Due to the pandemic, the change of staff in the Schongau hospital took place very unglamorously and behind closed doors.
Now the former and the new medical director in Schongau, Dr.
Michael Platz and Prof. Reinhold Lang, for an interview with the local newspaper.
Schongau
– One thing is immediately apparent: the two know each other and like each other.
And for a long time.
The atmosphere is not always so relaxed when predecessors and successors hold a press conference together.
"Could be because we are private friends and have a pretty similar CV," says Dr.
Michael Platz, medical director in Schongau until the end of October.
"But you already had a few years head start," jokes Prof. Reinhold Lang, who has been medical director at the Schongau hospital since the beginning of November.
The friendship between the two certainly played a role in the decision to succeed Platz.
Because although both of them repeatedly emphasize how important and demanding the task of a medical director is, one thing cannot be overlooked: both of them are surgeons through and through.
And swapping the scalpel for the pen is a tough decision.
"I was still doing service as a surgeon for years," says Platz.
Even long after he was medical director.
"The medical director is the representative of the senior physicians in a hospital and, according to the hospital laws, is part of the corporate management in a hospital alongside the head nurse and the head of economic and administrative services" - this is how the hospital GmbH describes Lang's new role.
There's little of the demigod's glamor in white. The challenges facing Lang are immense. Sure, "I landed softly in the new office because the preparatory work was excellent," he says. Nevertheless, he takes over the office in times of change – on a small and large scale. There is of course the corona pandemic with all its challenges, there is the facility-related vaccination requirement for employees. Incidentally, the emergency room and intensive care unit in Schongau are to be merged into a joint department. The reorganization aims to facilitate uncomplicated assistance and, if necessary, a faster and seamless transition of patients from the emergency room to the intensive care unit.
And of course there is also the elephant in the room: the debate, planning and realization of the new large hospital.
This involved the conversion of today's hospital in Schongau into an outpatient center with the widest possible range of services.
Lang experienced his acid test in November in the district council, and since taking office, he has made every effort to explain the plans and to make it clear that this is the only way to be able to offer sophisticated healthcare in Schongau in the future.
It annoys him and his colleagues all the more that people in Schongau are now complaining that the citizens' initiative for the preservation of the Schongau hospital is not being integrated enough, that there is not enough information and discussion.
"We don't have a single written inquiry that we could answer," explains hospital managing director Thomas Lippmann.
One is surprised that the citizens' dialogue was criticized a few weeks ago.
"We were on site for three hours with nine employees in order to be able to provide competent information," says Lang.
The organizer was the city of Schongau, the moderator was Mayor Falk Sluyterman.
"In this respect, it is strange that the course of the event is now being criticized."
It is also not possible to continuously organize information events on such a scale: "We also have patients to take care of." He would like the citizens' initiative and the city to accept the democratic decision of the district council and actively support it.
Just like Michael Platz, who - although now retired - still takes a clear stand for the new plans and gives important suggestions for the new plans.
"I'm still a retired intern," says Platz with a smile.
Letting go so quickly is difficult.
Especially for him, who comes from a completely different generation of surgeons.
"When I started, the surgeon was a kind of slave, you had to endure a lot." Working hours of 80 to 90 hours a week were the norm.
The professors demanded a lot, "the residents even had to get permission to marry."
Nobody would do that today.
But back then, you operated a lot, learned a lot, and many things were easier: "Today's residents find it much more difficult to gain experience."
Still, space has paid a high price and he has a lot of catching up to do, he openly admits.
“My wife shouldered family life very responsibly, all these years.
Now I'm trying to catch up with my grandchildren a bit of what I used to miss with my children.” Now the “retired intern” is no longer in the operating room, but in front of the school in Munich to pick up his grandchildren.
Now he goes hiking and cycling – yes, also with his successor and colleagues.
From time to time he also stops by the hospital - you don't have to overdo it.
But a new phase of life has begun.
And the space is designed exactly the way he designed his work.
In a good mood, concentrated and focused.