House Calls: How We Can All Heal the World One Visit at a Time

"In the follow up to his first book, Gesundheit!, Dr. Patch Adams means
to give us the prescription for healthy living and healing by this fun
little handbook with one part musings, one part cartoons, and one part
"to do" lists that can creatively keep us on track in our fast-paced,
overextended twenty-first century lives. One of Patch's beliefs, that
you can't have healing without fun, gets fleshed out here in exploring
topics like wonder, nature, passion, hope, in the context of learning
how to be well. Aimed at both patient and visitor of the afflicted,
this friendly text offers holistic suggestions for its main concerns:
Thoughts on Being Well, Things a Visitor (of the sick) Can Do, How
to be a Good Hospital Patient, and Special Concerns When Visiting...
(certain types of patients). While the tone and presentation are
light-hearted, the subject matter and the teachings are serious and
necessary for anyone who has ever loved someone who is ill that they
didn't know how to help, or who has struggled to say something meaningful
and heartfelt to a hospitalized friend or family member. This book
points the way to an authentic and refreshing encounter between the
sick or dying and the people that love and visit them."
~ Written on 2008-10-05

"Patch Adams has given us a treasure, a how to book for visiting the sick.
Once upon a time, doctors actually visited patients in their homes.
Now, since medicine has become big business the coldness and inefficiency of corporate medicine has left its mark on our society.
This book is a call to return to a simpler time, when people made time to visit with one another. Simple, but extremely powerful not only for the sick patient, but for our society as a whole."
~ Written on 2007-10-29

"Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (12/06)

Medicine became depersonalized when it became a business that no longer made house calls. The shift from a service oriented, patient first, one on one house call to the patient going to the doctor, took out a precious part of the healing process. In its place is an institutional concept where the patient comes second to business. "I think that the loss of the house call has been the biggest blow to the art of medicine in this century. Not only has the patient lost this precious attention, but the physician has not found a replacement for the lost intimacy."

"Extensive studies have found that, over long periods of time, nourishing elements--such as love, humor, wonder, curiosity, passion, forgiveness, giving, sharing, hope, enthusiasm, and joy--stimulate the immune system. They help our bodies fight infection, stimulate natural killer cells that fight cancer, and affect the general way we care about and for ourselves and others." Anger, resentment, guilt, loneliness, fear and boredom have the opposite affect. It is not the negative emotions that cause the problems. It is when we hold on to those emotions for long periods of time. "We must express each emotion as it comes up, but should not nurture or prolong the emotions that may hurt us."

Dr. Adams describes this book as a "visitor's kit." He's right that's just what this is. He realizes that the "kit" can and should be used for more than hospital visits; he suggests prisons, nursing homes or "any place people may be suffering and wishing they were elsewhere."

Among the things Dr. Adams discusses are faith, love, humor, curiosity and hope. The information presented in this book has meant much to me. I spend much time visiting in nursing homes. When I first began to make these visits I found it very difficult, I didn't know what to say or how to act. Soon I began to see not a patient but a person. I came to realize that they were people that needed a friendly touch, someone to address them by name and someone to smile at them. My visits are no longer something I dread. The residents and I truly enjoy visiting together.

"House Calls" is a wonderful book and Dr. Adams is a talented writer as well as doctor. It is written in an easy to understand manner and does not talk down to laymen, in fact it is pleasant reading. The cartoons by Jerry Van Amerongen left me laughing and add much to the text. The print is a good size and easy to read. It is with great pleasure that I highly recommend this book to everyone, physicians, nurses, and all humans. Dr. Adams' book should be required reading to all those in the health care industry. I'm glad I read this book I will be much more prepared by having my "visitor's kit."

"
~ Written on 2006-12-17

"In this wacky book, Patch Adams joins forces with Jerry Van Amerongen to give the reader a practical guide in introducing laughter into the healing process. The book is divided into three sections. The first section is filled with thoughts on being well. Dr. Adams provides instruction on being healthy and then provides some action steps to assimilate faith, humor, curiosity, relaxation, passion, exercise, nutrition, friendship, service, and other positive values into your daily life. These guidelines are cleverly illustrated by Jerry Van Amerongen with one panel cartoons that bring home the message of the suggestion and motivate the reader to take action. Amerongen is the creator of the Ballard Street syndicated cartoon strip.
Section two follows the same format but offers suggestions on what the reader can do to make a visit in the hospital, to shut-ins, or someone in the community, beneficial and enjoyable for both parties. These steps are thoughtful, often neglected and easy to carry out. Again the impact of the action steps are enhanced and impacted through the humor of Jerry's cartoon illustrations.
Suggestions are also offered on how to be a good hospital patient, from gaining understanding by asking questions regarding your treatment, careful listening to instructions, and reflection on your life and what you have done and want to accomplish in the future. Van Amerongen's humor helps the readers accept the situation and are then motivated to make the most of their circumstances.
The third section deals with special concerns when visiting, children, teenagers, the elderly, mentally ill, disabled, and dying patients. These helpful suggestions make the impact of your visit pleasurable for the patient, the caregivers, and yourself. The cartoons help the reader visualize the words of the text.
Adams has also provided a very comprehensive bibliography entitled "A Booklover's Search for Understanding and Ideas."
Combining Patch Adams' philosophy of laughter in healing with Jerry Van Amerongen's humor was a stroke of brilliance. The combination has made this book an enjoyable read, and produced in this reader, many smiles, some chuckles, and hearty laughs. It also gave me a new sensitivity to the importance of "healing the world one visit at a time."


"
~ Written on 2006-12-06

"This book is a practical guide on bringing the Gesundheit! vision into your own community. An easy enjoyable read, it offers suggestions on how to begin a life of joyful service by visiting folks in your own community. It offers an immensely practical love strategy. You can change your world!"
~ Written on 2004-07-23