Children's hospice services - great help in times of great suffering
A very serious, sad topic, but one that is incredibly important. And interestingly, if you take a closer look, it also has many beautiful, cheerful aspects. It's about children's hospice work.
Unfortunately, there are always children who suffer from a very serious, life-shortening illness. And especially for families in which such a child lives, there is children's hospice work - outpatient and inpatient.
What many people don't realise: Children's hospice work is also responsible if, for example, a parent is very, very seriously or terminally ill or dies. We paediatricians are of course aware of this, but it sometimes goes unnoticed in everyday practice.
That's why it's extremely important to emphasise that these supportive measures exist. Because, as you can easily imagine, families who are struck by such a blow of fate experience an enormous emotional burden. It is also an extreme physical burden. Siblings suffer greatly. There are so many stressful aspects to these situations that it is impossible to list them all here.
Instead, I would like to point out that very, very valuable work is being done in this area. Here in the Rems-Murr district by the two outpatient children's hospice services Sternentraum and Pusteblume. There is a really great inpatient children's hospice in Stuttgart. The nearest one outside our region is in the Allgäu, the St. Nikolaus children's hospice in Bad Grönenbach.
Finally, two more tips: Although these services are co-financed to some extent by health insurance companies, they rely heavily on donations. So if you would like to donate a few euros to a good cause, please think of these organisations. And, if you know families who are suffering from such serious health problems, then tell them about these services and talk to them about them.
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Drowning
Anyone who knows me from practical experience knows that I am usually very relaxed and not very anxious when it comes to parenting and development issues and often advise people not to take a too tense view of things. But when it comes to today's topic, there is simply zero room for compromise. It's one of the most important issues in paediatrics: the risk of children drowning.