Stralsund (dpa / mv) - In view of the tense situation in the hospitals, the Vorpommern-Rügen district is looking for volunteers. A district spokeswoman confirmed a corresponding report by the radio station Ostseewelle on Friday. Accordingly, the helpers should transport patients, support them in the emergency room and work in the nursing area. The call is primarily aimed at volunteer firefighters, first responders and people with medical knowledge. The volunteers could help in eight-hour shifts and receive 20 euros as part of the volunteer fee.
According to the district, the district has sent a corresponding letter, which is also available to the German Press Agency, to aid organizations and fire brigades. According to the spokeswoman, these institutions should control the recruitment. In the meantime, however, citizens have also reported directly to the administration. For volunteers who work full-time in the emergency services or in hospitals, their actual employer should have priority, the letter says. "Otherwise we'll organize the next problem."
The situation is particularly serious in the Ribnitz-Damgarten, Stralsund, Bergen and Grimmen hospitals. The district had previously called on citizens to only go to emergency rooms in real emergencies. "The challenge is currently the increased number of patients with a simultaneously lower number of staff," it said.
According to the country's hospital association on Thursday, some of the houses in the country are currently missing a quarter of the staff. Therefore, employees from lower-level areas would be regrouped in children's hospitals and emergency rooms. Nevertheless, there can be very long waiting times in the emergency rooms for non-life-threatening diseases. Sometimes patients would be sent away again or referred to the emergency service of the resident doctors. In view of the current wave of respiratory diseases, Schwerin Minister of Health Stefanie Drese (SPD) had called on the clinics to use the limited supply capacities in favor of emergency care.
