The Hospice Association Würmtal celebrated a festival on Saturday to mark its 25th anniversary.
After a church service in St. Stefan with an ecumenical blessing for all hospice attendants and strengthened by an opulent buffet from the Sickinger bakery, employees, sponsors and members of the association celebrated their “birthday” in the community center.
Würmtal -
"Everyone has the right to die under dignified conditions" and "Talking about dying has never killed anyone" - Doris Unterreitmeier, who has been chairwoman of the association since 2013, also had these principles of the coordination center for hospice and palliative care in Germany , the event that radiated joie de vivre and that had nothing oppressive about it.
Constance Rémi from the association's board of directors and the palliative doctor Berend Feddersen led the evening in a charming and amusing way with greetings and insights into the work of the association and the coordination office.
Not quick help in dying, but empathetic accompaniment, consolation and help in dying are the concerns of the hospice movement.
The chairwoman of the association, District Administrator Christoph Göbel, Ludwig Balk, 2nd Mayor of Graefelfing, and Pastor Walter Ziermann from the Friedenskirche expressed greetings and congratulations to the association.
They thanked the employees and the founding members of the Women's Union (Erika Brink, Brigitte Braun, Monika Meier-Pojda, Ulrike Höfer, Eleonor Zwissler and others) who founded the 1st hospice association in the Munich district in 1996 under the patronage of Heiner Janik had launched.
It is thanks in particular to Erika Brink's perseverance that the sick, dying and their relatives have received consolation, support and help in the Würmtal for a quarter of a century.
An apple tree and a bench on the Würm will remind of their tireless efforts in the future.
Even Minister of State Klaus Holetschek had sent a greeting online. “You can't give life more days, but you can give days more life,” said Wolfgang Balk, quoting the basic idea of the movement that has been spreading steadily since the opening of Christopher's Hospice in London in 1967.
In order to anchor the once taboo topic in social awareness, a charter was drawn up by 50 organizations, which the project manager Franziska Kopitzsch presented in a rousing manner. The ceremonial signing by the district administrator, mayor and the clergy of the Protestant and Catholic communities formed the highlight of the evening. With the signature, everyone can confirm their support for the cause “to further develop the supply and motivation of politicians!” Detailed information and signature lists are available at www.charta-zur-betreuung-sterbender.de.
The work of the hospice attendants is a benefit for both sides, confirmed the employees present.
Andrea Ossimitz found "a fulfilling task in the operations management, in which the focus is on the person, his illness and his environment", as she writes in the club brochure.
There you can also read the history of the association with 120 members and 25 hospice attendants.
“Hospice helpers do not 'save' from death and do not help over, but carry a lantern that illuminates the way”: Pastor Markus Zurl expressed the Christian hope that in the process of dying people will be led to light and to true seeing like the blind Bartimaeus in the Gospel of the opening service.
Friederike Tschochner