Emergency relief action medeor

Markus Bremers, spokesperson for action medeor, interviewed Szymanski on the fifth anniversary of the floods. action medeor supported him and his nursing service not only with a temporary base and a vehicle but also by helping to establish the Mittendrin day-care centre in Hönningen-Liers.

What did you think your situation would look like five years later?

“At the time, I thought: this is Germany, things here move quickly, and everything will soon be back to normal. What we didn’t yet realise was the immense impact the disaster had on people overnight. Whether patients or staff, everyone had lost something – loved ones, possessions, their sense of security. And then there were the psychological consequences. Those were so enormous that we simply could not grasp them at the time.”

How important was action medeor’s support during the first phase?

“Getting in touch with action medeor was an absolute stroke of luck. We are incredibly grateful for the support we received. I never imagined that help could be provided so quickly and so unbureaucratically. They listened to our concerns and responded to our needs. That removed a huge burden from our shoulders during a very difficult time.”

What would the situation have been like without this support?

“I think we would have felt helpless – perhaps even desperate. We had to make many crucial decisions very quickly. Without action medeor’s support, healthcare services for people in the region would have taken much longer to resume. I cannot rule out the possibility that more people might have died because they would not have received adequate care.”

What does the day-care centre mean for people in the region today?

“The day-care centre is a tremendous blessing for the people here. To be honest, until last year I could hardly believe it would become reality. A year ago, a dilapidated house stood on this site; today we have a modern day-care centre in the heart of the village. Its name, Mittendrin (‘Right in the Middle’), is very fitting. It sits between the municipalities of Altenahr and Adenau and is truly integrated into community life. It has been very well received.”

“I Just Wanted the Nightmare to End”

Dr. Stefanie Nacke, a physician, ran her own medical practice in Altenahr directly on the banks of the River Ahr until the floods of 2021. During the flood night, she put herself in danger while trying to save patient records and was ultimately forced to spend the night on the hillside above her practice.

action medeor provided her and her team with temporary facilities in a container complex in Kalenborn, enabling them to resume medical care only a few weeks after the disaster. “The true scale of the catastrophe only became clear to me much later,” the doctor recalls in her conversation with Markus Bremers.

What did you think your situation would look like five years later?

“I had absolutely no idea. I never gave it a thought. If we had known how long the rebuilding process—both externally and internally—would take, who knows whether we would have had the courage to begin.”

How important was action medeor’s support during the first phase?

“I came into contact with action medeor in August. The staff from action medeor and Pharmacists Without Borders were the only organised helpers who asked us: What do you do? What did you do before? What do you need to continue?”

What would the situation have been like without this support?

“It is difficult to imagine. I don’t know what I would have done without action medeor’s help. Search for premises for a new practice on my own? Give up entirely? One thing is certain: without that support, I would never have been able to resume primary healthcare services so quickly.”

“We Were Able to Continue Working from Day One”

Pharmacist Inge Göttling was also affected by the floods in Altenahr. The day after the disaster, she began providing medicines to patients under emergency conditions and kept her pharmacy running on a provisional basis.

action medeor also supported her by providing replacement facilities. “One of my employees had been trapped on his parents’ rooftop since the disaster began and had no way of getting down. Finding a solution for that situation was all I could think about,” Göttling recalls in her interview with our press spokesperson.

What did you think your situation would look like five years later?

“I thought we would repair the damage within one or two years and be back in our beautiful Burg Pharmacy by the Ahr River. But things turned out very differently. Everything took much, much longer. We were never able to reopen our pharmacy in Altenahr. Instead, we now have a new pharmacy in Ahrbrück. Five years ago, I would never have imagined that.”

How important was action medeor’s support during the first phase?

“Thanks to action medeor’s support, we were able to work from day one and continue supplying the population with medicines properly. In the beginning there was zero infrastructure and zero routine. Every single step had to be rebuilt from scratch. Many people no longer even knew which medications they had been taking.

People in the Ahr Valley were unable to travel. There were no vehicles, no telephones, no internet connection. Contact with doctors was not always possible either. Thanks to the extensive support from action medeor, we were able to establish safe routines very quickly and provide people with the medicines they needed. That was incredibly helpful and of immeasurable value during that phase.”

To ensure that we can continue to respond to emergencies around the world - including crises such as the one in the Ahr Valley - and deliver life-saving assistance, we depend on your support. Together, we can help ensure that medical aid reaches those who need it most.