As of: February 12, 2024, 3:00 p.m
By: Gabi Zierz
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Happy about the generous donation (from left): monastery director Angelina di Virgilio, Renate Schmidt (front), Horst Schmidt and hospice director Rita Gabler in the rickshaw as well as palliative care nurse and rickshaw driver Franz Wieser with service dog Toby.
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A generous donation from Horst and Renate Schmidt makes it possible for the Sophienhospice to offer its seriously ill patients short excursions.
Erding - The two seniors who have been living in the Heiliggeist-Stift for several years are covering the cost of 3,000 euros for a mobile oxygen device.
Its purchase was a wish from hospice director Rita Gabler, which we reported on as part of our reader's charity “Light in the Hearts”.
“We were very impressed by the personal commitment of rickshaw driver and carer Franz Wieser,” explains the Schmidt couple, who have been married for more than 60 years.
The two report on their motives for the donation: “At the Heiliggeist-Stift we often see that older people are literally running out of breath in the last phase of their lives.
There is a dramatic event behind this.
In short, it is a progressive insufficiency of the lungs; the oxygen supply to the organs is increasingly reduced or sometimes almost completely stopped.
Emphysema is often the final stage.
The lungs almost completely lose the ability to breathe in and out.
Hospital stays are then necessary, and palliative measures are required in the final stage.
The fear of suffocating is a constant companion.
Sometimes there is only a short period of time left until the end of life.”
The Schmidts know that finding ways to make the last days a little more joyful is part of the philosophy of palliative work in the Sophienhospice.
Thanks to the mobile oxygen device, even the most seriously ill patients, for whom mechanical oxygen is vital, could now take part in the rickshaw rides.
This is an inestimably happy feeling for them and often the last joy in life, as Gabler emphasized in a small coffee meeting when the check was handed over in the Heiliggeist-Stift.
“The hospice has realized an idea that touches people.
We wanted to support this with our donation.
And in the summer, God willing, we will take a rickshaw ride with Mr. Wieser,” say Renate and Horst Schmidt happily.