Gesundheitswegweiser für Migranten in Englisch

Migrants’ Guide to Health Matters
You have recently arrived in Germany and are now living in Münster. In the text below, the
Public Health Department would like to give you some important information and tips to help
you get off to a healthy start in your new country. This brochure has appeared in the
following languages: Albanian, Arabic, English, Polish, Russian, Serbian and Turkish.
A visit to the doctor’s (“Arzt”)
If you feel ill and wish to see a doctor, you can go to a general medical practice (“Hausarzt”)
or one for general internal medicine (also referred to as a family doctor's or GP’s surgery).
If it is medically necessary, you will be passed on (“überweisen”) to a specialist (=
“Facharzt/Fachärztin”).
Furthermore, in acute emergencies you need:
•
•
A health insurance voucher (“Krankenschein”) from the social services office
(“Sozialamt”) or a health insurance card (“Versichertenkarte”) from a private or statutory
health insurance provider, or you have brought your own health insurance protection with
you from your country of origin (EU)
Perhaps an interpreter
Health insurance via the social services office (a voucher for treatment by a doctor or
dentist (“Zahnarzt”) - often referred to as a health insurance voucher or
“Krankenschein”)
If you are an asylum seeker and receive services via the social services office, the cost of
visits to the doctor in the case of acute illnesses or pain will be paid for if this has been
approved beforehand by the social services office.
There is only one treatment voucher (“Krankenschein”) per person. It is always only valid for
one quarter:
1st quarter: January, February, March
2nd quarter: April, May, June
3rd quarter: July, August, September
4th quarter: October, November, December
If you are already receiving regular services from the social services office and you have a
permanent place of residence, the treatment voucher will be sent to you at the beginning of
the quarter.
The treatment voucher is only valid for the doctor’s surgery at which you have handed in the
voucher. If you also wish to go to a different doctor in the same quarter, you have to collect a
medical referral (“Überweisung”). You will get the medical referral in the doctor’s surgery
where you handed in the treatment voucher.
For the dentist (“Zahnarzt”), you need an extra treatment voucher You can get this, too, from
the social services office.
NB:
Make a note of when and where you handed in the treatment voucher. Or ask them to
put a stamp on your document at the doctor’s surgery.
The health insurance card (“Versichertenkarte”)
If you are insured in a so-called “statutory health insurance fund” (“gesetzliche
Krankenversicherung”) (e.g. AOK - the local branch of the national health insurance fund),
then you will have a health insurance card. If you yourself do not earn any money or only
very little, the members of your family can be covered by the insurance free of charge. The
health insurance card is only valid for the person in whose name it is made out. If you
present the insurance card in the doctor’s surgery, the doctor will settle the cost of the
treatment directly with the health insurance fund.
Making an appointment for your visit to the doctor
A doctor’s surgery has fixed consultation times at which it is open for patients. You are
advised to arrange an appointment for your visit to the doctor, so that you won’t have to wait
very long. Cancel the appointment in good time if you cannot go to the doctor.
NB:
The social services office will only pay for a journey by taxi if the doctor has
prescribed this (= written a “Verordnung”).
Assistance from an interpreter (“Dolmetscher”)
To help the doctor to give you good treatment, he or she needs information
•
•
•
About earlier illnesses
About any medicines you take
About your current complaints.
If you yourself don’t speak German all that well, take somebody with you who can serve as
an interpreter, for example someone from your house, a member of your family or a friend.
Only in exceptional cases can the costs of an interpreter be paid for by the social services
office.
After your visit to the doctor
Perhaps the doctor has given you
•
a prescription (“Rezept”) for medicines or for other medical aids or remedies
•
a document for admission to a hospital (“Krankenhaus”)
The prescription
If you have received a prescription for medicines, you can hand it in at a pharmacy
(“Apotheke”) and pick up your medicines there. Generally speaking, you have to pay €5-€10
of the cost yourself, but there are also exemptions from the additional payment (for example,
for children and asylum seekers).
Only certain pharmacies (pharmacies emergency service / “Apotheken-Notdienst”) are open
in the evening, during the night and at weekends. http://www.akwl.de/notdienstkalender.php
There are also prescriptions for medical aids and further treatment. Further treatment
(“Heilmittel”) includes, for instance, physiotherapy and speech therapy, while medical aids
(“Hilfsmittel”) include, e.g., glasses and walking aids. Here too, you may have to pay
something extra. If you receive services from the social services office, this office must first of
all approve the prescription.
NB:
The prescription only applies to the patient for whom the doctor has made it out.
