Restriction is the mother of invention: an invitation of a special kind

In the beginning of the pandemic about one year ago, all that was necessary to promote a stable hospice community was suddenly no longer possible: I speak of meetings of the colleagues on the occasion of celebrations and parties. Our summer party had to be cancelled and so had the advent celebration and all other common events. They all help to keep hospice work, challenging as it is, in good shape. The more it hurts when such possibilities of a cheerful and carefree get-together are missing, particularly in a time as challenging as the present one.

The problem was whether an alternative could be found. And so a quite extraordinary idea came into being, the idea of a wine tasting, on account of the prevailing restrictions, however, online as a video conference. German König, winegrower in Randersacker near Würzburg and attached to the hospice for a long time, quickly agreed. With Annette Roth, a person was found to enrich the evening by little lyrical contributions and short stories. Two dates were fixed, a first one for the employed and voluntary colleagues of the in-patient hospice, a second one for the out-patient department. For all interested the thoroughly selected wines from Franconia were in advance packed in boxes, ready for take-away together with the programme. So there was nothing to stop this creative offer of Johannes-Hospiz to its colleagues and their partners, who had also been kindly invited.

For two evenings, an eventful sequence of sensual wine drinking, information, literature and conversation took place. This was certainly more than a sheer substitute for the familiar, even though such “video conference systems” cannot replace the personal and real encounter.