The world against corona – in hospitals, in conference rooms or in smokers' rooms

Stiegelmeyer supports new treatment centres from Birmingham to Cape Town

When the first corona cases were reported from Wuhan at the beginning of the year, hardly anyone could have imagined the scale of this pandemic. Today, the virus has spread to 187 countries and has practically brought our familiar life to a standstill. The first countries are only slowly returning to a new normal, but many regions still fear that their healthcare systems will be overloaded. As a result, governments, hospitals and healthcare providers around the world have decided to increase the number of beds – often in dedicated field and auxiliary hospitals. Stiegelmeyer and Burmeier are working at full capacity to support our international partners in this effort.

We started preparing for the growing demand for beds at the beginning of the crisis. With increased production capacity and the highest occupational health and safety regulations, we have specifically pre-manufactured bed models such as our Puro and Evario so that we can respond quickly to enquiries. In close cooperation with our subsidiaries and local sales partners, we have already been able to support various projects both inside and outside Europe.

Prince William gave the opening remarks

Great Britain was hit hard by the crisis with a delay. In March, the National Health Service (NHS) presented plans for the construction of a total of seven provisional hospitals – but only five were opened during April. The Nightingale Hospital in the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham started on 16 April as the second hospital after London. Prince William gave a ceremonial opening speech via video link. Together with our local sales partner OSKA UK, we are supplying the project in Birmingham with several hundred hospital beds over the course of the year. Some of these beds had already found their place in the long rows of treatment rooms at the opening.

In Maastricht in the Netherlands, too, an auxiliary hospital with Stiegelmeyer beds was set up on the premises of the Exhibition & Conference Centre. The Maastricht University Medical Center+ is thus expanding its capacity for corona patients in case the regular hospitals in the Limburg region become overloaded.

Colourful Evario beds for Poland

In Poland, when the health authorities started the fight against corona, the aid organisation "The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity" approached distributors and manufacturers of medical equipment to help public hospitals prepare for the epidemic. The organisation has already raised over 4 million euros through its fundraising campaign for the Covid-19 relief fund. In March, "The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity" ordered 100 Evario intensive care beds from us. They were distributed together with other beds to 19 hospitals in Poland at the end of April. For the campaign, the footboards of our beds were equipped with colourful stickers in the aid organisation's design – the bright colours convey courage and assurance.

Many thousands of kilometres further south, in Cape Town, the Life Vincent Pallotti Hospital has converted its former smokers' room into a Covid-19 emergency centre. With its own entrance, it can be easily isolated from the rest of the hospital. The room is equipped with our Mobilo stretchers, which serve well as transport cots and beds. Throughout South Africa, private and state hospitals have been working hard in recent weeks to prepare for a possible increase in the number of Covid-19 patients. Our subsidiary in South Africa is also available at any time to advise and support interested parties.