VIDEOS "VIENNA HEALTH AWARD 2021"

Agnes Panagl: Our project group consists of psychologists, pedagogues, and medical doctors. We all work at the University Children's Hospital. Part of the group works at the day clinic for pediatric psychosomatics. The other part of the project team comes from neonatology, especially Dr. Philipp Steinbauer, who is not only a good doctor but also an excellent graphic designer and a creative mind. And he created the Coronar Superheroes. These comic heroes were intended to serve as identification figures for the children and make it easier for them to identify with these measures and implement them. Why do you have to wash your hands? Why is this long, thorough handwashing important? For example, we put glitter soap on the children's hands and let them experience: What happens if I touch something with the glitter soap? And I have to imagine those are all viruses, which are pathogens. And then they just had to wash their hands very briefly, and they could discover that if I only wash my hands briefly, and I touch something, everything is still full of viruses, and especially, if I then touch my face. Our experience was that it was extremely well received by our little patients at the clinic. I think that was the most important experience for all of us. Simply getting confirmation again of how important it is to take children seriously, to accompany children, and also to provide children with sufficient and age-appropriate information.

Susanne Kritzer: The Samariterbund is one of the largest rescue and health organizations in Austria and also operates many social projects, such as homeless aid, social markets, or refugee aid. I don't just inform journalists and the general public about the diverse topics of the Samariterbund, but also children. And Sam and Rita help me with that. They are the fun rescue dogs of the Samariterbund, who at family events or in children's puzzle books, in brochures, give children first aid tips and promote social behavior. And in the past one and a half years, the big topic was, of course, Corona. Also for children, and thus also for Sam and Rita. Therefore, the Samariterbund launched a project to prepare a special Corona info folder especially for children. On the one hand, to contain the pandemic, and on the other hand, to offer educational assistance. This info folder was distributed to children in schools throughout Austria, and it's about Sam and Rita explaining to children in a child-friendly way, how they can best protect themselves from infection with the Corona virus. The concept and texts were created by me. My colleague Irene Schweighofer is responsible for the illustration and graphic design. For many years, we both have been giving Sam and Rita their voice and their contours, and that's a lot of fun for us.

Roland Reithofer: Addiction or risky consumption means being in crisis situations. That means we can handle crises. And at the beginning of this pandemic, with what we're capable of, it became very clear to us very quickly that the people we work for are people who are particularly affected by the pandemic. Here, we provided outreach emergency care, so that people who are at home, in quarantine - whatever - and need medication, infection prophylaxis, etc. We contact the pharmacy and bring everything directly to them. People who are addicted and have other major problems, like homelessness etc., cannot simply make appointments. And for them, we did pop-up testing. And we handed out care packages, which contained basic groceries, a paper plate, a napkin, so one could eat, and the most necessary items to do hygiene on site themselves. Hand disinfectant, mask, things like that. And the second is information. In addition to the information we also had in the care package, we launched large information campaigns. You are valuable, your life matters. We did poster campaigns to give exactly addicted people the most important information. What does an epidemic mean when you're already physically so compromised? Especially when working against the shaming of people and diseases, recognition is balm for the soul of people who are affected and for the soul of those who work with people who are affected. Thank you.

Romeo Bissuti: MEN, together with FEM and FEM Süd, forms the Institute for Women's and Men's Health. And for almost 30 years, we have been offering health promotion projects especially for socially disadvantaged target groups – that is, the entire institute – and we have been doing so for about 20 years. The Social Barbers project aimed to train barbers/hairdressers as health multipliers. And we thought that a barbershop might also be an exciting place to reach certain target groups that are otherwise difficult to reach. And at the hairdresser's, during shaving, certain conversations arise, topics that are also health-related. Also regarding emotional well-being in a familiar setting. And we thought, let's launch a test balloon here, a pilot project, funded by Social Innovations. They made it possible for us. In cooperation with a barbershop in the 3rd district, we trained 14 health multipliers. Many topics came from the barbers/hairdressers themselves. Topics included, for example, dealing with jealousy, dealing with psychological stress, with depression, with separation, divorce, so very everyday problems. Of course, the topic of Corona was a hot topic, I don't think I need to elaborate on that. We were really very surprised that the response was so positive, and that there was so much interest and that we actually turned a stone here, where we really found something exciting.

Alexander Hengl: I usually don't have to introduce the Marktamt in Vienna. It is responsible for holding markets, for complete food control, and official consumer protection is also part of it. We thought about the Schlingermarkt, or the Floridsdorfer Markt, as it is officially called, it is really hot in the summer months. There are no shade-providing trees there. There is actually only a large concrete open space, and it feels like 50° C there. And at various summer events that we organized, it was simply scorching hot. Then the opportunity arose to try out an Airship One, as it was called back then. It also stood in front of the Museumsquartier for a few months in 2019. And that's where the idea came from. Yes, one could expand that further. Together with the former project manager and together with the district administration and together with the municipal directorate, who supported it very well, we were actually able to build this "Tröpferlbad 2.0" last year. The point is that 30 people can sit there comfortably. This means a consumption-free zone was created in the market area, and so far, measurements have shown that it is actually 6°C cooler than the normal ambient temperature measured there. That means you really notice it. And that with a low water consumption of about 1.5 liters per hour. Whether we will install this in other markets or not, time will tell, and the project or the project partner Green for Cities will show. Because it is constantly being refined so that it will, of course, be improved and function even better than what we already have.

