Has anyone scientifically proven that 'laughter is the best medicine'?
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Yes beleive it or not "Patch Adams" wasnt just a fictional story........
Gesundheit! Institute was founded in 1972 by Patch Adams, MD as a creative response to the health care crisis in America: spiraling costs, dispirited care givers and alienated patients. Begun as a home-based free clinic, Gesundheit! introduced overnight stays and eventually integrated the lives of those giving and of those receiving care. Friendship and fun were vital ingredients towards joyfully sustaining their service. As the demand for care grew, the need for a full facility became apparent.
In 1979, as a response to the growing need for compassionate health care, Patch, his family and a handful of the original group determined that Patch would become the full-time Gesundheit! fundraiser. It became his work to publicly promote the idea of building a Gesundheit! hospital-based on sustaining joyful service. This group moved to the DC area and soon after found land for sale in West Virginia-land where a rural hospital could be built. So in 1980, Gesundheit! bought 317 acres of wooded mountain. A small farmhouse, a large barn and several outbuildings came with the property.
Between 1980 and 1983, little was done on the WV site. Patch continued to FUNdraise out of DC, while a small group homesteaded on the WV site. In 1983 a jump in funds enabled us to build a 6500 square foot workshop. Since then, we have completed many projects in a grass-roots fashion, towards both enhancing our property and our community.
Our main on-site work in West Virginia has been to look after what we have, to restore what we can, and finally to introduce new elements into well-functioning systems. To this date, we have completed a 4-level 6500 sq.ft multipurpose workshop, a 3-acre lake, a 2-mile woodland trail, multiple renovations on the existing farmhouse, tool sheds, a 3-season dwelling for long term volunteers, a five bedroom staff house called the Dacha, and preliminary landscaping and organic gardening.
Patch has remained the persistent, passionate fundraiser throughout this time with occasional special events organized by friends to raise money and to connect our extended Gesundheit! community. He speaks to a wide range of care givers, activists and artists internationally, who all yearn for a healthier social design.
Though it is our dear intention to build our envisioned hospital, we must emphasize that we have not yet begun any hospital construction. We will not see patients or offer health care on the land in West Virginia until we have finished Phases I and II of our building, which will include an out-patient clinic with a clinic staff residential component.
Patch's book Gesundheit! offers more on philosophy and history.
Yes
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