"PATCH" ADAMS TO VISIT ST. BARNABAS NURSING HOME FOR ANNUAL FOUNDER'S DAY PROGRAM
Famous doctor is advocate for fun and making healthcare inexpensive
Gibsonia, Pa. - Jan. 8, 2010 - Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams, the well-known medical doctor, clown and social activist, will be the featured speaker and Hance Award recipient as St. Barnabas Charities celebrates Founder's Day 2010 on Thursday, April 29.
The day's festivities will begin with a 10 a.m. Welcoming Ceremony at St. Barnabas Nursing Home, 5827 Meridian Road. Dr. Adams will be greeted by William V. Day, president of St. Barnabas Health System, who will present him with a key to the St. Barnabas campus. Residents of the nursing home will present Dr. Adams with gifts. The Welcoming Ceremony is open to St. Barnabas Nursing Home residents, their families and staff members.
That evening, Dr. Adams will be the featured speaker at a fund-raising dinner at the Omni William Penn Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. The evening begins with a silent auction and reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets are $250, available by calling 724-443-0700, Ext. 5258 or visiting www.stbarnabashealthsystem.com. Proceeds benefit the St. Barnabas Free Care Fund, which in 2008 alone provided more than $4.3 million in free care to poor and low-income patients at St. Barnabas Nursing Home, Valencia Woods at St. Barnabas and The Arbors at St. Barnabas.
At the conclusion of the evening, Day will present Dr. Adams with the Hance Award, named for St Barnabas founder Gouverneur P. Hance (1871-1954), the lay Episcopalian brother who founded St. Barnabas in 1900 as a refuge for incurably ill men and boys who could not afford their care. Each year, the Hance Award is presented to a person of national acclaim who exemplifies Hance's ideals of benevolence, patriotism and service to others. Among the past Hance Award recipients are entertainer Debbie Reynolds, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, first lady Barbara Bush, astronaut "Buzz" Aldrin and President Gerald Ford.
Dr. Adams is both a medical doctor and a clown ... but he is also a social activist who has devoted 30 years to changing America's healthcare system, a system which he describes as expensive and elitist. He believes that laughter, joy and creativity are an integral part of the healing process and therefore true health care must incorporate such life. Doctors and patients in his model relate to each other on the basis of mutual trust, and patients receive plenty of time from their doctors.
In his vision, allopathic doctors and practitioners of alternative medicine will work side by side. If you think that all sounds like a utopian impossibility, it isn't. Patch and his colleagues practiced medicine at the Gesundheit Institute together in West Virginia that way for 12 years in what he calls their "pilot project." They saw 15,000 patients.
Through the success of this program, a model health care facility is being planned on 310 acres purchased in Pocahontas County, W.Va. The Institute will include a 40-bed hospital, a theater, arts and crafts shops, horticulture and vocational therapy. The Institute addresses, by action, four major issues in health care delivery: the rising cost of care, dehumanization of medicine, malpractice suits, and abuses of third-party insurance system. Dr. Adams adds to his training as a physician his experience as a street clown. In working with health and mental health professionals, he explores the relationship between humor and therapy using his unique blend of knowledge, showmanship and "hands on" teaching techniques. Says Dr. Adams, "I interpret my experience in life as being happy. I want, as a doctor, to say it does matter to your health to be happy. It may be the most important health factor in your life."
About St. Barnabas - St. Barnabas Health System is the largest health care concern of its kind in Pennsylvania and offers service apart from the ordinary in a faith-based, non-denominational setting. Tracing its heritage back to 1900, the system serves approximately 900 inpatients and residents, plus 35,000 outpatients and home care clients. The health system is composed of the
St. Barnabas Communities, including The Village at St. Barnabas, The Washington Place at St. Barnabas, The Woodlands at St. Barnabas and White Tail Ridge; St. Barnabas Clinical Services, including St. Barnabas Nursing Home, St. Barnabas Medical Center, Valencia Woods at St. Barnabas and The Arbors at St. Barnabas; the Kean Theatre; and St. Barnabas Charities, the fund-raising arm.
Contact:
Kathleen Brenneman
(724) 444-5530
kbrenneman@stbarnabashealthsystem.com
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