•
•
Take the medicine for as long as the doctor has prescribed it, and in the prescribed
dose. Otherwise, even if you are feeling better again, the illness may get a stage
worse.
Medicines for adults are not suitable for children.
•
Store medicines so that children can’t get at them.
Hospital treatment
If you are insured against illness via the social services office (treatment voucher /
“Behandlungsschein”) and your doctor has issued a document for your admittance to
hospital, present this admittance document (“Krankenhauseinweisung”) to the social services
office. First of all, the social services office has to approve of the hospital treatment.
If you are admitted to a hospital in an emergency, e.g. if a birth is starting or if you need an
operation immediately, you can go directly to the hospital.
Help in an emergency (“Notfall”)
Doctors’ surgeries are closed in the evening, during the night and at weekends.
If you fall ill (but not critically) at one of these times and cannot wait for the surgeries to open
again, phone the emergency medical service at:
Phone No. 116 117
Here, they can tell you which doctors are on emergency standby. If you don’t know enough
German to make the phone call, ask someone to help you.
In emergencies involving serious accidents or critical illnesses such as a heart attack or
stroke, you can phone the emergency service (“Rettungsdienst”):
Phone No. 112
or go directly to a hospital.
The emergency service can get to you along with an ambulance within a very short time.
If psychic emergencies at the weekend are involved, there’s the emergency service for
psychological crises (“Krisennotdienst”):
Phone No. 02 51/41 82 41 or 02 51/9 15 55-0 from Friday, 08.00 pm till Monday, 08.00 am
Mental health
You can get advice and help in the case of serious psychic problems from the health
department’s social-psychiatric service.
Social-psychiatric service (“Sozialpsychiatrischer Dienst”)
Stühmerweg 8, 2nd floor
48147 Münster
Phone 02 51/4 92-53 60
Before and after the birth of a child
Pregnant women can have themselves examined free of charge by a gynaecologist (=
“Frauenärztin/Frauenarzt”) or a midwife. Use this means of getting a preventive medical
checkup even at the actual beginning of the pregnancy.
After the baby’s birth, you can get help for yourself and your baby from a midwife
(“Hebamme”), and consult a paediatrician (“Kinderarzt”) if there are any health problems.
http://www.hebammennetzwerk-muensterland.de/de/Hebammensuche
Protection for children
To ensure that your child grows up as a healthy child, it ought to be examined regularly even if it is not ill. These examinations and vaccinations are free of charge and are offered
fairly frequently in the child’s first year (U1-U5), and after that always on his or her birthday
(U6-U9). Thus, there are check-ups until the child reaches school age to see whether its
bones, muscles, organs and abilities are developing in line with its age. To prevent certain
illnesses, the children are also vaccinated free of charge (“Impfung”).
Ask the paediatrician; he or she will be pleased to give you advice about check-ups and
vaccinations.
There are moments when parents have doubts about whether or not their child is developing
normally - for example, because it starts talking too late or doesn’t say much, because it
moves differently to children of the same age, doesn’t listen, is restless, doesn’t play much,
hardly reacts to people talking to it or smiling at it, or cannot keep up with the learning pace
in the kindergarten or at school.
With these and other issues, the staff of the health department’s “Beratungsstelle Frühe
Hilfen” (early support advisory centre) can help you:
Beratungsstelle Frühe Hilfen
Stolbergstr. 2a
48147 Münster
Phone 02 51/4 92-54 44
Email: [email protected]
Further information with regard to health problems:
Looking for doctors on the Internet
On the website of the “Kassenärztliche Vereinigung” (Panel Doctors’ Association), there is a
facility for searching for a suitable doctor’s surgery. You can carry out a search based on
special fields, specialized services, contact options, and provision for disabled people, or
even based on the language that can be spoken in the surgery.
http://www.kvwl.de/earzt/
Comprehensive guide to health services in 14 languages
On the Internet, there is a comprehensive guide to health services in 14 languages:
Albanian, Arabic, German, English, Farsi, French, Greek, Italian, Kurdish (Kurmanji), Polish,
Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Turkish. You can find it on the following website:
http://www.bkk-bv-gesundheit.de/bkk-promig/44.0.html
Citizens of the European Union possibly enjoy health insurance via their home countries.
This has to be checked in every individual case.
