Medicine and nursing are the core professions of a hospital. But over and above this there are many more people who work for your wellbeing, or enable, from the background, the work of doctors and nurses. Here is a brief overview …

Various therapeutic services work towards your recovery. The largest department is that of physiotherapy, which we maintain at all locations, and which also offers the application of physical therapy such as massages or volcanic mud (fango) packs. The physiotherapists help you for example with the first attempts at walking after operations, in order to get back on your feet properly and avoid incorrect postures. With a variety of applications, they train your muscle or skeletal apparatus according to requirements and show you how to help yourself in your daily routine.

Practical daily tasks are also often the focus of ergotherapy, which has gained increased importance in recent years. With a lot of sensitivity, creativity and imagination our ergotherapists help you to regain lost abilities (for example, those lost as a result of a stroke or a psychological illness) and to lead an independent life even with physical disabilities. Ergotherapy is used primarily in psychotherapeutic clinics, in geriatrics, epileptology, neurology as well as in the Children’s Centre.

A wide range of psychological, socio-therapeutic, psychotherapeutic and psycho-oncological services are available at our two psychotherapeutic clinics in Bethel and in the Johannesstift, and to a degree also in our somatic clinics (pain therapy). Our therapists also visit other clinics if required. Psychological care in cancer cases also plays an important role.

Social counselling, including discharge management, is an important part of our work in the hospital. It involves particularly the organisation of services required when your hospital stay ends. This could be a follow-on therapy in a rehabilitation clinic, the procurement of an outpatient nursing service or a place in a nursing home or sheltered residence. Our personnel can also be approached about any other social or socio-legal question that may arise during your hospital stay. They will advise and put you in touch with specialised agencies, such as help lines and counselling bodies or self-help groups.

In future, as our society becomes ever older and the number of people needing care grows correspondingly, nursing care at home will become more and more important. Our hospital has its own home nursing service called “Gilead ambulant“, which co-operates closely with the Johanneswerk Parish Service. This cooperation ensures a smooth transition from the inpatient environment back into your own four walls.

The fact that “Man does not live by bread alone“ used to guide the work our deaconesses were providing in the early years. Our pastoral work continues in this tradition. These services are an integral part of our clinics and the treatment offered. All our clinic locations have beautiful chapels or rooms for religious services, which are also used for cultural events, such as literature readings, concerts or exhibitions. You can also follow the church service by switching on channel 10 at your television set. Our pastors visit the wards regularly and, at your request, they will be happy to   talk to you in peace and quiet.

Our kitchens and cafeterias cater for your physical well-being and health with a tasty, balanced diet, adapted to your individual needs. Comfortable cafés are available at all locations for you and your visitors. Our staff will be happy to inform you of opening times and services on offer, as well as any special points about ordering from the menu.

The schools of nursing and health care of the von Bodelschwingh Institutes in Bethel and the Ev. Johanneswerk are, since 2005, united under a combined trustee board, the Protestant Educational Centre for Health Professions. This includes two schools of nursing, including paediatric nursing, a dietary school, a geriatric care seminar, as well as an ergotherapy school. You can obtain more information from our homepage.

And, finally, there is also a large group of people working in the background, generally out of your sight, but who nevertheless ensure the smooth day-to-day running of our hospital:

• Our business departments such as Controlling and Medical Controlling, Financial Management and Contract Management take care of everything to do with figures.
• The Purchasing and Logistics Service Centre, as well as our pharmacies, provide our staff in the clinics with everything they need for your treatment.
• Personnel Management takes care of administrative issues in connection with our approx. 4,200 members of staff, as well as dealing with personnel planning.
• EvKB is comprised of many sizeable buildings. Our Domestic Management Department is correspondingly large. Hospital hygiene standards are of course significantly stricter than those of a private household.
• The Technical and IT Departments ensure that our telephones work, that computers communicate with one another and that any necessary building work is carried out - in brief: overseeing everything to do with our estate management, maintenance of external areas and our highly complex medical and information technology. An important statistic in this respect: our EvKB IT network regulates the interaction of more than 1,000 computers.