Hospital in Saanen to close in November 2012

On the 1^st of November 2012, the hospital in Saanen will close its doors. From then on, the hospital in Zweisimmen will operate as an emergency center to guarantee health care in the Simmental-Saanenland region.

The Zweisimmen hospital will upgrade to a new computer tomography scanner, as scans are currently carried out only in Saanen. This investment creates the best possible conditions for the health care in the region and is a commitment from the Spital STS AG to Zweisimmen. According to CEO Bruno Guggisberg, the cost for the new scanner will be SFr 330’000.00. STS AG’s goal is to position Zweisimmen hospital in a way which will improve the business results and minimize deficit, so that the emergency center for the region can be financed and maintained.

The range of medical services in the region of Simmental-Saanenland will not decrease with the closing of Saanen hospital. Internal medicine, surgery, orthopedics, gynecology and obstetrics, 24h-emergency, dialysis and medical cross-functions such as anesthetics, laboratory, operating room and radiology will be available in Zweisimmen.

In case of severe cases such as strokes, heart attacks and accidents in the region, a patient would be stabilized locally, states the press release from STS AG. ‘Primary health care in the region is still conducted via a GP’, says Bruno Guggisberg.  For further examination, therapies and operations,  transport to Thun or Bern will be conducted for local citizens and visitors.

This merge of hospitals will have an impact on 65 employees, for which 50 positions could find a position in Thun, Zweisimmen or at Alterswohnen AG, the institute for elderly residents.  A solution is still being sought for the other 15 employees.

It has still not been decided If the hospital in Zweisimmen will operate after 2014 – even if it is undisputed that the region needs a permanent health care facility. It is a question of money and whether the canton is willing to offer financial support. This will be examined by the Spital STS AG together with the Health and Welfare Administration, and is part of the project “Basic Healthcare Obersimmental-Saanenland”. By the end of August, results regarding building up the emergency service are expected.

Comments

[Gstaad lover, a ”local” foreigner]

Chateau d'Oex being less far away with an easier to drive road in winter will be a better alternative than Zweisimmen.It is a pity however that there is no more healthcare closer to Gstaad or Saanen, for sports injuries or elderly care. Some old chalet owners consider now selling because of the lack of hospital infrastructure close by.
There was once upon a time a charming village that offered all that was needed. Now the street became a duty free shop mall and the hospital closes. The old chalets are one by one being destroyed and replaced by “brand new”, copying the old style such as in a movie decor. Gstaad is becoming a fake city, a phantom city for real estate promoters.
Every garden in the village is disappearing as money and greed prevails.
The costly and pharaonic concert hall that is going to have a very heavy maintenance cost is certainly less necessary than a hospital... I also wonder how a concert hall can be conceived just next to a train station! The Saanen crossroad next to the hospital would have been a better choice for a concert hall, diverting the traffic further away from the village center, for access practicality as well as for esthetic purposes.
Let’s keep Gstaad as the village we all liked: who wants so badly to change it!!!

[Gstaad born]

To 'Gstaad lover':
I agree with some of the mentioned points but I disagree with your statement concerning the hospital in Zweisimmen. As you belive it or not the changeing from the canton of Berne to the canton of Vaud when visiting or staying at the hospital wouldn't be liked by a majority of the locals. If you are not in a good health you wouldn't like to communicate in a foreign language. Furthermore the mentality of the Swiss-French is quite different to ours.

The village of Gstaad changes, this is evident, but, as a Gstaad born I have to say that the chalet owners changed too. Years ago they did their daily shoppings at the small village stores, butchers and bakery. Nowadays almost everyone does his shoppings at the supermarket - once a week. Time changes, people change and so does the Gstaad village. You cannot stop 'worldwide progress'...

And finally the concert hall: This project is dreadful and a disrepute for Gstaad. Years ago we tried and succeeded to remove the traffic out of Gstaad and now a few people (...and a Russian oligarch) want to place this 'huge dunghill' in a small and restricted area
behind the railway station. The community should pay for the underground access road, it is said an amount beyond
Sfrs 20 Mio! Just to remember: The hospital was too expensive...

[mary Hill]

I will be sad to see the Saanen hospital close. That hospital saved my husband's life once ('99) and fixed his broken arm several years later. In '99 the doctors could not diagnosis a belly full of blood and put him in ambulance to Bern's Klinik Saanenholf. He had a ruptured aortic aneurism which was patched just in time. At that time I don't think we could not have made the trip to Zweisimmen. We joined the 'Friends of Saanen Hospital" and donated money for a number of years. I wish we still had a good hospital in the area. You may regret the decision to go only to Zweismmen. We still have our Friends of Saanen Hospital sticker on our car.

[New comer]

I am fully agreed with Gstaad lover...
Gstaad-Saanen area needs its own health care department.
Zweisimmen is very difficult to be approached a heavy winters day...
Anyway,that is my opinion...
I am sure that people who have decide that they already know all that we are talking now ...
But ,everything counts in ...large amounts!