On November 8, 2024, Karl-Josef Laumann, North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, visited Sportklinik Hellersen. The visit was marked by innovations and the ongoing hospital reform, which focuses on increasing specialization of clinics. Laumann emphasized how important such a focus is for future hospital planning in North Rhine-Westphalia - a path that Sportklinik Hellersen has been pursuing successfully and consistently for years.
After a brief tour of Sportklinik Hellersen, CEO Dirk Burghaus explained the clinic's strategic orientation in the context of hospital planning in North Rhine-Westphalia. "For years, we have been focusing on consistent specialization in order to optimally master the challenges of hospital reform and further establish ourselves as a leading clinic in our specialist areas," explained the CEO. Under his leadership, the clinic has been continuously developed since 2017: Proven specialist areas such as knee, shoulder and elbow surgery have been further optimized, while new specialist departments such as Special Pain Medicine and Special Spinal Surgery have been established. In this context, Minister Karl-Josef Laumann emphasized the importance of specialized clinics: "We have highly qualified specialist clinics in NRW that make an important contribution to medical care through their expertise. Sportklinik Hellersen is a good example of how specialized clinics meet the requirements of the hospital reform and at the same time offer the highest medical quality."
Another item on the agenda of the minister's visit was the laying of the foundation stone and the kick-off of the robot technology for endoprosthetics and thus the start of the implementation of the new robotics center at the sports clinic. The area will be further expanded in future, with robotic technology playing a central role in further increasing the precision and efficiency of procedures. "We will continue to expand our status as a quality and technology leader and strengthen Lüdenscheid as a medical location for the benefit of all patients," explained Burghaus. Robotics is seen as a decisive step towards the future, particularly in knee surgery. Minister Laumann took the opportunity to personally test the latest robot technology. Under the guidance of Dr. Joachim Hagenah, he inspected the system himself and was impressed: "Sportklinik Hellersen impressively demonstrates how state-of-the-art technology can be used in healthcare."
Dirk Burghaus and Stefan Klett, President of Sporthilfe NRW e.V., then presented the Minister with a special gift: a jersey signed by the staff of the sports clinic, which also reflects the special team spirit at the sports clinic.
Stefan Klett paid tribute to the role of Sportklinik Hellersen and said: "With its clear focus on specialization and innovation, Sportklinik Hellersen sets standards for medical care in the field of orthopaedics and sports medicine. It is an important partner for sport in North Rhine-Westphalia, with its 17,500 clubs with 75 types of sport and 5.32 million memberships, and makes a significant contribution to promoting health and performance. I am therefore delighted that Dr. Christoph Nießen, CEO of the NRW State Sports Association, and the entire Executive Committee of Sporthilfe NRW e.V. were present today."
Image caption SKH_Besuch Minister Laumann_Trikot.JPG: Minister Karl-Josef Laumann received a jersey signed by the staff of Sportklinik Hellersen from Dirk Burghaus (right), CEO of Sportklinik Hellersen, and Stefan Klett (left), President of Sporthilfe NRW e.V.
Image caption SKH_Besuch Minister Laumann_Roboter.jpeg: Minister Karl-Josef Laumann tests the new robot technology under the guidance of Dr. Joachim Hagenah, Chief of Endoprosthetics.
Press contact
Sarah Burghaus
Head of Marketing, Corporate Communication & PR, Press Spokesperson
sarah.burghaus@hellersen.de
Marketing & Communication
marketing@hellersen.de
