Johnny's blog

Gesundheit! Continues Volunteer Community Development Belen Project 2011 in the Peruvian Amazon John Glick, MD, Director, Gesundheit Global Outreach Aug 26, 2011 120 clowns, ages 15-72, from 14 countries gathered in Iquitos, Peru (the world’s largest city unreachable by road, near the headwaters of the Amazon river)for the 6th Annual Belen Project August 9-22, 2011.

The early months of first year medical school, I recall, were a blur of classroom, lab and study. So much to learn, so little time for anything else. Little by little, as we students interacted in labs, libraries, dorms, over meals and coffee breaks, we found our friends in that mysterious way friends come together. For some of us humor was the connector, and also through shared interests. Music was one such interest, not only the listening but also the playing.

A House Call, 1976, Williamsburg, Va.

One day when Patch was in Richmond, my mother called and asked me to visit my sister Debbie, early in her first year at the College of William and Mary. Debbie was feeling anxious, overwhelmed, homesick, lonely. I asked Patch to come with me. He enthusiastically consented and we drove the hour to Williamsburg on a beautiful August afternoon. We arrived in the midst her first dorm meeting, with 300 young women jamming the 3rd floor of Barrett dormitory. We wanted to surprise her.

During 4 years of medical school, I worked harder and had more fun than during any time of my life (up to that point). After meeting members of the Zany Ramorski healthcare commune during a Halloween party my first year of med school, I visited their home in Northern Virginia, 2 hours away.

The Path Begins Here

The eye you see is not an eye because you see it; it is an eye because it sees you.
Antonio Machado

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination.
Mary Oliver

Richmond, Virginia 1974

December 13-20 2008 Gesundheit! clowns journeyed to Cuba, to provide humanitarian assistance to communities devastated by hurricanes, and to study the impact of collaborative play on survivors of natural disasters.