

A couple years later the land in West Virginia was purchased and in 1998 the movie, Patch Adams was released. This is where the dream of a rural hospital began. These years affirmed the concept that those suffering physical and mental illness benefit tremendously from being in a supportive, loving community.
#Gesundheit institute for free#
Gesundheit Institute started as twenty friends, three of whom were doctors, opening up their six-bedroom home to the public for free healthcare in 1971. We are a model of holistic medical care based on the belief that the health of the individual cannot be separated from the health of the family, the community, the society and the world. Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.The Gesundheit Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit healthcare organization whose mission is to reframe and reclaim the concept of ‘hospital’. To help improve this record, please email. Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. Although the free silly hospital is not yet built, the idea of it can and does influence the dialogue on health care delivery systems.įrom the portfolio, Sweet Earth: Experimental Utopias in America, 1982–2005 Dimensions 26.4 × 33.2 cm (image) 27.9 × 35.5 cm (paper) Credit Line Gift of Ralph and Nancy Segall Reference Number 2008.741 Extended information about this artwork Patients and staff will stay at the hospital, and forty beds will be available for “plumbers, string quartets and anyone wanting a service-oriented vacation,” reflecting Adams’ vision that the health of the individual cannot be separated from the health of the community. Healing arts such as acupuncture, massage, yoga, herbalism and faith healing will be integrated into patient care. The Dacha/Staff Building was designed by the Yestermorrow Design/Build School of Warren, Vermont.Īmongst numerous other unconventional practices, the hospital will not charge for its services and neither will it carry malpractice insurance. A three-hundred-acre farm has been purchased in West Virginia-chosen because it is the most medically under-served state in the nation- and two buildings have been constructed.

This led Adams to his present period of fundraising, which he often does in the guise of a clown. Initial doctor/patient interviews were three to four hours long, “so that we could fall in love with each other.” Since no donations were received, nor was there any outside funding, the staff eventually left and the hospital closed.

They were continuously open to patients and saw fifteen thousand people over a period of twelve years. From 1971 to 1983, he and nineteen other adults and their children moved into a six-bedroom home and called themselves a hospital.
#Gesundheit institute full#
Patch Adams envisions the forty-bed rural community health care facility that he refers to as “the free silly hospital,” he hopes it will be “funny looking, full of surprises and magic.”Īdams’ desire to humanize healthcare has always taken radical form. About this artwork Status Currently Off View Department Photography and Media Artist Joel Sternfeld Title Dacha/Staff Building, Gesundheit! Institute, Hillsboro, West Virginia Origin United States Date Made 2004 Medium Chromogenic print, from the series "Sweet Earth: Experimental Utopias in America" Inscriptions No markings recto or verso
