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Head of Department
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Head of Department
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Our Mara Clinic is a unique medical establishment for people with special needs. In addition to the well-known epilepsy clinics it includes the Centre for Handicapped Medicine – an acute hospital with a surgical and internal medical department. Patients who come here are usually disabled or limited by a chronic illness. People with:
- a mental handicap
- an additional psychiatric illness
- epilepsy
- HIV or AIDS
- an addiction
- social difficulties
We treat their additional acute illnesses in Mara, as special experience is necessary with diagnostics, therapy and care. Outpatient and inpatient examinations are both possible.
Many patients come from the facilities of the von Bodelschwingh Institutes of Bethel. Others come from the regional catchment area, when the general hospitals there find they are unable to meet the special requirements.
Specially-nominated nurses are responsible for certain patients to provide the so-called room care service. Clinical and nursing services work closely together as it is only by jointly observing a sick person, with for example an additional mental disorder, that an appropriate and thorough basis for treatment can be achieved. In examination and treatment, particular care is taken to keep the balance between medical requirements and what can reasonably be expected of the patient. If necessary, examinations take place following the administration of sedative medication. The standard policy is to always allow enough time, in order that patients are disturbed as little as possible.
The wards for internal medicine were renovated in 1999 and now have mainly single and two-bed rooms with bathrooms suitable for disabled persons. For wheelchair users and the severely disabled there are larger rooms and for patients requiring special intensive care there are rooms with special facilities for monitoring and nursing.
The Mara Clinic, which focuses on HIV and addiction, treated the first HIV positive patients in 1988. A substitution treatment with methadone is available for drug-addicted patients with internal medical or surgical illnesses. The Infection and Methadone Outpatient Department today forms an integral part of the regional medical care spectrum.
A further focus in our Centre for Handicapped Medicine is the ward for patients who, due to a variety of illnesses, are temporarily or permanently reliant on a respirator. We offer such patients an area with homely surroundings but, at the same time, with all hospital facilities available. A multi-professional team works towards maintaining and where possible restoring practical skills and attaining the best possible quality of life.
