“We will use it to help finance our respite care, as we take in entire families. It also pays for music therapy and clinic clowns”, said Katharina Alber, public relations officer of the children’s hospice, delighted with the support. Families can visit the hospice for up to 28 days per year following diagnosis.“We put priority on making the remaining time as pleasant as possible for the children and their families.”As a token of gratitude, Katharina Alber brought along a stuffed animal, the Balthasar sheep, to the donation check handover.
“Every year it is great to see how our employees manage to raise funds for donation on the occasion of the company run.The Balthasar Children’s Hospice is a special institution and we are pleased to be able to support it.The team does an extraordinary job,” says Lutz Höfer, Managing Director of TSL-ESCHA.
The Balthasar was opened in 1998 as the first children’s hospice in Germany. The first youth hospice was then added in Olpe in 2009. It can accommodate up to eight children and four adolescents. Since parents and siblings are also accommodated, there are up to 50 people in the hospice at times. Over 4,000 children become terminally ill in Germany every year. As a result of advances in medicine and medical technology, sick children who only a few years ago would have died in childhood can now reach adolescence and young adulthood.
