Last Aid

  • Caring for Seriously Ill and Dying People at the End of Life
  • Know how it works at the end of life
  • Workshop

The end of life and the death of our relatives, friends and neighbours often makes us feel helpless. The ancient knowledge that helped us accompany each other in our deaths in the past has gradually diminished with industrialisation. As a step toward regaining this knowledge, we offer a short course on Last Aid in which interested citizens can learn what
they can do for those close to them at the end of their lives. The course is presented by members of Hospiz Louise in Heidelberg and is free of charge.

Caring for the dying is not a science. It’s possible within the family and the neighbourhood. The course provides basic knowledge and encourages people to “turn towards” the dying. Gestures of care and connectedness are what is needed most at the end of life.

Designed in 2008 by Georg Bollig, himself an emergency care physician, Last Aid courses are modelled on First Aid courses: Instead of learning ways to help in case of injury, the course focuses on taking measures to help when there is life-limiting disease.

The course lasts four hours with four modules of 45 minutes, each with short breaks in between. What can you learn in these four hours? The course objective is for you to feel confident in accompanying a dying relative or a close friend on their last journey. The modules are:

  1. Dying as a normal part of life
  2. Planning ahead/ Making provisions and decisions
  3. Relieving suffering
  4. Saying goodbye

Hospiz Louise has been offering Last Aid Courses since 2019. Located in the middle of the Weststadt, the hospice team not only cares for dying people and their families and friends but also aims to bring the topic of death and dying back into society – where it belongs.

The course facilitators will be Frank Schöberl and Anne Erpelding. Frank has been working at the hospice since 2004 and is currently its director, while Anne has been involved as a hospice volunteer for the last 14 years. Both have extensive teaching experience in Last Aid courses.

For more information on the course: https://www.letztehilfe.info/last-aid/
Information on the hospice: https://hospiz-louise.de/ ( German only)

Duration: 4 hrs.
Language:
English
A donation box will be set up for Hospiz Louise

Foto: Adobe Stock

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