh jason spring 2008 . playing doctor an interview with patch adams . greater good magazine . berkeley california greater good science center . iv 4 . archived from the original on june 17 2008 . retrieved 2008 12 16 . adams has been raising money for the hospital for nearly three decades . in the meantime he continues to lecture and lead workshops often urging medical students to develop an ethic of care built on forming compassionate connections with their patients . his prescription for this kind of care relies on humor and play which he sees as essential to physical and emotional health the peace abbey courage of conscience recipients list . archived from the original