You can find information this in the brochure:
“Schutzlos oder gleichgestellt? Der Zugang zum Gesundheitssystem für
Unionsbürger und ihre Familienangehörigen” (access to the health service for EU
citizens and their dependants).
http://www.ggua.de/fileadmin/downloads/tabellen_und_uebersichten/broschuere_A4_gesund
heit-unionsbuerger_web-1.pdf
Interpreters/translators
Of course, there are various professional interpreting services in Münster.
But you can also get help from several associations:
Arbeitskreis International e. V.
Dahlweg 112, 48153 Münster
Phone 02 51/29 73 51 (Turkish, Azerbaijani)
AFAQ e. V. – Verein für kulturelle und gesellschaftliche Zusammenarbeit (association for
cultural and social cooperation)
Hafenstr. 3-5, 48153 Münster
Phone 0176-23 24 27 50
(Arabic, French, English, Kurdish – Kurmanji, Slovenian)
Russian school: Spiel und Spaß am Buddenturm
Frau Natali Eichner,
Münzstr. 15, 48151 Münster
Phone 0177-23 96 816 (Russian)
Other offers of assistance to refugees:
Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft zur Unterstützung Asylsuchender e.V. (GGUA / non-profit
association for the support of asylum seekers)
Hafenstr. 3-5, 48153 Münster
Phone 02 51/14 48 6-0
Caritasverband für die Stadt Münster e.V. in the young people’s training centre (JAZ)
Provision of advice to refugees
Kinderhauser Straße 112, 48147 Münster
Phone 02 51/6 09-44 25
[email protected]
Migrants’ advisory centres
Caritasverband für die Stadt Münster e.V.
Gievenbeck Advisory Centre
Migration counselling service and integration assistance
Heinrich-Ebel-Str. 41, 48161 Münster
Phone 02 51/87 10 40
[email protected]
Caritasverband für die Stadt Münster e.V.
Kinderhaus Advisory Centre
Migration counselling service
Idenbrockplatz 8, 48159 Münster
Phone 02 51/26 33 50
[email protected]
Caritasverband für die Stadt Münster e.V.
Beratungsstelle Mitte (Central Advisory Centre)
Integration agency
Josefstraße 2, 48153 Münster
Phone 02 51/53 00 94 30
[email protected]
All these advisory centres offer open consulting hours that, in each case, are to be found on
the Caritas Münster website www.caritas-ms.de.
English, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian.
Furthermore, work is also done with interpreters.
Deutsches Rotes Kreuz, Kreisverband Münster e.V. (German Red Cross, Münster District
Association),
Coerde, Hamannplatz 38, 48157 Münster
Phone 02 51/16 20 07 8
Diakonie Münster
Jugendmigrationsdienst von 12 – 27 Jahren und
Migrationsberatung für erwachsene Zuwanderer (MBE) (migration service for young people
aged 12-27 and migration counselling for adult immigrants)
Beratungs- und Bildungscentrum (counselling and education centre)
Hörsterplatz 2 b, 48147 Münster
Phone 02 51/49 01 5-0
Außenstelle Kinderhaus (Kinderhaus branch office),
Idenbrockplatz 3, 48159 Münster
Phone 02 51/6 20 92 87
Arbeiterwohlfahrt (AWO / Workers’ Welfare Association)
Sozialpädagogisches Zentrum (social-educational centre)
Trauttmansdorffstr. 73, 48153 Münster
Phone 01 76/19 00 33 65
Family doctors’ surgeries with particular language skills:
As proficiency in English, French, and Spanish is very widespread among family doctors in
Münster, an explicit list of these was dispensed with here.
The following information has been taken from the website of the Kassenärztliche
Vereinigung Westfalen-Lippe (Westphalia-Lippe Panel Doctors’ Association)
http://www.kvwl.de/earzt/.
