Venue: Alex and Marie Manoogian Hall
Phone: +374 60 69-40-40
Address: 40 Marshal Baghramyan Ave, Yerevan, Armenia
“I decided … I would make a (love) revolution. At 18, I found my desire to serve humanity through medicine and made the commitment to myself to never have another bad day. I decided to be happy.”
Hunter Doherty “Patch” Adams is an American physician, social activist, clown, and author. He founded the Gesundheit! (German for “Good health!”) Institute in 1971. After graduating (1963) from Wakefield High School, Adams completed pre-med coursework at George Washington University. He earned his Doctor of Medicine degree at Virginia Commonwealth University (Medical College of Virginia MCV) in 1971. Convinced of the powerful connection between environment and wellness, he believes the health of an individual cannot be separated from the health of the family, community, and the world. While working in an adolescent clinic at MCV, in his final year of med school, he met Linda Edquist, a fellow VCU student who volunteered in the clinic. Soon after graduation, Patch, Linda, and friends founded the Gesundheit! Institute (originally known to many as the Zanies), which ran as a free community hospital for 12 years.
Dr. Patch Adams promotes an alternative health care model. Each year he organizes a group of volunteers from around the world to travel to various countries where they dress as clowns in an effort to bring humor to orphans, patients, and other people. As he puts it “… I was gonna be a free doctor, a free loving doctor. So, that was an easy decision, the harder one was how can I make myself an instrument for peace and justice and care in every moment. And that is when I decided to live from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed six qualities: happy, funny, loving, cooperative, creative, and thoughtful.”
The Initiatives for Development of Armenia (IDeA) Foundation organized his visit. During his one-week visit to Armenia Patch Adams and his group of hospital clowns (the clowns of Russia-based Maria’s Children Art Center) are paying visits to orphanages and children’s hospitals in Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor and Dilijan.
The AUA School of Public Health works actively to improve population health and health services in Armenia and the region through interdisciplinary education and development of public health professionals to be leaders in public health, health services research and evaluation, and health care delivery and management.
Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia and affiliated with the University of California. AUA provides a global education in Armenia and the region, offering high-quality, graduate and undergraduate studies, encouraging civic engagement, and promoting public service and democratic values.
