The Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ) is a joint institution of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) and the University of Heidelberg (Uni HD).
The diagnosis of "cancer" shatters the lives of affected children and their families and represents a major emotional challenge for many. Often, everyday life is turned upside down for an indefinite period of time. For most, the hospital is a completely foreign environment, and the medical routine can be unsettling. At the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), almost 30 physicians offer comprehensive care to those affected - from diagnosis to treatment and aftercare. However, it is not only medical expertise that is required. Time, calm and empathy are crucial factors in encouraging patients, providing reassurance, building trust, providing child-friendly information and making the therapeutic measures as stress-free as possible.
In order to give more space to this, KiTZ has launched the initiative "Giving Time". In addition to the prescribed staffing ratio, additional employees are hired. In this way, KiTZ is expanding its medical team so that it can do justice to the young cancer patients and their families in this special situation.
"Serious or life-threatening diseases such as cancer place very special demands on both families and the team," says Andreas Kulozik, Medical Director of the Clinic for Pediatric Oncology, Hematology, Immunology and Pneumology and Director at KiTZ. "On our ward, it is not only the medical expertise of the team that is required. With empathy and an open ear, we try to respond to each affected family individually. Especially with small children, it sometimes takes several attempts before a treatment can be carried out. That's why we are extremely grateful to the Dürr family and the Dürr Foundation for their renewed support."
"We have children ourselves and are happy every day that they are healthy. As a family, we decided to get involved with the families at KiTZ. A higher staffing ratio helps the affected families to get through the difficult time better," says Ursula Dürr, board member of the Dürr Foundation. Together with her husband Dieter Dürr, she founded the foundation in 2012 to promote health care, among other projects. The latter adds: "Personal contact is infinitely important. That's why we want to stay involved with this great initiative."
