Gesundheit! Begins

First, I wanted to go out and engage the world as this happy soul. I started clowning in public and have done it daily since. Second, I set out to quench my thirst for knowledge by studying everything I could get my hands on. In order to become an instrument for peace, justice and care I read thousands of books. I needed to understand so I could create solutions. I became interested in whole systems thinking, looking for ways to integrate it with the hospital-community concepts that emerged in medical school. In my imagination I envisioned a communal eco-village hospital that would address every problem of the way healthcare was delivered in one model. I wrote it up in a paper in March, 1971 and this was the basis of what became the Gesundheit Institute.

I met my wife, Linda, in my last year of medical school (Medical College of Virginia, class of 1971). She was instrumental in the early years of the hospital´s functioning and I cannot imagine it without her. Together we had two sons, Atomic and Lars.

With an amazing group of friends we created the Gesundheit Institute, a pilot hospital model, which we operated for twelve years out of our communal home. We were always open for any kind of problem. Our policy was: 1) no charge 2) no health insurance reimbursement 3) no malpractice insurance 4) 3 to 4 hour initial interview with the patient 5) home as hospital 6) integration of all the healing arts 7) integration of medicine with performance arts, arts and crafts, nature, agriculture, education, recreation and social service 8) the health of the staff is as important as the health of the patient.

We did this for 12 years and saw thousands of patients. The experience was enchanting. Unfortunately we were so radical that we couldn’t find funding. The staff itself paid to practice. In 1984, we realized that we couldn’t continue operating this way. We needed a facility. In this context we decided to go public and I quickly became busy as a speaker.