The Sophienhospiz Freising-Erding welcomed its first guest on Tuesday. Karl Weiß, 62, from Walpertskirchen, is happy to speak to the newspaper. He’s already waiting in the living room. That’s the name of the lounge, which with the armchairs, the three or four tables and the bookshelves could easily pass as a café room. Karl Weiß is sitting in a wheelchair at one of the small tables, white shirt, blue jacket, curious look. One or two craftsmen are still passing by the glass front to the corridor, and the fire alarm system is currently being tested several times. It’s all brand new. “It’s wonderful here,” says Weiß and smiles.
The hospice, laid out in a semicircle, has twelve rooms and was built on the initiative of the MWS Hospice Foundation by the Freising couple Marianne and Werner Folger and their daughter Sofia. At the beginning, four terminally ill people are being cared for in the Sophienhospice, explains home manager Rita Gabler. Then, in the course of the year, all twelve rooms on Sternweg in Erding will be occupied. The demand is great. Rita Gabler counts 23 people on the waiting list, people whose illness has no chance of being cured. People like Karl Weiss.
In November 2019, an operation on the nose was planned, a routine procedure, then the computed tomography brought the result: suspected brain tumor. Further examinations and an operation in the Klinikum Rechts der Isar confirmed the suspicion: glioblastoma, a very aggressive brain tumor that keeps growing quickly and even after successful removal. After the first operation, two more were to follow, each six months apart, but the tumor always came back.
In the summer of last year, Karl Weiß made a trip to Lake Constance with his wife Monika. Together they discussed the pros and cons of another operation. “There we decided: no, we won’t do it again. And I say consciously: we,” explains Karl Weiß and looks at his wife, who is sitting next to him. Another operation would not bring about a cure, and the risk that a new operation would entail is also not foreseeable. “We wanted to have a nice summer,” says Monika Weiß. They then went on vacation together with their two children in Alsace. There, Weiss suffered an epileptic seizure and a cerebral hemorrhage and was taken to the hospital with complete hemiplegia. After being transported back, he was taken to the Palliative Care Ward at the Wartenberg Clinic. There he experienced care “of such humanity that impressed and touched me”.
After his health had stabilized, his wife took him home to Walpertskirchen. She stepped down professionally and focused entirely on her husband. For 24 hours she and his sister were only busy taking care of her husband and organizing the care. “I no longer had a life of my own.” She finally came to the brink of physical and mental exhaustion. Until it just didn’t work anymore. But where to? Many desperate relatives of terminally ill people asked themselves this question, says Marianne Folger, herself chairwoman of the Freising hospice group and who has been active in hospice work for years. Palliative beds in clinics are limited in time, retirement homes are not the right place and hospices are few and far between in the region. The nearest hospices are in Munich, Ingolstadt or Vilsbiburg, and places are rarely free there.
Karl Weiß was initially given a place in the hospice in Vilsbiburg. Monika Weiß traveled a total of 90 kilometers every day for her daily visit. She now only has 15 kilometers to go to Erding, “that’s a huge relief.” Her relationship with her husband has also changed. “We have more time for each other, we talk a lot more, now I’m a wife and not a nurse.”
The fact that the hospice for the Freising and Erding region finally worked out is thanks to the private initiative of the Freising family Folger. Unlike state builders, the foundation was able to act more quickly. The house should meet all aspects of care, “but it should also be something beautiful, and of course it should be ready in a timely manner,” says Marianne Folger. Anyone who visits the house knows that it was successful in all three respects.
The guest rooms are bright and furnished to a high standard. Nothing is reminiscent of illness or death if it weren’t for the bar with various connections for oxygen, electricity or the patient bell. From the foyer, the path leads to the right into the room of silence. Here patients, visitors and staff can come to rest. The colored windows were recently installed, bathing the room in a warm light. No expense was spared in terms of technology either. For example, the house features an impressive high-tech bathtub into which guests can be hoisted. And then there is the modern kitchen, “the heart of the house”, as Marianne Folger puts it. Kitchen manager Karin Leidenberger cooks organic and regional. On this day it smells wonderfully of roast chicken. “That’s a very important point: the guests should eat what they like in the last days of their lives,” explains Marianne Folger.
The MWS Hospice Foundation is investing several millions in the project. She founded a company that runs the hospice, Sophienhospiz gGmbH. The health insurance companies cover a large part of the necessary costs of running the hospice, the rest has to be paid for by the foundation itself. The facility therefore relies on donations. With the help of the advent calendar for good works, the Süddeutsche Zeitung supports the project with a high six-figure sum
Karl Weiß, a construction project manager by trade, is enthusiastic about the premises. And from the nursing staff, “both from the human and from the nursing side.” He wants to stand up for them, they shouldn’t be burdened with so much administrative work, he also wrote to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. He found faith through his experience with the nurses. Where should they get their daily strength from – “that has to come from God”. In general, he still has a lot to do. He could imagine a symposium in the Sophienhospice, with residents, films and information about the hospice. Death is repressed by people, excluded from society. He himself is not afraid of dying. What hurts, he says, and now he’s crying, is saying goodbye to his wife, children and friends.
From the living room you can see the landscape gardeners at work through the patio door. All guest rooms have a view of the garden and the evening sun, explains Marianne Folger. The sun breaks through the gray winter sky on this late afternoon as if made to order. “I prefer the evening sun anyway,” says Karl Weiß.