Rosa Bergmann: We offer free leisure activities for children and young people who, due to their living circumstances, cannot afford them, because leisure activities are often associated with high costs. My colleagues and I gained experience in schools, entered schools through Teach for Austria, a lateral entry program, and accompanied children in middle schools there for several years. And there it already struck us that the children were lacking these further educational opportunities in their free time. So, it's not just difficult to catch up in school with what I might miss from home, but also in the afternoon there's a lot of time where I could further my education, learn new things. That's how we came to found the Vienna Hobby Lobby, to organize these free leisure courses with volunteers, and thus create an afternoon program for young people. We advertise our offer through schools. So we have various partner schools, which then teach the children in the local vicinity, so to speak, and where we then go and essentially promote the project, and then the children from different schools come together at one location, get to know each other there, network a bit and through their shared passion they also form friendships, develop themselves further. We have four locations by now. These are in the 10th district of Vienna, in the 3rd district on the border to the 11th district, in the 16th district and in the 20th district. In the last 2 years, in over 80 courses, we have reached and supported more than 1000 young people, and enabled these courses with the help of more than 70 volunteer course instructors.

Bernadette Waschkau-Homberg: The school I come from is a school for children with increased special educational needs in the 21st district. I am a class teacher and my grade level, meaning the children I teach, are between eight and nine. It started because, due to Corona, as a school, we had to forgo many things. So my colleague Karin and I thought about how we could practically stay up to date. We are a school for children with increased special educational needs. These are children with intellectual disabilities. We get a bus budget for that, that was the advantage. So we were allowed to go away once a week, that's what we set out to do. I also have a qualification as a forest educator. We were in all the Viennese forests, I think, and also traveled partially to Lower Austria. We were really outside once a week, fixed. But that wasn't enough for us then. We said we'd start with running training. That starts with 500 meters, and we increase. Our route was then between two and three kilometers. At first, we were a little bit ridiculed, but basically it turned out that seven or eight classes said: That's a good idea, costs nothing. So running gear, yes please. But still, eight classes going for a run at once. For the children's fitness, who then also learn more easily, things stick better, and the children can concentrate better, and their snack tastes better too. And as feedback it was also the case that the parents said, they simply notice that the children have become fitter, that the children enjoy moving and demand it themselves. That was our goal.

Miriam Ablöscher: It is known from literature and also from practical experience in hospitals that treatment errors but also incidents with patients repeatedly lead to staff in the hospital being traumatized. There's a technical term for this. It's called the Second Victim phenomenon. With the project "Kollegiale Hilfe" (Colleague Support), we want to establish at Klinik Hietzing a comprehensive network of psychological first responders by colleagues for colleagues. Meanwhile, we have already trained 112 colleague helpers at Klinik Hietzing. And we have already had over 20 successful and very helpful deployments, in which we succeeded in providing emotional support to staff after particularly stressful events at the workplace and providing them with psychological first aid. It's also important that the KoHi (Colleague Helper) is not a supervisor. The collegial conversation is confidential and takes place during working hours. Through "Kollegiale Hilfe", we have succeeded in further developing the error culture at Klinik Hietzing. In Austrian hospitals, these support programs have not been a matter of course until now. Therefore, the "Kollegiale Hilfe" project is also considered a showcase project or a good model project in the entire German-speaking area.

Geraldine Smetazko: The Kuratorium Wiener Pensionistenwohnhäuser (Viennese Retirement Homes Board) is the largest provider of senior care in Austria. In 2018, during Pride, I somehow realized that there was nothing for LGTBQIA seniors, meaning for the target group I actually work with. And so the project idea was born. In an interdisciplinary team with 12 employees, we developed a catalog of measures that should make this group of LGTBQIA seniors visible and raise awareness for them. And then, subsequently, of course, also promote the normalization of queerness in everyday life. One of the most important and earliest findings in the project was that the target group of LGTBQIA seniors is itself very hidden. This means it's difficult to get in touch with them, which can of course be explained by their own biography. And from the mindset in which they grew up. This means we had to find other ways than direct engagement. And so we decided that, on the one hand, we would go through the employees, strengthening and sensitizing them, and on the other hand, also work with visual messages, so that we can then create an inclusive atmosphere, where all residents know that they are, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, very welcome with us and will be cared for just as well as everyone else.

Eva Trettler: FEM Süd also implemented the project WERTVOLL - Mädchen im Blickpunkt (VALUABLE - Girls in Focus) thanks to the funding from Wiener Gesundheitsförderung (Vienna Health Promotion) and the support from MA 13 Stadt Wien - Bildung und Jugend (City of Vienna - Education and Youth). The vision of the project was to perceive girls as shapers of their own lives and to empower them in this regard. Also to question role models together with them and to show them new ways and also to support them in their developmental tasks. We implemented workshop series on various topics, but also carried out small projects together with the girls. And, for example, we also take a trip to a climbing park or did laughter yoga together with the girls. The project ran from March 2018 to December 2020. And in the course of this project, we reached a total of over 3500 girls, mothers, and multipliers, and conducted almost 700 hours of workshops. A very nice result of the project was also our collection of methods, a collection of exercises with tips and tricks, also in times of Corona, on how I can specifically work with girls. We compiled exercises on various topics such as sexuality, friendship, relationships, violence, and also prepared them in a collection of methods. Finally, we would like to thank the girls, of course, who participated in this project, and we were able to experience truly great and exciting workshops together with the girls, which will remain in our memory for a long time.