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Guest post:

Health and nurses not only in hospitals and nursing care facilities the most diverse fields of activity. Also in the case of humanitarian relief operations in crisis areas they are needed. Reported here Raina Klüppelberg, health and a nurse in the Cardiac function in the service of the Asklepios Klinik Altona, from your way to “Doctors without borders” in South Sudan.

I have always been an enthusiastic nurse. I knew early on that I wanted to go this way. With 18 years of age I began my training at the former LBK hospital St. Georg (today, Asklepios Klinik St. Georg). Unfortunately, I could be after my exam, not by my teaching hospital. So I decided to gain experience abroad.

With the exam in the bag, I made to new Zealand. There I got to know a completely different health system. For nearly three years I worked in care as a rehabilitation assistant for patients who have received after an accident or trauma, state support, and helped them reintegrate into everyday life. Me were associated with resistant patients, with whom I went to Therapy sessions in centres and surgeries, or accompanied them home in their everyday life. In addition, I worked as a private nurse. For example, I have taken the 24-hour care for patients who were cared for in the home and their families wanted to travel for example.

I want to help others

Through my stay abroad I started to look at the world with different eyes. In new Zealand, I followed the news about natural disasters such as the Tsunami that destroyed in 2009, off the coasts of parts of the island of Samoa. As a foreigner, I was allowed to make, for various reasons, no relief. Reports in the media about terrorist attacks and famine, aroused in me the urgent need to help.

My interest in humanitarian aid had already grown early. A friend of the family, I got to know with the age of 16, an auxiliary organization of the African coasts on a hospital ship relief provided. I visited him on the ship on a “day of Open doors” in Bremen and got an insight into the work of the Crew. That was the trigger for my desire to become a nurse. And in new Zealand, the longing to be able to other people with humanitarian work, help awoke again.

For the time being, I went back to Germany. My objective: to work In a hospital and my specialist knowledge. I applied for a position on the interdisciplinary private station , a Station with a hotel ambience and a sophisticated hospital standard, in the Asklepios clinic in Altona. I knew the hospital already of guest operations during my training and felt at the time very well cared for.

On the private station, Privita called, I had an insight into 18 different departments and was able to expand my Knowledge quickly. I felt it was a blessing to work there in care, and to care for the patients in a holistic way. My station lead to I trusted my desire to work for “Doctors without borders”. She supported me with enthusiasm.

Strict criteria for the participation in “Doctors without borders”

The requirement criteria for participation in a mission of “Doctors without borders” are complex. Experience in leadership and Management are necessary. Language skills are a must. With fluent English, I was able to come, thanks to my long new Zealand has to offer. But the required knowledge of French, I had to acquire after working in language courses. In my holidays I travelled to India and Southeast Asia, in order to get an impression of so-called “third world countries”. This experience also heard in the requirement profile of the “Doctors without borders”. In addition, a minimum of two years of professional experience and a certificate in tropical medicine asked:.

After I was able to make it past each point in the requirement profile of a hook, I started the application process. An intense conversation followed, then I had the commitment.

Departure in South Sudan

The Asklepios Klinik Altona gave me a for a humanitarian aid project of the organization. In January 2014, it was time: I start my first deployment in South Sudan. I will report in my next blog post.

 

Photos: private