As of: March 13, 2024, 1:30 p.m
By: Tanja Brinkmann
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His advice is still in demand: “Hip Pope” Dr.
Holm Schlemmer helped many patients in his 36 years at the clinic.
© Clinic
He gave his patients new courage to live.
Dr. feels this
Holm Schlemmer is still retired – despite all the health setbacks.
The “hip pope”, who turns 80 on Wednesday, is still interested in his hospital, he reads a lot and enjoys being together with his wife Cornelia.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
– As a boy, he wanted to become a harness racing driver.
His father, a university professor of pharmacy and chemistry and a passionate horse owner, infected him with this passion.
Of course, he didn't approve of his career choice.
First of all, he demanded a school and university degree.
Then Dr. found
Holm Schlemmer's true calling: surgery.
Already the second successor from our own ranks
He lived this out for 36 years at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Clinic.
First in general surgery, then as a specialist in new hips.
In 1991 the department was divided into accident and general surgery including endoprosthetics, whose chief physician Schlemmer was appointed a year later as the successor to Professor Dr.
Fritz Lechner became.
“In the beginning we operated on everything, including stomachs,” remembers the doctor, who is celebrating his 80th birthday on Wednesday.
However, it soon became clear that, given the enormous demand for new joints, a step towards even more specialization was unavoidable.
Under the direction of the Strasbourg native who grew up in Rottach-Egern, the “endogap” clinic for joint replacement was founded in 2005 as an independent main department of the clinic.
With Schlemmer as chief physician.
This was the decisive step towards establishing a brand.
The reputation of the doctors, who at that time were already performing well over 1,000 artificial hip and knee joints per year, was and still is excellent across the region.
Schlemmer, himself a native of the clinic, is proud that the second successor from within his own ranks is now following in his footsteps.
They continue to help many people live a new, pain-free life.
When “Welt am Sonntag” included him in its “Great German Doctors” series in 2000, Schlemmer said: “We can’t do magic, even if it sometimes looks like it, because lame people can suddenly walk again.”
Celebrating the golden wedding anniversary in summer: Cornelia and Dr.
Holm Schlemmer.
© private
Working at the clinic, with colleagues and nursing staff, contact with patients – the passionate surgeon loved it all.
No wonder he found it difficult to leave “his child” in 2010.
There were also health setbacks that prevented him from realizing his retirement plans: traveling with his wife Cornelia, the most important person in his life, skiing and playing golf.
“But other doors are opening,” emphasizes Cornelia Schlemmer, who taught sports and art at the St. Irmengard schools.
She admires her husband.
Especially for his “insane will to live”.
After all, he has had to endure a lot, she says.
One of her darkest hours was certainly the cancer diagnosis he received at the age of 32.
His doctor at the time predicted that he would be dead in four weeks.
Things turned out differently.
Luckily for his loved ones, with whom Dr.
Schlemmer is celebrating his big birthday today with his closest circle.
And for his patients, to whom the “hip pope” gave new courage to live.
There are ten new books every two months
The Schlemmers have now largely withdrawn from social life.
But they still enjoy attending concerts in Elmau Castle.
And the doctor goes shopping every two months.
“I always buy ten books,” he reveals and smiles.
He is particularly fond of historical material, most recently he devoured the new Ken Follett “The Weapons of Light”.
He is currently reading Enemies by John Grisham.
Of course, he continues to follow what is happening at the clinic and especially in his former department.
He admits that he misses the work.
When he retired, things started to get really bad for him.
But other doors have opened.
Like when he found his calling and became a surgeon.
However, you still met him at the harness racing track.
A trainer had taught him how to drive, and so Schlemmer competed in amateur sulky races in Munich, Hamburg and Vienna for ten years.
In sports - he played field hockey and basketball, among other things - he always found the perfect balance to his demanding job.