Page 24 - FIS World

Preparing for a Medical
Emergency in Germany
Helpful Tips to Keep a Healthy Family
With limited knowledge of the infrastructure and with no network of family and friends for support, expatriate families face a whole series of challenges when relocating to a new country. One that looms more ominously is the issue of medical care. How does one find good doctors and what is the procedure in case of a medical emergency. To gath- er some insight on the subject, FIS World spoke with the FIS nursing team and FIS parents, Dr. Ute and Dr. Stephan Falk, a dermatologist and pa- thologist respectively, with practices in Frankfurt.
The good news is that medical care in Germany is of a very high standard and offers world-class treatment. But for a newcomer, the system is a bit complicated with its public and pri- vate health insurance and particular procedures for access to specialists and hospital treatments.
According to Dr. Falk, the best way to “navigate the murky waters of the German health care system” is to find a General Practitioner (GP) or internist for your family and a pediatrician for your children up to age 16. Not only can he or she make recommendations for medical specialists if required, but all patient information from a referral comes back to that office for compila- tion and further discussion if needed.
There are several ways one can go about finding a family doctor. The FIS nurses’ office is glad to help, but they do not have a list to distribute. And because it is a question of personal experience and rapport, both the Falks and the nurses suggest asking for rec- ommendations from friends or within the FIS community (via the Facebook closed group for example). Dr. Ute Falk also suggests a website, www. jameda.de, which rates physicians.
Although in German, the website’s color coding (green a go, red a no) and numbered rating (1 the highest, 6 the lowest) make it easy to use. Of course, one should also look for the absolute number of comments for a particular doctor. Dr. Stephan Falk also strongly recommends advance research when looking for a specialist or for a treat- ment involving a hospital stay. There are no hospitals that are good in all medical fields so it pays to inquire with the GP, friends and doctors within the FIS community beforehand.
Most disconcerting are the health concerns which crop up after office hours, which in Germany usually include Wednesday and Friday after- noons as well. Every household should have the emergency telephone numbers at hand (see box of emer- gency numbers). In case of a life-threatening situation, the emer- gency physician (Notarzt) should be called and when someone is immov- able, an ambulance. For other medical issues where one would normally visit a doctor’s office, but which cannot wait until the next day, there is an after-hours medical service available (ärztliche Notdienst) for publicly insured patients. Private patients can use other services (e.g. Privatärztlicher Notdienst Rhein Main www.pnrm.de). Both advise on the phone, and if nec- essary either arrange for a doctor to come to the house or ask the patient to come to a given location for an examination.
Dr. Stephan Falk also recommends identifying a hospital in advance for possible treatment during a medical emergency after hours. This is import- ant because some hospitals do not offer emergency services at all (for example Königstein) and some that might be nearby may not be the best choice as far as the quality or type of
medical care is concerned. Changing hospitals after treatment has begun is possible, but usually not expedient. In any case, if a child gets seriously ill, one would go to the nearest pediatric hospital, those being Höchst City Hos- pital, the University Hospital and Clementine Hospital in Frankfurt or the Horst Schmidt Clinic in Wiesbaden. For adults, Markus Hospital (which also is a FIS partner in the Internship Pro- gram), Nordwest Hospital, and Höchst City Hospital are good choices for the Taunus area with the Horst Schmidt Hospital or the St. Josephs Hospital
for those living in Wiesbaden.
The pharmacies in Germany also have their emergency services. One pharmacy in each district will be open after-hours on a rotating basis. FIS nurses recommend that families pick up a small brochure (see photo of this) available in every pharmacy which lists the drugstores on-call for one whole calendar year.
While medical concerns and crises cannot be completely avoided, new families will feel much more compe- tent and comfortable if they prepare for a possible emergency in advance. The nurses as well as the Falks could not stress strongly enough that it is also vital for families to reach out to others in a time of crisis and not to try to handle it independently. Whether it be the name of a doctor, a hot dinner for the family or just a kind word of compassion, the FIS school commu- nity has been an invaluable source of mutual support since its inception in 1961.
22 FIS World February 2015