VIDEOS "VIENNA HEALTH AWARD 2022"

Alfred Auer: The association Login is a culture and sports organization focused on bio-psychosocial well-being. Regarding target groups: on one hand, people in general whom we want to reach, but specifically those distant from physical activity or sports, or those with health-related support needs. Some have had bad past experiences with sports because the focus on performance or competition was too intense. One participant said, “I am mentally ill, I can’t do sports.” We want to counteract that and show: yes, it’s possible. Seeing you're not alone with a minor handicap makes it easier. Participating in public competitions can be exciting, but after a tournament day a good feeling remains. That’s what it’s all about: bio-psychosocial well-being.

Romeo Bissuti: Together with the Women’s Health Center FEM Süd, we implemented the project “Movement in Focus.” The background is that many adolescents have problematic or little physical activity. About a quarter don’t meet the 60 minutes of daily movement. Many have mental health issues and unhealthy eating habits. The goal is to bring back sports, movement, and joy in activity—this was important before the pandemic and has become even more so since. In the project, we introduced sports and movement offers into open youth work—youth centers and outreach work. Together with the young people, we found out what they like: skateboarding, archery, slacklining, bouldering, basketball, ice-skating, dancing, yoga—very diverse. They loved it, as many hadn’t felt interest in movement for a long time, didn’t have money for it, or were just passively on their phones. We received very positive feedback.

Johannes Wimmeder: Our association offers skateboard courses and social projects and represents skateboarders in Vienna. Last fall, we launched our first larger project, “On Board”: a skateboard-oriented children’s and youth program. The aim was to use skateboarding as a tool in youth work. We selected three skateparks in Vienna (9th and 20th districts) and held courses over eight weeks. It wasn’t Olympic training, but courses to teach life skills. 49 participants registered, especially many girls—there were “girls only” groups that were in high demand, so we expanded. Thanks to funding support, we offered the project free of charge, reaching children and adolescents who couldn’t otherwise afford such leisure activities. We realized there is an urgent need for movement, cool self-experiences, and social exchange.

Dieter Schrattenholzer: The football project "Heimspiel" is in its concept and execution a very simple project. It is a football project that places football back at the center. It is offered to the target group—girls and boys aged 4 to 10. The beauty of the project is specifically for this age group: they have just outgrown the sandbox but are still too young for other sports facilities, perhaps in Vienna; they don’t dare go there yet, and parents may also object. They’d prefer the play area to be closer to home. We offer it in residential complexes over the past two years together with Wiener Wohnen—meaning the play area or stadium is literally at home. And that is wonderful for this target group. You don’t need much to set up a Heimspiel stadium. We need a cargo bike—an e-cargo bike, of course— and we arrive with that, and the stadium basically consists of six benches. Two serve as goals, four are pitch boundaries and also seating. As Austrians, we know that we are all football coaches. That means parents come along, caretakers come too, maybe a few pensioners come to see what’s going on. And that leads to conversation. New friendships are formed among the kids, they get to know each other better, and other friendships deepen. And that is the simple principle of Heimspiel. And that is why it is so successful.

Anna Henkes: As Vienna’s mobility agency, we promote cycling and walking in the city through various awareness-raising measures. We also have a particular focus on children and young people. And with our project “Grätzl‑Rallyes,” we invite children to take a close look at their immediate residential environment. There are 23 Grätzl‑Rallyes, one for each Vienna district. The Grätzl‑Rallyes are part of our mobility education program for primary schools, “The City and You.” The mobility education program is available free of charge to all Viennese primary schools. We were ourselves surprised by the many positive responses we received and also by inquiries from private individuals, and so decided to make our Grätzl‑Rallyes available online for download. Teachers can order the booklets for entire classes, and in cooperation with Wien Extra we were already able to distribute 6,000 booklets to private individuals. We are working to develop additional routes and provide more routes. We are also working to expand our mobility education program and offer something for lower secondary schools as well.

