Patch Adams: ‘The Joy of Caring’

Sometimes I feel burned out. Often, I get overwhelmed. Seems natural, right? Especially given the bullet-spray of unfinishable tasks that Medical Schools like to pump at you. There are days that I wind up in a despairing mess, feeling like I just got the beating of an enraged sumo-wrestler (okay… maybe that’s a very melodramatic way of describing it, but you get the idea).

I’ve found someone who claims to have the cure…

This evening, Queen’s was honoured to host the infamous Dr. Patch Adams as speaker to the H.G. Kelly lecture series. In addition to starting the ‘Gesundheit!’ Institute, Dr. Adams has an inspiring philosophy on health-care, and human-care in general. Even after journeying to the bedsides of some of the world’s most tortured and anguishing individuals, Patch claims that he never feels despair or gets burned out… because he chooses to LOVE caring.

In his speech, entitled ‘The Joy of Caring’, Patch gave seven reasons why the act of caring energizes him and prevents him from burning out. Sadly, I only remember five… nonetheless:

1. He loves people.
2. The job of caring provides opportunities to show love.
3. Good karma: caring is reciprocal.
4. Caring allows you to be outrageously enthusiastic.
5. Caring is good for your health.

What struck me after listening to Patch speak, was that this Medical School business is really only the first, least-important step. Maybe I shouldn’t make the major issue of becoming a doctor centre around school -learning facts about diseases, and practising how to act in the manner of how doctors “should act”. Of course those are both important steps, but they are really only a small mandatory hurdle before I must start the real task before me: learning how to care.