14.10.2010
Hope for critically ill kids
On campus Großhadern of the hospital of the University of Munich a new children’s palliative care center will be established. The building will be financed by solicited donations by the newly formed Förderverein Kinderpalliativzentrum München e.V. “The Förderverein has to collect over 5 million Euro. The LMU is going to finance the residual amount of 1.6 million Euro”, said Thomas Barth, chairman of the Förderverein Kinderpalliativzentrum München e.V. and CEO of E.ON Bayern AG. Bavaria’s minister of science Dr. Wolfgang Heubisch highlights: “The center will be the first stationary, palliative care facility for children in southern Germany. The aim is to respond quickly and extensive to crises. To achieve this, the entire spectrum of high-tech medicine of Großhadern’s campus is available.” heller & partner is supporting the project actively.
Bavarian Minister President’s wife and patron of the Förderverein Karin Seehofer also campaigns for supporting the project: “The goal to the treatment in the children palliative care unit is to stabilize the children and their families so that they can be relieved home again as soon as possible. For some of the children with the most severe symptoms, the palliative care unit can also be the place where they feel safe and secure enough to die in peace. Because even in children’s palliative care the citation of Cicely Saunders counts “Don’t give more days to the life, but give more life to the days.”
The impulse for the project was a young patient of Prof. Dr. Monika Führer, head of coordination of the Children’s Palliative Care Clinic of the University of Munich: Nora. Still a small child, Nora was diagnosed with leukaemia. For years she fought against the “bad cells”, as she called her disease – unfortunately in vain. Nora’s case shows the importance of a children’s palliative care center for severely ill children.
heller & partner developed the Förderverein’s logo and website and supported the preparation and follow-up of the press conference in which the project was announced. Thomas Barth, chairman of the Förderverein and CEO of E.ON Bayern AG, Harald Strötgen, chairman of the Stadtsparkasse München and initiator Prof. Dr. Monika Führer motivated all attendants to join this ambitious project.
Within a year, a majority of the funds should be collected, so that the building activities can begin.
