Many disciplines, one goal:
the best possible therapy.
When your own child is sick, you want to know they are in the best of hands. But searching for the right diagnose, and finding experienced physicians and qualified therapists who can help, may quickly turn into an odyssey. To help patients and their families master this troublesome journey, the young.hope Research Centre for Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine provides a holistic care concept right from the beginning.
Not only medical and natural science specialists are involved in our work, but also many other experts from the health and social care sector. Based on the results obtained by our researchers, they develop the perfect treatment protocol for each individual patient. This way, children and adolescents receive all the healing aids they need from one single source.
Treatment
Marmots are a rare species. Just as rare as our young patients’ conditions. In our ‘marmot’ consultations, specialists from a variety of disciplines get to know the child and their family, make their detailed observations, and advise on how to proceed with treatment.
We holistically approach each disease from several angles, which helps us to perfectly adjust the treatment to each individual family’s needs.
Every year, more than 6,000 babies in Austria are born before their due date. These children experience many essential steps in their development outside the womb. Extreme preterm birth may easily cause irreversible damage to the child’s brain, lungs, or intestines.
Developmental care fosters a child’s undisturbed growth and helps to prevent damage to their organs. Comprehensive parent involvement and the promotion of breast milk feeding are key pillars of our developmental care programme.
In paediatric surgery, we always seek diagnostic and therapeutic methods which are adapted to the growth and development of our young patients. Our treatment spectrum ranges from congenital malformations and acquired diseases of various organ systems to accident-related injuries. Custom therapies and gentle, minimally invasive procedures are of highest priority to us.
Our team, whose members are specially trained for children’s needs, is available 24/7 to assist with competent, professional, empathetic and helpful information and services, ensuring that children and adolescents who are entrusted to us receive the best possible care.
Our multi-professional team
Our dieticians provide nutritional counselling and therapy for the various medical conditions of our patients. They keep an eye on all essential nutrients and develop an optimised nutritional concept that caters to the individual needs of infants, children and adolescents.
Contact: Sandra Laimer, BSc
Our occupational therapists work with children and adolescents who have difficulty with everyday activities such as grasping and releasing small objects, using cutlery and pencils, or learning how to play. Together with their young patients, our therapists develop exercises and strategies for confidently mastering the daily challenges.
Contact: Dr. Andrea Oswald, MSc
The rehab school (‘Heilstättenschule’) is a compulsory school for children and adolescents who receive in-patient treatment in healthcare institutions and rehabilitation centres. The prime purpose of a rehab school is to facilitate the pupils’ re-entry into school, prepare them for a change of class or school, and help them avoid repeating a grade. In terms of curative education, our educators’ primary concern is to strengthen our patients’ self-confidence and self-esteem.
Contact: SD Dipl.-Päd. Markus Schwarz, BEd
Holistic art therapy can be used to accompany different courses of illness. Our art therapist adapts the different forms of expression – painting, drawing, photography, photo collages etc. – to every child’s specific condition and provides them with the opportunity to discover their creativity. We also pursue this goal in our new art project ‘young.art’.
Contact: Eva Hackenberg, registered specialist for integrated art therapy
In speech therapy, we deal with the aspects of speech, language, speech development, voice, food intake and swallowing in infants, children and adolescents. Following a detailed diagnosis by our speech therapist, we get together with our patients and their parents to formulate therapy goals that are specifically adapted to the child’s needs.
Contact: Sandra Randweg, BSc
In music therapy, we leverage the therapeutic function of music to foster a child’s physical and mental recovery. Music and play provide room for children to experience and express themselves, giving them opportunities to get in contact and interact with themselves as well as with others.
Contact: Mag. Edith Haberpeuntner
Our physiotherapists aim to help young patients maintain and improve their mobility. As long as our patients are too sick to actively move themselves, our specialists provide the support they need. Once they become active again, we initiate a joint training. The idea is to make these children stronger, more confident and skilful so they can act independently and participate in social life.
Contact: Nicole Eberl, MA
Our psychologists specialise in clinical and psychological diagnoses and provide counselling and treatment to affected children and their relatives. They guide patients in dealing and coping with their illness, provide advice on the choice of school and assist patients during a change of medication or diet.
Contact: Anna Spitzer, BSc MSc
Our social workers provide advice and support to families on any personal, legal, financial or social issues that may arise when a child gets sick, becomes disabled, or has an accident. Social workers identify social problems, offer solution-finding strategies and provide assistance in the daily routines which may sometimes be quite challenging and stressful. Their prime goal is to ensure that patients and their families have agency.
Contact: Ulrike Zeiler, DSA