Healing with Happiness

Dr. Hunter “Patch” Adams decided early in his life that he wanted to help make the world better. Many of the patients who have visited his hospital would agree that he has done just that.

Adams was born in Washington, DC., but lived in many parts of the world while growing up. As a child Adams performed well in school. When he grew up. Adams decided to become a doctor. During his medical training he developed his own style of working with patients. 【小题1】

He was friendly and thought of ways to make them laugh, hoping to make them feel better. Some of Adams’s teachers were not pleased with his way of treating patients. These teachers believed that being friends with patients could get in the way of being a good doctor. Adams did not let his teachers’ attitude stop him from trying to make patients laugh. One day he dressed in a clown costume. 【小题2】 After that, Adams continued to wear silly costumes while studying to be a doctor.

After he finished medical school, Adams and 20 of his friends opened their own hospital. They named their hospital the Gesundheit! Institute. Gesundheit means “health” in the German language. 【小题3】 Like at all hospitals, the doctors and nurses at Adams’s hospital worked to make sick patients well again. But Adams’s hospital also provided fun activities for patients. They could garden and fish. 【小题4】 Adams thought the patients would begin to feel better if they were engaged in things they enjoyed doing.

Adams has written books about his style of healing patients. He writes that you don’t have to be a doctor to help someone feel better. 【小题5】 Sometimes letting someone know you care can be the most powerful cure of all.