Simone Henn-Pausch boasts a 25-year career in emergency nursing
Solingen, a city in western Germany, is set to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its emergency chaplaincy service next year. The announcement was made during an award ceremony by Superintendents Werner.
The roots of this service can be traced back to 1998, when Simone Henn-Pausch, a theologian, trained paramedic, trauma therapist, and evangelical preacher, initiated the service. Prior to her role as emergency chaplaincy coordinator, she had already started an emergency chaplaincy service with three other volunteers, although it did not have 24/7 on-call readiness.
Today, the approximately 50-member team of emergency chaplains can provide assistance to individuals in distress in the city at any time. They are called upon by the fire department or police around a hundred times a year.
The team's work primarily involves providing "first aid for the soul" for people after major and minor disasters, regardless of their religious affiliation. Of the cases involving emergency chaplaincy, 80% involve unsuccessful resuscitation, 10% involve suicide, and a small portion involve accidents or sudden infant death syndrome.
In addition to her work in emergency chaplaincy, Simone Henn-Pausch also works with deployment forces in the aftercare of particularly stressful deployments. Her work has been highly valued in Solingen, as shown by her recent honor at the Spring Synod of the Evangelical Church Circle.
Dr. Ilka Werner, a superintendent, praised Simone Henn-Pausch for her unceasing readiness to help those in distress in the city. Her dedication has been recognised with the "Great Silver Pin" of the Solingen Fire Department in 2005 and the "German Fire Service Cross in Silver" in 2015.
In the early days, the on-call service was provided mainly by evangelical pastors, but today the team is half composed of trained volunteers. A support association for emergency chaplaincy in Solingen was recently founded to help finance the service in the future.
The emergency chaplaincy service in Solingen is inseparable from Simone Henn-Pausch. Over the course of 25 years, she has built a stable system for emergency chaplaincy in the city. The members of the synod and numerous volunteer emergency chaplains also expressed their gratitude towards her.
The search results do not provide any information about who founded the Support Association for Emergency Pastoral Care (Notseelsorge) in Solingen. However, the recent establishment of the association is a testament to the continued importance and need for the emergency chaplaincy service in the city.
