Family-run enterprise donates money to children intensive care unit for newborn equipment
Brandenburg/Creglingen. Wirthwein Brandenburg GmbH & Co. KG was founded in 1991. It was the first subsidiary of the plastics expert headquartered in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. The foundation of the site in the district Kirchmöser in Brandenburg meant the kick-off to a remarkable company development. At present, some 70 employees work for Wirthwein Brandenburg. The company produces plastic components by injection molding mainly for the Railway industry, but also for customers of the Automotive and Medical Technology industries. At present, 22 companies do business under the roof of the Wirthwein-Group. The Group counts some 3,650 employees. Since 2014 Wirthwein has dispensed with Christmas presents for business partners but donates money to social projects close to the plants worldwide instead. Four years ago the children day care center Wusterauer Anger was given a check worth EUR 10,000 for a new roller track for girls and boys. Now the company donates money to the region again: The Pediatric and Adolescent Clinic gets EUR 5,000 for a special breastfeeding chair which makes it easier for parents of seriously ill children to provide them with food.
At their sites in Potsdam and Brandenburg an der Havel, the Pediatric and Adolescent Clinic of Westbrandenburg treats some 6,000 children and adolescents with acute or chronic diseases every year. At all in all four departments at both sites the Klinikum Westbrandenburg GmbH offers 90 beds including intensive care for diagnostics treatment and aftercare of premature infants, ill newborns, children and adolescents.
Elke Kabelitz, Head of Quality and employee of Wirthwein Brandenburg GmbH & Co. KG from the very start, suggested Wirthwein to donate money to said hospital within the framework of the Wirthwein Christmas Donation Campaign this year. She had heard about the needs of the hospital from a friend of hers, a pediatric nurse. Plant Manager Klaus Kinnemann, a young and proud grandfather himself, was very fond of the idea and passed it on to the group headquarters. There the Executive Board of the family-run enterprise decides every year where to donate the pre-Christmas donation budget to.
“It is an affair of the heart of the family business and convinced apprenticing company to help children and adolescents“, says Plant Manager Klaus Kinnemann, who is very happy about the award. With the EUR 5,000 the hospital wants to buy a special breastfeeding chair to supply newborns with the so-called kangaroo method. Skin-to-skin contact plays an important role for the well-being of newborn babies. The chair has to comply with the Medicinal Devices Act. Moreover, it has to be sterilizable to avoid potential transmission of germs. The chair enjoys great popularity. The hospital thinks about procuring a second chair with the Wirthwein money.
Wirthwein Brandenburg
Inside the Wirthwein-Group the company in Brandenburg is expert in the production of plastic components for rail superstructures. The company produces dowels, intermediate plates, and angle guide plates for various fastening systems for track refurbishment or also the initial equipment of railway lines. Rail tracks around the world are fixed on concrete, steel and wooden sleepers by means of Wirthwein products. The production of cable ducts made of plastic, also used by the Railway industry in the first place, is another core competence of the team in Kirchmöser. The product portfolio is rounded off by license plate fixtures, seatbelt height adjustments, and various small parts for the Automotive industry, as well as laboratory centrifuges for the Medical Technology industry. A smaller yet well-known customer in the region is the start-up company Haveltec, which sells self-closing, intelligent bike locks from Brandenburg. The plastic components of said ‘I Lock Its’ are produced by Wirthwein whereby short delivery distances are just one collaboration factor.
“It goes without saying that we need good staff in view of all these versatile projects and customers“, says Plant Manager Klaus Kinnemann, since customers expect top quality along with competitive prices. “This is the reason why Wirthwein in Kirchmöser has focused on the training of junior staff for more than twenty years”, says Kinnemann, who has managed the company from its foundation in 1991. “Those willing can attend projects at international plants or extend their knowledge by studying in order to take over interesting tasks in a growing company“.
Pediatric and Adolescent Clinic of Westbrandenburg
Dr. med. Hans Kössel is Head Physician of the Pediatric and Adolescent Clinic of Westbrandenburg in Brandenburg an der Havel. He manages a team of 67 doctors, nurses, therapists, and office workers who all have one joint target in common: to offer professional and medical help for acute and chronic diseases in children and adolescents. When treating and helping children, they act on the maxim: “Children are not small grown-ups!“ When checking the acute disease status of children they also regard the social and familiar environment of children, as well as their physical and mental-emotional development.
The Pediatric and Adolescent Clinic of Westbrandenburg is one of Germany’s leading Pediatric and Adolescent Clinics. Being a Level I Perinatal Center, the hospital particularly specialized in the treatment and medical care of newborns and sick newborns. With the knowledge that the hospital disposes of high-tech equipment, specially trained pediatricians and pediatric nurses care for their youngest patients according to the principles of gentle care while avoiding unnecessary procedures. Analgesia is given top priority to. The Pediatric and Adolescent Clinic of Westbrandenburg does an excellent job, which is confirmed regularly by them being among the best in the nation-wide quality ranking. Parents who would like to be admitted to the hospital to stay with their children, especially with infants, can rely on the credo of the Pediatric and Adolescent Clinic as Head Physician Dr. med. Hans Kössel puts it: “We do our utmost to help.”
