Palliative Care: Dr. Sarah Bublitz honored with the Bruno Schmidt ALS Award for her "ALS Home Care" concept
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is an incurable neurodegenerative disease characterized by the degeneration of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, leading to progressive muscle atrophy and paralysis. While the course of the disease varies among individuals, it typically leads to death within a few years. Approximately 8,000 people in Germany suffer from ALS. During the 6th ALS Information Day hosted by the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Bonn, leading ALS experts discussed the current state of research, treatment, and care. For the first time, the Bruno Schmidt ALS Prize was awarded. The prize was established by the association ALS – Alle lieben Schmidt e. V., founded by Bruno Schmidt, who was himself diagnosed with ALS and, during his lifetime, actively worked to raise awareness of the disease and funds for research.
The award went to Dr. Sarah Bublitz, a neurologist and palliative care physician, senior physician at the Agatharied Hospital (Bavaria), and research associate at the Institute for Palliative Care at Paracelsus Medical Private University (PMU) in Salzburg, for her project "ALS Home-Care." Since June 2021, this care project has been implemented at Agatharied Hospital to support ALS patients. As there is no curative treatment for ALS, multidisciplinary palliative care plays a central role in symptom relief. The goal of ALS Home-Care is to improve outpatient care for ALS patients and their families through a team-based care model, while also enabling patients to make autonomous, informed decisions. The project is being scientifically evaluated as part of an accompanying study to demonstrate the effectiveness of the measures, assess the impact on patients and their families, and potentially integrate the model into standard care.
The Bruno Schmidt ALS Prize, which will be awarded annually, is endowed with €5,000 to specifically support ALS research projects.
For more information:
khagatharied.de/die-medizin-2/neurologie/
Institut für Palliative Care
dzne.de
