Mountaineering helps Klaus Strasbourg, it is his catalyst, his valve, to free himself from stress. A stress that accompanied him, his employees and patients all year round. At the beginning of the year, when the first vaccines arrived in the district, the 61-year-old was still hopeful that the wretched pandemic would soon come to an end.
“Like so many others, I was convinced that everything could soon come to an end with the vaccination,” says the doctor who runs his practice in Unterhaching. “And even during the summer you had the feeling that it was all over. I was on two short vacations in Spain and Croatia and it was like before – actually quite normal.”
The family doctor experiences firsthand that there can be no talk of normality in daily work. Strasbourg reports that he last had to treat four patients with severe Covid 19 diseases. “All unvaccinated, in their 40s, just before ventilation.” His employees are at the limit and can only be kept on track with better pay, the psychological stress is noticeable in the patients, some are on the verge of depression or are already in the middle of it, a lack of social contacts would bother many.
And for Strasbourg, too, a lot has changed in its work this year, not just because of the additional effort involved in vaccination. “I have to think on many more levels. The approaches that patients are looking for have become more diverse, for example via Whattsapp,” he reports. Nevertheless, he feels balanced, at peace with himself, says Strasbourg – the mountains are his medicine.
Like Strasbourg, everyone has had their own experiences in this second year of the pandemic – both positive and negative. In its annual review, the SZ lets people have their say and report on their very own experiences during these twelve months – from the nurse to the employment agency to an employee in the test center.