The history of our work? more than 30 years tradition of outpatient healthcare in the region of "Markgräferland"
The history of our centre is closely linked to both the historical development and also to the medical-technical progress of dialysis treatment.
Acute renal replacement therapy was introduced in 1968 in Germany. In the middle of the 70?s, it was only practised by a very few hospitals, e.g. by the university hospital in Freiburg. Yet, since the demand for treatment of kidney diseases was so high, more facilities were needed to be built. Of central interest was a close and hence more convenient care for the patients. Therefore new centres were openend, outside the major hospitals.
Dr. med. Herwig Boeckle (then academic assistant at the university hospital Freiburg) and his wife Barbara Boeckle (dialysis nurse) founded the first independent dialysis office in the South of ?Baden?. With the opening of that office outside Freiburg in 1977 began the history of our dialysis centre in Müllheim. Later on additional departments in Schopfheim, Waldshut, Lörrach and Bad Krozingen were established. The administration and logistic organisation was controlled centrally by the DTZ (dialysis training centre). Right from the beginning, the externally located internistic nephrologists did not only treat outpatients by means of therapy but helped also by giving advice and consultation to local hospitals. This service by medical experts has always been highly demanded because it can improve the quality of inpatients remarkably. A shift to the university hospital ? possibly causing stress for the patient ? was now to prevent.
As the story lies out, medical care in the "Markgräferland" has had an exemplary historical development. Medical experts still commend that procedure: a synergistic cooperation of out- and inpatient health care, providing an integrated care for patients.
The dialysis centre in Müllheim was formerly intergrated into the ?old hospital of Mülllheim? in the Moltkestraße. Later, in 1992, it moved to the Werderstraße, right in the city centre. However, some disadvantages became more and more evident: too little space and too much of a distance for the patients as well as a high personnel expenditure for consultation of inpatients in the local hospitals.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the company ?Helios-hospitals? made their plans for a new medical centre public. We decided to take advantage of that opportunity and to rent premises there. In 2006, we finally moved in, now having excellent means for our work.
The dialysis centre in Bad Krozingen had its origin at an increasing demand for the treatment of patients suffering from chronic renal failure who came to the ?Herzzentrum? in order to get cardiologic care. With the construction of a new building, we could start our treatment there in 2007.
In 1979, the ?Herzzentrum Bad Krozingen?carried through the first acute dialysis. A young patient had had a sport accident and as a result he suffered from dissecting aortic aneurysm and renal failure. Professor Heinze (senior physician at the university hospital Freiburg) and Barbara Boeckle (dialysis nurse) conducted the treatment successfully. It was the beginning for decades of prolific cooperation between the ?Herzzentrum? and our centre that provides excellent patient care until today.
The dialysis centre in Schopfheim developed strongly over the years and is now a firm component of our inpatient and outpatient care in the region of the ?Wiesental?. Additionally to a department in the hospital in Schopfheim, patients are cared for in an extra building in the district of Fahrnau.
As the demand for dialysis treatment increases significantly over the years, more physicians and nurses were needed. Dr. med. Rainer Kuhn joined the team in 1984, later Dr. med. Maria Macner and Dr. med. Christine Reichert-Jünger. Dr. Kuhn concentrated on the main office in Müllheim, Dr. Macner and Dr. Reichert-Jünger expanded our centres Schopfheim and Bad Krozingen. According to an increasing number of patients, the number of staff increased, too: at the time of the centre?s foundation 1977 it consisted of 8 people; meanwhile, 30 years later, almost 60 employees are working in different fields such as care, engineering, service and administration. Analogous to our centre, the departments in Lörrach and Waldshut developed and represent now independent dialysis centres.
In 2007, our centre faced the first change of generation: Dr. med. Herwig Boeckle and Dr. med. Rainer Kuhn retired and PD Dr. med. Martin Bek and Dr. med. Markus Cybulla overtook together with Dr. Macner and Frau Dr. Reichert-Jünger the responsability of both the medical sector and management.
Today our centre operates under the name ?Fachinternistische Gemeinschaftspraxis Markgräflerland? (FGM) and cares for 150 chronic dialysis- and 60 kidney transplanted patients. Additionally to nephrology as our central issue, we do now also concentrate on the treatment of patients with rheumatic diseases.