i was talking to my cousin and he told me to watch this interview of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams. Since I haven't watched the movie, and didn't really know what it was about, I wasn't sure what to expect. So I watched the clip, where he was discussing his perspectives on life, politics, and medicine. I can't say I believe in everything he says, and yes, he's quite idealistic, too much so for my very logical thought process. But I did think his perspective on medicine, on treating the person not the disease, on medicine by loving people.
medicine is extremely disease specific, extremely technological, not patient based anymore. I'm not denying that it's important to do things correctly and treat patients to your best scientific knowledge, but content, culture, family life has so much to do with our health. this is why i'm a HSOC major, that's why I am curious to study about cultures, politics, management. It all has to do with health and our society, any society, plays a huge part in when people go see the doctor, if they go see the doctor, what they do about the diagnosis their given, and whether care is effective.
maybe the "silly"hospital of Dr. Adams should be given more credit. we've tried it our this way, and people are still sick, and still suffering, maybe we should go back to caring as a part of caregiving. just a thought.
so after watching this interview i proceeded to look up his hospital, only to find that it is not built yet. he and his team have been fundraising for 33...yes that's right thirty-three years!!! we may be in a recession right now, but we certainly haven't been for the past 33 years. a person who cares and wants to make a difference in this way can't get support because his practice is a little unconventional.
maybe sometime in the future we'll see the working Gesundheit Institute open it's hospital.
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