European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 13, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday february 13, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 9 i bulk Complex is German showcase by  writer glassed in Garden of tropical plants Complete with a banana tree modern sculpture and colourful prints connect the Highrue with a lower building. But to. I 4 no 8aller of new shopping  Complex is a German military Hospital. The bund Estehr Krank Enhaus at Ulm is the show fluff Germany s l2 military hospitals. Completed in 1979 and admitting patients since 1980, the Hospi Tal is larger and newer than almost ail of the us military hospitals in Europe. The Hospital won the european steel prize in 1979and the German architects award in 1980. The main building is eight stories above ground and five below. There Are 600 Beds although Only 450 Are in use. The underground floors arc set up to care for 1,000 patients in an emergency. The Hospital has surgery neurosurgery opt Hamo logy radiology ear nose Throat and intensive care departments. There is no orthopaedic department. Obstetrics and paediatrics also Are not handled largely because the German military does not include women except As doctors. The modern technology of the building include two conveyor systems. One is for Large containers carrying food and supplies in one direction through out the Hospital and dirty laundry in the opposite direction. A smaller Container system carries report Sand lab samples on tracks along the ceiling. The building also has Light sensitive sunshades that extend or retract depending on the brightness of the Sun. About 40 percent of the patients it the  Are civilians the civilians generally come from the Ulm area military family member normally go to their private doctors. More civilians Are treated at the military Hospitalet Ulm than at the other German military hospitals because of its special connection to the University of Ulm Hospital said maj. Friedrich Joerger chief of the military staff. The military facility originally was a subdivision of the University Hospital. Its department Heads still work As professors at the University Hospital while students work at the military facility. The connection with the University and the Ulm civilian population u most important for the Stu dents and doctors. We must know All the  then can i have a doctor for emergencies said or. Col Friederich Nobbe Deputy commander of the Hospital and chief of internal Medicine. The civilian patients have a greater variety of ill than the relatively healthy military population. It s mostly the older civilian patients who Are More medically challenging said or. Capt Peter Schulz an  Hospital is staffed by the army air Force and Navy there Are about 150 doctors and 180 nurses. Last year about 14,000 patients were admitted tothe Hospital and 82,850 were treated on an out patient basis. Sis photo by by inti Smartt a glassed in Garden of plants and icel plural connects in German Hospital Complex in Ulm. The Hospital gets some american soldiers for Spe Cial care not easily provided by . Medical facilities. Two or three american soldiers show up daily atthe emergency room. The emergency room does not have a full time Doc Tor. Similar to some of the american hospitals patients coming to the emergency room during the Dayare referred to an outpatient department for care. After hours the medical officer on duty will exam Ine a patient and then Call in a specialist if necessary. Some of the problems and issues facing the Ger Man facility Are similar to those facing american military  every Hospital you have a lot of wishes. What we need is personnel Nobbe said. The department of defense has too Little Money for nurses and Doc tors. We have three wards without people because of the personnel shortage More surgeons Are needed in Case of War Nobbe said. But he cautioned that the military also need general practice doctors to handle medical problems and chemical attacks. Frequent turnover of personnel hurts continuity on the wards and in the laboratories German officials said. It s dangerous for Good Medicine if doctors Are changed too much Nobbe said. Quality Assurance at military hospitals is not in the Public spotlight in Germany As it is in the states he said. While the american facilities have implemented detailed Quality control programs the German pro Gram is More informal he said. Quality care is assured by department chiefs going Over medical records on Ward rounds and by consult ing with doctors of other departments on the care of patients Nobbe said. Soldier praises germans cares Pec. 4 Connie Stevens went to the dispensary at Neu Ulm at 9 . Suffering Chest pains. When she did t respond to treat mint she was sent to the nearest military Hospital. But the Hospital was t the . Army Hospital a hour away at Augsburg. It was the German military Hospital in nearby , a clerk then with he co 55th maintenance in and now with the 39th transportation in was Happy with the attention she received from the German doctors and  care Here she said from her Hospital bed. They continued to do tests tests tests  doctors told her the around her heart had been inflamed but they did t know Why. Stevens said she Felt the medical personnel did Al they could for her. The German Hospital was Good. It was real Good she said. Even though the Hospital was a bund Estehr Kran Venhaus it did t seem so strange to the american  you get Over the language Barrier it s the same Stevens said. Her doctor actually sixth year medical student Markus Lubmann who was supervised by the physician in charge of the Ward spoke fluent English. When Stevens Mother called from Charleston,s.c., Lubmann reassured her explaining Why the Soldier was in the Hospital and what was being Don for her. But while Stevens had no trouble talking with bub Mann the nurses were another matter we try to relate to each other. She figures out what i m trying to say Stevens said there were some missed signals but nothing important she said. They laugh at me and 1 laugh at  the Hospital food was somewhat unnerving though. It s not what i would eat Stevens said. A Day s meals included cheese hard Rolls Yogurt and Coffee for breakfast Ham or beef and potatoes for lunch and cheese hard Rolls fruit and Lea for dinner. The Lack of any beverage at lunchtime bothered Stevens. And when she asked for water Stevens got Mineral water which she disliked. Jud Sarasohn