German Red Cross Nursing Association Berlin

The DRK-Schwesternschaft Berlin e.V. (German Red Cross Nursing Association Berlin) is a non-profit, democratically organised association of women who work in acute medical care, nursing, rehabilitation, prevention and health promotion. It is one of the nursing associations affiliated with the German Red Cross (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz, DRK) and is a member of the Verband der Schwesternschaften vom Deutschen Roten Kreuz. With almost 1,100 members, it describes itself as "Berlin's Red Cross nurses" and traces its institutional roots back to the founding of the first Berlin Red Cross nursing association in 1875. The association's purpose is to promote health, relieve human suffering and secure dignified care. Its members work in nursing and functional areas as well as in fields indirectly related to healthcare, such as the biz Bildungszentrum für Pflegeberufe (education centre for nursing professions). The association is governed by a members' assembly, an advisory board (Beirat) and a board (Vorstand); the chairwoman and Oberin is Doreen Fuhr, who has led the association since 2012. Economically, the DRK-Schwesternschaft Berlin is the sole shareholder of the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz Schwesternschaft Berlin Gemeinnützige Krankenhaus GmbH, which operates the DRK Kliniken Berlin. These include hospitals in Westend, Mitte and Köpenick, the Wiegmann Klinik, Pflege und Wohnen Mariendorf, Hospiz Köpenick and the biz education centre. With more than 3,500 employees, the DRK Kliniken Berlin are among the largest employers in the German capital. The association presents itself as a women's network combining a sense of community with professional development, and it emphasises its Berufsethische Grundsätze (professional ethical principles) as a distinguishing feature of DRK nursing associations. It maintains a permanent exhibition on its history and communicates its 151-year history through channels such as Instagram.

The history of the DRK-Schwesternschaft Berlin reaches back to the 19th century. In 1875, Hedwig Gräfin Rittberg founded a Hilfs-Schwestern-Verein (auxiliary nursing association) in Berlin, which later became the Gräfin Rittberg-Schwestern-Verein vom Roten Kreuz — the first Red Cross nursing association in Berlin. In the following years, further nursing associations were established in the city, including the Schwesternschaft Märkisches Haus, the Schwesternschaft Paulinenhaus, the Luisen-Cecilien-Schwesternschaft and the Schwesternschaft Weißensee. All of these Berlin nursing associations based their daily work on the humanitarian principles of the German Red Cross: maintaining ideological, political and religious neutrality and respecting the dignity and individuality of every person. The ideal of the nursing associations was to provide professional nursing and care in a community of like-minded women. At the time, this was seen as a way to remedy what were often perceived as catastrophic conditions in nursing care. The associations sought to raise the quality and professionalism of nursing, to improve the training of new recruits and to fight for recognition of their profession. Mutual support to secure their own future was another important concern: in return for life in a community, the Red Cross nurses gave up founding their own families, and the less they had to worry about their existence, the more they could devote themselves to the people entrusted to them. The DRK-Schwesternschaft Berlin e.V. in its current form emerged in spring 1975 from the merger of the five independent organisations mentioned above — exactly one hundred years after the first Berlin Red Cross nursing association was founded. Since 1975 the association has been led by an Oberin (head nurse): Christa Rohr from 1975 to 1988, Renate Lawrenz from 1988 to 1996, Heidi Schäfer-Frischmann from 1996 to 2012, and Doreen Fuhr since 2012. Over the decades, the association has become the sole shareholder of the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz Schwesternschaft Berlin Gemeinnützige Krankenhaus GmbH, which operates the DRK Kliniken Berlin. These facilities include the DRK Kliniken Berlin Westend, Mitte and Köpenick, the Wiegmann Klinik, Pflege und Wohnen Mariendorf, Hospiz Köpenick and the biz Bildungszentrum für Pflegeberufe. With more than 3,500 employees, the DRK Kliniken Berlin are among the largest employers in Berlin. The association itself has almost 1,100 members and remains a non-profit, democratically organised registered association. In December 2010 it opened a permanent exhibition, "SchwesternschaftsJahre", documenting its history.

• 2012

  Doreen Fuhr becomes Oberin and chairwoman.

• 2010

  The permanent exhibition "SchwesternschaftsJahre" opens in December.

• 1996

  Heidi Schäfer-Frischmann becomes Oberin (1996–2012).

• 1988

  Renate Lawrenz becomes Oberin (1988–1996).

• 1975

  The DRK-Schwesternschaft Berlin e.V. is formed from the merger of five independent Berlin Red Cross nursing associations, one hundred years after the first was founded.

• 1975

  Christa Rohr becomes Oberin (1975–1988).

• 1875

  Hedwig Gräfin Rittberg founds a Hilfs-Schwestern-Verein in Berlin, later the Gräfin Rittberg-Schwestern-Verein vom Roten Kreuz, the first Red Cross nursing association in Berlin.

Non-profit Red Cross nursing association combining professional nursing quality with the humanitarian principles of the Red Cross; sole shareholder of the DRK Kliniken Berlin hospital group.

• DRK Kliniken Berlin Westend

  Hospital in Berlin-Westend, operated by the DRK Kliniken Berlin.

• DRK Kliniken Berlin Mitte

  Hospital in Berlin-Gesundbrunnen.

• DRK Kliniken Berlin Köpenick

  Hospital in Berlin-Köpenick.

• DRK Kliniken Berlin Wiegmann Klinik

  Clinic in Berlin-Westend.

• DRK Kliniken Berlin Pflege und Wohnen Mariendorf

  Nursing and residential facility in Berlin-Mariendorf.

• DRK Kliniken Berlin Hospiz Köpenick

  Hospice in Berlin-Köpenick.

• biz Bildungszentrum für Pflegeberufe

  Education centre for nursing professions in Berlin-Westend.

1. 1Startseite | DRK-Schwesternschaft Berlin e.V.drkschwesternschaftberlin.de
2. 2Wer wir sind | DRK-Schwesternschaft Berlin e.V.drkschwesternschaftberlin.de
3. 3Unsere Werte | DRK-Schwesternschaft Berlin e.V.drkschwesternschaftberlin.de
4. 4Unser Verein | DRK-Schwesternschaft Berlin e.V.drkschwesternschaftberlin.de
5. 5DRK-Schwesternschaft Berlin – Wikipediade.wikipedia.org
6. 6German Red Cross Nursing Association Berlin – Wikidatawikidata.org