Albanian (and Croatian)
Dr. Christian Berg
Auf dem Dorn 21, 48161 Münster
Telefon 0 25 34/4 98
Arabic
Dr. med. Chawki Soueilleh
Friedrich-Ebert-Str. 134, 48153 Münster
Phone 02 51/77 53 32
Dr. med. Carsten Schriek and Mr Bassam Willenborg
Raesfeldstraße 15, 48149 Münster
Phone 02 51/27 20 21
Dr. Christian Berg
Auf dem Dorn 21, 48161 Münster
Telefon 0 25 34/4 98
Polish
Ms Malgorzata Kozaczek
Bogenstr. 3, 48143 Münster
Phone 02 51/9 87 33 70
Portuguese
Dr. med. Hans Georg Voss, Dr. med. Johannes Fühner,
Dr. med. Michael Spital, Ms Julia Hegge
Pommernstr. 4, 48167 Münster
Phone 02 51/6 11 41
Mr Stefan Blüggel
Theodor-Storm-Str. 2, 48165 Münster
Phone 0 25 01/26 26 26
Mr Domingos Schrader
Münsterstr. 9, 48167 Münster
Phone 0 25 06/12 64
Romanian
Dr. med. (SU) Arkadij Levertov
Bahnhofstr. 8-10, 48143 Münster
Phone 02 51/9 82 9998
Russian
Ms Malgorzata Kozaczek
Bogenstr. 3, 48143 Münster
Phone 02 51 987 33 70
Dr. (Rus) Irina Hamm
Berliner Platz 24, 48143 Münster
Phone 02 51 162 59 41
Dr. med. (SU) Arkadij Levertov
Bahnhofstr. 8-10, 48143 Münster
Phone 02 51 982 99 98
Ms Galina Reitenbach
Annenstraße 6, 48153 Münster
Phone 02 51 77 61 30
Dr. med. Winfried Keuthage, Dr. med. Ingrid Rein, Dr. med. Kathrin Frese
MedicalCenter am Clemenshospital
Düesbergweg 128, 48153 Münster
Phone 02 51 777 58 88
Ms Larisa Reich
Sprickmannplatz 2, 48159 Münster
Phone 02 51 21 21 20
Turkish and Kurdish
Dr. med. Fikri Dalmis and Dr. med. Axel Stöckmann
Nordstr. 22, 48149 Münster
Phone 02 51 93 25 49 70
Dr. Christian Berg (Kurdish)
Auf dem Dorn 21, 48161 Münster
Telefon 0 25 34/4 98
Doctors’ surgeries specializing in paediatrics and adolescent medicine,
with special language skills
The following information has been taken from the website of the Kassenärztliche
Vereinigung Westfalen-Lippe (Westphalia-Lippe Panel Doctors’ Association)
http://www.kvwl.de/earzt/.
People with adequate proficiency in English ought to be available in all doctors’ surgeries.
French
Ms Karin Paschke
Kiesekampweg 4, 48157 Münster
Phone 02 51 24 68 91
Dr. med. Ralph Ziegler, Dr. med. Anne Schulze Everding and Ms Bettina Greulich, Dr. med.
Katrin Bente
Mondstr. 148, 48155 Münster
Phone 02 51 3 10 61
Ms Magdalena Loseck-Hehmann
Dieckmannstr. 118, 48161 Münster
Phone 02 51 871 48 77
Dr. med. Rudolf Ernst and Ms Gabriele Adolf-Lücke
Westfalenstraße 132, 48165 Münster
Phone 0 25 01 30 88
Dr. med. Markus Stange and Dr. med. Martin Stegat
Am Berler Kamp 5, 48167 Münster
Phone 0 25 06 72 37
Dr. Juliane Woltermann, Dr. Karl Holtmannspötter, Dr. Gaby Rabe-Hömann
Alte Reitbahn 17, 48153 Münster
Phone 02 51 78 84 12
Priv. Doz. Dr. med. Josef Gehrmann
Piusallee 18, 48147 Münster
Phone 02 51 144 96 60
Greek
Priv. Doz. Dr. med. Josef Gehrmann
Piusallee 18, 48147 Münster
Phone 02 51 144 96 60
Dr. Juliane Woltermann, Dr. Karl Holtmannspötter, Dr. Gaby Rabe-Hömann
Alte Reitbahn 17, 48153 Münster
Phone 02 51 78 84 12
Polish
Dr. med. Karl-Heinz Brune and Dr. med. Stefan Strauch
Idenbrockplatz 22, 48159 Münster
Phone 02 51 21 10 09
Portuguese
Dr. Juliane Woltermann, Dr. Karl Holtmannspötter, Dr. Gaby Rabe-Hömann
Alte Reitbahn 17, 48153 Münster
Phone 02 51 78 84 12
Russian
Dr. med. Katrin Abshagen
Albersloher Weg 437, 48167 Münster
Phone 02 51 620 30 40
We would be pleased to receive any comments about necessary amendments or
additions to this information leaflet.
Publication details:
Stadt Münster (Municipality of Münster)
Amt für Gesundheit, Veterinär- und Lebensmittelangelegenheiten (health dept., office for
veterinary and food matters)
Brigitte Kempe
Stühmerweg 8, 48147 Münster
Phone 02 51/492-53 06 or -53 01
Email: [email protected]
www.stadt-muenster.de/gesundheit
December 2014, revised in August 2015

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