Helios Erfurt: State-of-the-art intensive care medicine saves lives
State-of-the-art intensive care
To stabilize her condition, the most advanced intensive care medicine was employed. Prof. Dr. Heinrich Volker Groesdonk, Chief Physician of the Department of Interdisciplinary Intensive Care Medicine and Intermediate Care as well as Medical Consultant for the Southern Region, explains:
“ECMO is a type of artificial lung that oxygenates the blood outside the body. It temporarily takes over the function of the lungs—and, if necessary, the heart. This allows both organs to recover while the device performs their work.”
The intensive care unit at Helios Hospital Erfurt treats all critically ill patients—with cutting-edge technology, highly qualified physicians and nurses, and closely coordinated interdisciplinary therapy.
Step by step back to life
During her prolonged hospital stay, Isolde Grahmann spent several weeks in a coma, was connected to ECMO, and required a tracheotomy. In addition, other organ systems had to be temporarily replaced and/or supported.
Through close collaboration between intensive care specialists, surgeons, oncologists, gynecologists, nursing staff, physiotherapists, and respiratory therapists, the team succeeded in guiding her step by step back to life.
Weaning – the careful path to independent breathing
Weaning describes the process of gradually restoring a patient’s ability to breathe independently after prolonged mechanical ventilation. Dr. Nick Weidner, Head of the Erfurt Weaning Center, explains that this specialized treatment at Helios Hospital Erfurt follows the concept of multi-organ weaning, placing holistic recovery of all organ systems at its core.
As one of the few hospitals in Germany, Helios Hospital Erfurt offers intensive care and weaning services from a single source—without transfers, with a continuous treatment pathway and high professional continuity, adds Prof. Groesdonk.
The certified team—consisting of experienced intensive care nurses, dedicated physiotherapists, specialized physicians, and respiratory therapists—accompanies patients with both expertise and compassion. Through precisely coordinated care, targeted breathing and movement therapy, and empathetic support, patients’ own resources are activated, strengthened, and developed—from initial stabilization to successful discharge. In this way, medical excellence and human compassion go hand in hand.
A new beginning
Today a new chapter begins for Mrs. Grahmann: she can speak, walk, and breathe independently again. She has been discharged Helios Hospital Erfurt grateful and full of confidence after a long period marked by concern, hope, remarkable resilience, and a strong will to live for both her and her husband.
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