Palliative team Erding: Commitment to humanity

Created: 07/05/2022, 08:00

By: Gabi Zierz

Flowers as a token of appreciation were presented by the two PTE managing directors, Steffen Ziener and Dr.

Elke Rockingham (from right) to her employees and long-term companions.

© gabi ornament

Erding - The Palliative Team Erding has existed for more than ten years.

Since then it has done valuable work in dealing with dying.

Due to Corona, it was not possible to celebrate in 2021.

Now there was a small anniversary celebration in Schloss Aufhausen.

Dying is also part of life.

For more than ten years, the Palliative Team Erding (PTE) in the district has been making sure that the seriously ill can say goodbye in a familiar environment with its specialized outpatient palliative care (SAPV).

This small anniversary, which could not be celebrated in 2021 due to the pandemic, has now been remembered.

During the social get-together in the Feststadl at Schloss Aufhausen, it became clear what has distinguished the PTE since its foundation in 2011, in addition to its professional competence: empathy, mutual respect and a family atmosphere.

"You are committed to humanity," emphasized District Administrator Martin Bayerstorfer in his short speech.

The district is one of two shareholders of the PTE, which is run as a non-profit limited company.

The main shareholder with 80 percent is the Christophorus Hospizverein Erding, whose former chairman Dr.

Juergen Bickhardt and Dr.

Peter Schmidkonz have made a significant contribution to the development of outpatient palliative care in the district.

The current CHV chairman Dr.

Johannes Schollen continues this work.

The PTE starts exactly where many look the other way.

"You used to die in the basement - and alone," the district administrator recalled the old days, including in the district hospital.

A lot has changed since then and "thank God things have developed positively".

Mayor Max Gotz emphasized that the palliative concept in Erding quickly met with considerable resonance and recognition.

"It's nice to see how many brave and deep people we have here.

That shows what strengths our country has when things get difficult.

There are people there to help.” Palliative care is an element of public welfare.

However, the PTE is now at its limit and cannot be expanded at will, he warned.

The team currently includes ten palliative nurses and seven palliative doctors, and works closely with general practitioners and specialists, nursing services, retirement homes, hospitals, palliative care units and hospices in the region.

"And we're still looking for medical backup," said Dr.

Elke Rockingham.

She has been there from the beginning and has been the medical director of the PTE since 2020.

She also runs the business with the nursing manager Steffen Ziener.

Ziener recalled the visionaries who paved the way for the PTE, including Bickhardt and Schmidkonz, Margit Wittlinger and Rita Gabler, who was the nursing director of the PTE for many years and now runs the Sophienhospice in Erding, which opened a few months ago.

Ziener also thanked all the donors who "make it possible to provide quick, unbureaucratic help".

Since its inception, the PTE has cared for several thousand patients.

In the first year there were 127, now there are 577, as Rockingham recalled.

In addition to optimal palliative care, the main focus is on caring for those affected and their relatives.

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Schmidkonz, medical director of the PTE until 2020, looked back on the difficult start-up phase in which many bureaucratic hurdles had to be overcome: "It took a lot of patience, but it was very worth it."

The PTE started its work on April 1, 2011 as the tenth palliative care team in Bavaria.

Today there are more than 50 in the Free State. "The great success of the palliative care team is due to its employees," explained Schmidkonz, who still supports them as a doctor today.

The employees were also the focus of the celebration.

They were introduced individually by Rockingham and Ziener and asked to come forward.

As a token of appreciation, they presented sunflowers and yellow roses.

Rita Gabler was also happy about this.

She described the "last 16 years as the best of my professional life, although I was seriously ill myself during this time".

At first she was thought crazy when the idea for a palliative care team came up.

She called out to her fellow campaigners: "Let's stay crazy enough to continue to achieve good things in the future.

I never run out of ideas.”