Our Mission
The Gesundheit! Institute is a project in holistic medical care based on the belief that one cannot separate the health of the individual from the health of the family, the community, the world, and the health care system itself. About Gesundheit! »
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Help build the Patch Adams Teaching Center & Clinic
In October of 2007, Patch Adams and the Gesundheit Board unveiled its campaign to build a Teaching Center & Clinic in West Virginia. The Center & Clinic will enable Gesundheit to see patients again and teach health care system design: the necessary work to change our health care system. Please continue to support us. When you give to Gesundheit, expect change back!
About Patch Adams
Patch Adams is best known for his work as a medical doctor and a clown, and he is also a social activist who has devoted 40 years to changing America's health care system. He believes that laughter, joy and creativity are an integral part of the healing process. Read more >
Patch's Blog
Opportunities
SUMMER SCHOOL FOR DESIGNING A SOCIETY • June 2 - 23, 2013 This three week session draws on insights and practices from experimental composition, epic theater, poetry, dance, clowning, 2- and 3-dimensional art, story-telling, critical theory, systems theory, and cybernetics.
BELEN PROJECT FESTIVAL • August 5 - 19, 2013 Calling ALL Clowns! Register now for an intensive experience in collaborative grassroots community activism combining art, education and healthcare.
THE LAUGHING BODY: ART OF CARE • August 18 - 25, 2013 A week dedicated to rediscovering the joyful and creative potential of our body and of our inner Nature (our soul) in the woods of the Gesundheit Institute.
CLOWNING & CARING IN COSTA RICA • September 1 - 8, 2013 An intense week during which we'll explore our ways to care in hospitals, nursing homes, endangered communities, public parks and streets; and will learn how to bring joy and imagine a desirable society using clowning, performance, humor and play.
HEALTH CARE JUSTICE GATHERING • September 4 - 8, 2013 An activism-oriented meeting of students, physicians, medical professionals, clowns, and community-builders, whose programming is organized and created by its participants.
MEDICAL ELECTIVE IN HUMANISM • October 2 - 30, 2013 The four-week elective provides braided learning for the teaching of humanism in medicine, using both presentational and project-based approaches.
Gesundheit! News
INTERNATIONAL BELEN FESTIVAL The clowns returned to Iquitos, Peru for the 7th Annual Belen Festival August 8-18, 2012. Gesundheit and Bolaroja Clown Doctores brought 106 clowns together from 10 countries. Read more >
THE EDUCATION OF COMPASSION Read the initial proposal to develop a full curriculum in compassionate care. Read the March 2011 update on the proposal from Patch Adams MD here...
PATCH ADAMS CLINIC IN PHILADELPHIA Located in a low-income Philadelphia neighborhood, this clinic will provide community-based health care that is genuinely non-profit, preventive, humane and fun. It is a refuge for doctors and nurses who want time to heal patients. It is a refuge for patients who want to be treated with dignity. Read more >
Sister Projects
STATEMENT FROM HELEN CALDICOTT Long-time friend of Patch and Gesundheit, advocate of planetary health, campaigner against nuclear weapons and power. Read her reflections on the crisis in Japan >
CAMP WINNARAINBOW • Mendocino County, California Wavy Gravy's circus and performing arts camp in California, where Patch Adams teaches "clown philosophy" every summer. Watch Taylor Reed Branson's promo video >