PATCH ADAMS TO PRESENT FREE PROGRAM

Patch Adams, described as a warm, witty medicine man, is a healer, teacher, clown, entertainer and subject of a movie by the same name starring Robin Williams.

Adams will be in Cape Girardeau next week to present lectures on "The Joy of Caring" and "The Magic Elixirs of Life," a free, daylong program of lectures, workshops, and a vaudeville show at the Show Me Center.

Patch, who is a physician, will lecture on the thrill of helping others in an inspirational talk at 9 a.m. Monday to health-care workers.

Senior citizens will be in the spotlight for the "Senior Fair" to be held from 2 to 4 p.m., featuring booths and displays set up by area businesses and service groups. Blood pressure checks will be available and free lunch coupons will be passed out to the first 100 seniors to pass through the turnstiles.

Patch and his partner, Dr. Susan Parenti, will team up for the Vaudeville show from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The show will include clowning, piano, tap dance, and other musical entertainment, and is designed to show ways for people to improve the quality of life through love, humor and relaxation.

Adams will be available for a book autograph session for his books "Gesundheit! by Patch," and "House Calls : How We Can All Heal the World One Visit at a Time."

Adams appearance here is sponsored by a number of groups and agencies, including Sells Rest Home of New Madrid, Mo., Southeast Missouri State University Students Activities Council, Missouri Health Care Association, Alzheimer's Association, VNA, Area Agency on Aging, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, area Medicap Pharmacies and Zimmer Radio Group.

Adams, who is working to build a 40-bed hospital and healing center in rural West Virginia, is an unusual physician as demonstrated in the movie "Patch Adams." The movie was based on Adams, who was inspired to become a doctor while institutionalized for depression as a teen-ager. Adams attended the University of Virginia medical school in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After graduation, he formed the Gesundheit Institute, dedicated to a more connected, personalized approach to medicine.

Having initially resisted public attention, Adams began receiving a flurry of media coverage about his clinic in the mid-1980s and eventually wrote a book about his work in 1993.

Adams, the writer, explained his humor-driven prescriptions and why he's willing to dress like a gorilla, fill a room full of balloons or tub full of noodles to elicit a smile, a spiritual connection or simple moment of pleasure from a patient.