2004 Photo Contest, Contemporary Issues, 2nd prize
Photographer

Walter Schels

Der Spiegel

13 January, 2003

Gerda Strech (69), was looked after by her daughter, who is a nurse, but was admitted to the Ricam hospice when her daughter burnt herself out.

The practice of palliative hospice care in Germany goes back only to the 1980s. The Ricam hospice has 15 single rooms—more than a third of the total number of hospice beds available in the city. There was a growth in the palliative-care movement in response to patients suffering from AIDS-related illnesses, but the advent of drugs cocktails that help control AIDS has meant that, increasingly, hospice places are occupied by people with diseases such as cancer.

About the photographer

Walter Schels

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