GstaadLife

From Monday March 14 thru Friday April 15 the main water pipes are going to be cleaned in Schönried, Halten, Unterbort, Saanen and Oey. This can cause water pressure changes, a temporary chloride smell, and shitty-looking water. The commune of Saanen assures us that the chlorine levels are in no way dangerous and that in case of brownish water you should just let it run until it gets clear again.

Since January 1 2011 there has been a new CEO at the Spital Simmental-Thun-Saanenland (STS) AG. His name is Bruno Guggisberg (left), and he has in fact already been working for STS for the past 6 months. The 48 year-old from Münsingen worked for many years for the psychiatric department at the University of Bern (Universitäre Psychiatrischen Dienste UDP). We wish him good luck for what will surely be a very challenging position. 

The final decision is in, and the die has been cast for Zweisimmen Hospital which is being "transformed" into a heath center with a fixed ward in gynaecology and birth, general medicine, and surgery. Saanen Hospital will likewise be "transformed" into a heath center with, well, basically the same things it has now. So what has changed? We are not sure either, other than that the names have changed from hospital to health center, that the people of Saanenland and the Obersimmental now hate each other, a few consultants made a lot of money, and that even we have become bored of updating you on this tiresome story. So hopefully that really is the last of it.

 

By Januaria Piromallo

It has been an honor for me to be a friend of Kirsten and John Sutin (pictured above). As many of you have heard, Kirsten was a professional horse rider and on May 7 2010 she fell off her horse causing a spinal cord injury that left her tetraplegic from the neck on. Her life is now suspended in time like the thin line of sand within an "hourglass", as she said,  but the will to survive always triumphs. Kirsten without moving from her bed in the Paraplegic Center of Nottwill, the leading clinic in Europe (there are only few: one in Israel and in the United States), she is "moving" emotionally around the whole world.

The petition to prevent construction of a new hospital in Saanenmöser has achieved enough signatures to put the issue to a vote. This will take place on September 24 at the general assembly of the local council in Saanen.

Above: Vice precident of FoSH Constantine Goulandris (left) and president Lancelot Frick

The general assembly of the Friends of Saanen Hospital took place last week. Quite obviously the agenda was dominated by the regional hospital debate, with numerous members sharing their concern about the situation. It was agreed to wait another year for a solution - let's hope there will be a solution within a year.

The petition for the construction of a new hospital in Zweisimmen based on extension and renovation of the existing facility has procured the 600 signatures necessary for the initiative to be presented for popular vote at an upcoming Gemeinde meeting. This does not mean, however, that the hospital authorities will be obliged to do as the petition says, but the the initiators of the petition hope that formally representing the views of populace will count for something when it comes time to end the hospital histrionics.

Saanen council has commissioned yet another feasability study - this time for the bridge and parking facilities that would be necessary for the new hospital in Saanenmöser to be realized. If we had a penny for every study, consultation, and petition in this hospital saga...

 
In order to move things along the following people - Hanspeter Grundisch-Matti, Gstaad; Fritz Würsten-Seewer, Gstaad; Peter Matti-Siegenthaler, Saanen; Urs Schwenter-Wolff, Saanenmöser - have initiated an petition for a new hospital in Zweisimmen. In their petition they request the commune of Saanen not to give any land to the hospital authorities, as they believe that the only solution is to a new hospital in Zweisimmen. They need 440 signatures to even get heard.