Lifesaver for life: stand-by founder Gottfried Stronski has been on the job for 50 years

Created: 05/28/2022, 16:12

By: Max Wochinger

The oldest active member of the BRK Ismaning: Gottfried Stronski founded the willingness to do so.

© Robert Brouczek

Gottfried Stronski was 16 years old when he founded the BRK readiness in Ismaning with fellow campaigners.

The lifesaver has been in use for 50 years since then.

Ismaning - The disaster lasted only a few seconds.

A ball rolls onto the street, followed by a young girl.

It crashes into an approaching car.

The girl is lying on the street, none of those present are doing anything.

It takes forever for help to arrive.

Gottfried Stronski was 16 years old at the time;

he had seen the whole tragedy.

After the accident 50 years ago, he made a decision: I want to help.

Together with other Ismaningers, he founded the readiness of the Bavarian Red Cross (BRK) in Ismaning.

That was the laying of the foundation stone for five decades of helpfulness in an emergency.

On July 1, 1972, the time had come: the official founding day.

In the same year, Stronski and his colleagues trained as paramedics.

The first use followed a short time later, at the International Winter Hiking Day of TSV Ismaning in December 1972. In the years that followed, the Red Cross branch offered first aid courses in Ismaning.

"The rescue chain today is insane compared to before"

"The rescue chain today is insane compared to before," says Stronski.

Very few households had telephones that helpers could use to alert emergency services.

"If the rescue came after half an hour, then that was fast," says the oldest active member of the rescue team.

By way of comparison: Today, rescue workers can get to the scene within twelve minutes.

The equipment was also primitive at the time: bandages, valerian drops, no hygienic gloves.

In the 1970s, Stronski had his first assignment as a paramedic;

he remembers it well.

"A man had poured himself with a flammable liquid and set it on fire." His whole body was burned, Stronski took care of the man.

"Suddenly you have to decide for yourself how to proceed," he says.

The victim died later - death is also part of the experience of a BRK helper.

Death as part of volunteering

Death is still part of volunteering, but the gear has changed.

ECG, defibrillator, modern stretchers and rescue vehicles: Stronski has witnessed the turn of the century.

Up until a year ago, the 66-year-old drove the cars himself.

So far, he has spent around 600 hours a year on standby, and the number of assignments is in the thousands.

He was at the forefront of vaccination campaigns against the corona virus.

His last assignment was in July: he had to resuscitate a woman in Munich.

"It feels good to help," he says.

Now his legs are too shaky to be on call;

he has been fighting a serious illness since Christmas.

"My colleagues are a great help to me," says Gottfried Stronski about the BRK.

The local chapter to which he dedicated his entire life.

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More news from Ismaning and the district of Munich can be found here.