Press action medeor

After the acute emergency phase in the first weeks after the floods and the subsequent transitional aid measures, the humanitarian aid workers have now entered the reconstruction phase. "The acute emergency aid was about rescue and protection, while the transitional aid was about temporary solutions for destroyed structures. Now we are looking at what things can be permanently restored after the floods,” Alexandra Geiser, coordinator of the flood relief project team at action medeor, explains.

After two years, the “emergency pharmacy of the world”, as action medeor is also known, can look back on a whole series of such measures. In the Ahr valley, which was particularly affected by the floods, the aid organization provided medical supplies and solar-powered street lighting, set up temporary rooms for destroyed doctors' surgeries and pharmacies, sponsored afternoons for senior citizens, financed dance and theater activities for children, supported mobile home care for the elderly, set up temporary sports facilities for children and young people, and provided multifunctional rooms in which crisis teams met alternately, psychotherapeutic treatments took place and social get-togethers were possible. action medeor has also been active in North Rhine-Westphalia since the floods, supporting sports equipment and social projects for young people in Eschweiler, for example.

“Many of these projects continue to this day and have since been adapted to meet changing needs,” Markus Bremers, press spokesman and member of the action medeor flood project team, explains. In the local community of Kalenborn in the Ahr valley, for example, temporary rooms were initially created in containers for a destroyed doctor's surgery and a pharmacy. “This made it possible to quickly secure GP and pharmaceutical care for many thousands of people in the Ahr valley after the flood,” Bremers looks back. “However, the doctor's surgery and pharmacy have since renovated their old premises or moved to new locations, so our rooms are now being used for psychotherapeutic services.”

The need for such services remains high in the flooded areas. “After two years of working to the limit, rebuilding their homes and dealing with a lot of paperwork, many people are suffering from trauma and exhaustion,” Bremers states. "Even two years after the floods, people are still facing major challenges, which of course also lead to health and psychological problems. It will take years to deal with these consequences," Bremers says.

action medeor was particularly committed to helping the elderly and people in need of care who were particularly affected by the floods. “For many, their living environment has changed dramatically, they have had to move and now live in cramped conditions together with their relatives,” Alexandra Geiser explains. “Quite a few have had to leave their villages and have lost their familiar social environment.” The aid organization therefore ensured early on that senior citizens' afternoons could take place again and that home care could also be provided again. Another special project in this context is the establishment of a day care facility in cooperation with the Adenau-Altenahr social care center. “By supporting the new day care facility, we want to make a lasting contribution to helping older people who have lost their familiar living environment after the flood to re-establish social contacts and meet others,” Geiser and Bremers say, explaining the aid organization's commitment, which also uses donations from the “Aktion Deutschland Hilft” alliance.

The fact that action medeor is active with aid measures in Germany at all is a major exception for the aid organization based in Tönisvorst on the Lower Rhine. The “emergency pharmacy of the world” usually implements its aid projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. When the flood disaster struck Germany in July 2021, it was the first time in the aid organization's almost 60-year history that it was active in its own country. “But in the face of such a catastrophe, which happened practically on our doorstep, we as an aid organization could not and cannot remain inactive,” according to Alexandra Geiser and Markus Bremers, “so it was absolutely clear to us: we would help!” And this help will continue in the coming years. According to action medeor estimates, the transitional aid projects will continue until 2025.

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