Emergencies in Germany

Last night we had about 2 inches of snow. It's so beautiful! I must be getting more of the northern mindset, as when Hubs left the house this morning, instead of getting up to see the snow, I just burrowed deeper into the blankies on the bed. :)

Anyway - in Germany it is a law that everyone that lives in a free-standing house (as we do) must shovel their sidewalk when it snows. This is to cut down on the risk of anyone slipping on the snow and/or ice. Failure to shovel - if there is an injury - means we would be responsible for any medical bills incurred by anyone in their fall.

Our very elderly next door neighbors had already shovelled their driveway and sidewalk when I finally got up today. Both she and he speak no English, except things like "ok", "hallo!", and "byebye". She is of extremely broad stature, and I don't mean fat. She has shoulders like a man, and I have seen how she weilds her garden fork and shovel like I would use a dinner fork - no effort, no heavy breathing, - she is one very strong woman. Her husband on the other hand, appears to me to be much weaker than she. Hubs and I have watched him work in the yard before and have been praying that he will just take a break, just please let the strong wife do the hard work. He looks so frail, and has that elderly shuffle to his steps.

I didn't hear the ambulance today, so I am hoping that is a good sign that they didn't have to hurry up and get to them. When I noticed it outside of their home, all of the attendants were already inside.

What to do? In America, I would have gotten dressed and gone over there to see what I could do to help; perhaps I could have comforted whichever spouse was still ok, helped to distract him/her, etc. But here....I couldn't do anything but just watch (as I noticed every other neighbor was doing, peeking out of the windows.)

Eventually one of the attendants got the guerny and brought it to their back door. But there are steps, and they were covered with snow, so he left it there and after a few minutes, he and 3 other attendants slowly and carefully walked the man across his porch, down the steps and got him positioned on the guerny. They had already started an IV for him, and the job of one of the attendants was just to hold it up.

By this time I was outside, hoping to see the woman to ask her what I could do. That was kind of silly, as not only could I not ask her in German what I could do, but I couldn't do anything the medical personnel were not already doing. I did hear the man question what was going on, why was he being taken from home, and one of the attendants told him some numbers that were normal, and he was not normal, and he needed to be stabilized and go to the hospital where they would make him all better. (This was my understanding of the conversation, based on the few words I could pick out)

In Germany, there is a time limit for professional medical help to reach a victim. I think my German teacher told me it was at the most 10 minutes. He said they conduct tests reguarly to assure they meet this criteria, and if they find an area that takes longer than 10 minutes to reach, they will build a new ambulance center. Not only that....but ambulance services in Germany are free of charge.

I think no matter what one individual's point of view is on socialized medicine, America could learn a lot from the countries that already have it implemented.

I hope my elderly gentleman neighbor is ok. He is friendly, waves at us all the time, and I give him special treats for him to give my dog, because otherwise he will feed my dog their scraps, which isn't good for Harley. But he really likes Harley, and I don't mind providing the snacks to him. I hope he is ok.