Renate Schnee: The association Nachbarinnen employs refugee and migrant women who are trained as social assistants. With their variety of mother tongues and intercultural competence, they reach out in Vienna to their compatriots, especially those living in isolation. During these home visits, the Nachbarinnen negotiate individual agreements with the women or families. These are tasks or steps that the woman or family is taking for the first time. At the next visit, they reflect on how it went, what effect it had, and what the next step will be. Then suddenly the lockdown happened and home visits were no longer possible. But the Nachbarinnen quickly realized that it was even more necessary to maintain continuity of the relationship. And they simply moved the home visits outdoors. No matter how cold the weather, the women were invited out of their homes, and the counseling sessions were organized as walks. During this time, 35 families were accompanied through walking coaching in 180 such empowerment walks. And incidentally, the women discovered good places in their neighborhoods, which they still visit with their children.

Ursula May: The Vienna Pensioners' Residences, also called Houses for Living, are the largest provider of assisted living in Austria. We care for almost 10,000 residents and 20,000 club visitors. Around 5,000 employees work for this. That means the topic of sexual harassment sometimes causes uncertainty or confusion among employees and managers. Therefore, we decided to start a large, sustainable campaign under the motto “#EnoughIsEnough!”. First, we produced and designed two videos together with the employees. Employees took part, and the videos showed both the perpetrators’ and the victims’ perspectives. These statements really hit home and sparked great interest in this topic. This topic is very much about creating a healthy working atmosphere. In a pleasant work climate, I can do good work, which then positively affects the work for our residents and club visitors. Furthermore, this campaign highlights the clear stance of the Houses for Living: sexual harassment is not tolerated here.

Walter Pucher: The Obdach Josi conference center has existed for about 30 years, precisely since 1989. At Josi, you can get emergency meals and cook. Also regarding hygiene: you can wash clothes, shower, and there is social work counseling. The idea of the project “Josi makes healthy” was to intensify and expand existing cooperations, some of which have existed for many years, and to offer or develop new services. Specifically, we offer psychotherapeutic care, psychiatric care through the PSD – psychosocial services. We offer general medical care through the Neunerhaus doctors’ team and the Louise Bus. I want to mention two initiatives explicitly. One is a cooperation with the Vienna Addiction Help. The other special concern is a cooperation with the WPB, with the Mobile Home Nursing, the Vienna Care and Support Services – the Josi Nurse. The idea generators for the future of “Josi makes healthy” will be the users of the facility, and it will be our task to take up these ideas and implement them in cooperation with our fantastic base employees and our leadership team in the best possible way.

Tanja Fruhmann: The Vienna Health Fund, together with the Austrian Health Insurance Fund, the Social Insurance for the Self-Employed, the Insurance Institution for Public Servants, Railways and Mining, initiated the project “Patient Participation” in the Diabetes Center. We also brought the Gesundheit Österreich GmbH on board as an implementation partner, and together with people with diabetes mellitus and future employees of the Diabetes Center, we are developing this project. It is important to us to create offers that meet the needs of the patients. We want to guide them purposefully to good care. In the project, it is very important for us to include people with a migration background as well as socially disadvantaged people. We especially considered their needs and conducted special multilingual focus groups. The Diabetes Center Wienerberg is currently under renovation, and the facility is planned to be completed at the beginning of 2023. From then on, we want to implement participation measures in the Diabetes Center. We want to actively live and further develop them. It is important to us that patients are heard and work on an equal footing with the future employees of the Diabetes Center, that they are heard and seen by them.

Vicky Plangl: My name is Vicky Plangl, and I teach at a New Middle School in the 15th district. The idea for this project arose after two teachers, together with students, attended a course at WiG, namely the course to become youth health coaches. The idea was that the two students teach the three pillars of school health promotion – healthy nutrition, exercise, and healthy thinking and feeling to their fellow students, of course with our support. The topic was also very interesting because it is actually something we adults have not learned: how to live healthily and take care of our resilience. We had a topic where we did not learn for school or grades but also for ourselves, for life. I believe it was also very important for the new time we are now experiencing. This is the time of digitalization, which we saw as a balance or complement to this new era. Because you can also stay healthy digitally if you focus on the most important things – on our needs – and don’t forget ourselves. And I think this is something very important to include as an educational goal in schools.