Berlin has become one of the most important German destinations for refugees from Ukraine. Since March 9, 2022, Waldfriede Adventist Hospital in Berlin-Zehlendorf has taken in Ukrainian refugees and is helping them take their first steps as they seek to adapt to their new life in Germany.

The hospital reported that in March, employees took collected donations of relief supplies, loaded them in a truck, and delivered them at the Ukrainian border. Supplies included medicines, anesthesia, baby food, and water, among other items. On the way home, those in charge of delivering the donations brought back with them a group of refugees (an extended family). Waldfriede Hospital CEO Bernd Quoss and nursing director Maria Gössler helped organize accommodation options for the newcomers, the Adventist health-care institution reported.

The organization Förderverein des Krankenhauses Waldfriede has a long history of supporting social projects in Berlin and around the world. “Currently the hospital and the organization are partnering to provide emergency aid for Ukraine, raise relief supplies and donations to provide the local people and the refugees in Berlin with the bare necessities to start a new life,” hospital leaders shared. Additionally, they reported that twice a week, hospital chaplains are hosting special prayer moments to ask for peace and solidarity. Anyone caring for peace is invited to attend.

Waldfriede Hospital

The nonprofit Waldfriede Adventist Hospital in Berlin-Zehlendorf is an academic teaching hospital of the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin. It has been certified several times according to legal quality standards and has already received many awards for its medical and nursing quality. About 15,000 inpatients and 120,000 outpatients are treated at the health-care institution every year.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church sponsors the hospital, one of about 900 medical facilities around the world. Waldfriede is a member of the Diakonisches Werk Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia, the German Evangelical Hospital Association (DEKV), and a cooperation partner of the U.S.-based Adventist hospital network AdventHealth.

Waldfriede Hospital is part of the Waldfriede health network, which also includes, among other facilities, a day clinic, an academy for health and nursing, a retirement home, the PrimaVita health center, the Nikolassee private clinic, and the Desert Flower Center.

The original version of this story was posted on Adventistische Pressedienst.