He’s devoted the better part of three decades trying to change America’s health care system - a system he describes as “expensive and elitist.”Īdams founded - and funded - The Gesundheit! Institute, a nonprofit organization that works toward building and sustaining the first free hospital in the United States. The 72-year-old describes himself as a medical doctor, clown and social activist. Adams believes that laughter, joy and creativity are integral to the healing process. Adams, who goes by the nickname Patch Adams, was featured in the 1998 film by the same name, in which Robin Williams played the zany medico. Hunter Adams led patient rounds at Ogden Regional Medical Center during the day, his prescription for Call was just what the doctor ordered - a red nose and big, floppy shoes.ĭr.
He’d just had his feeding tube removed earlier Wednesday, and the hope among doctors and family was that Call’s long ordeal might finally be turning a corner. The Syracuse man has been in the hospital since April 4, with a colon so twisted in knots that it required three surgeries over the past six weeks.
WASHINGTON TERRACE - If anybody needed cheering up on Wednesday afternoon, it was Kim Call.
