NASW IL Delegation in Hamburg, Germany

The eight NASW-IL delegates to the Tri Cities Exchange returned to Chicago yesterday, sunburned, tired and without our luggage, which was still in London.

 

We are, however, full of new ideas and new experiences.  We learned about the German Health Care system which is a mixed system.  Everyone is required to have health insurance and pays into a national health system.  People can also pay for private health insurance which may cover more things.  Doctors are in private practice and people can choose who they want to see.  Primary care doctors do not have hospital admissions privileges, so people who need hospitalization are seen by doctors who only practice in the hospital.  The British have a National Health System, where the doctors are government employees.  This is also paid for by taxes. 

The German birth rate is very low, so the government is taking steps to be sure that the children are well cared for.  They are starting to integrate health and mental health services into the schools.  In the child welfare system, they try to make the parent(s) partners in the healing process.  They are trying to deal with the problem of integrating non ethnic Germans into their society.  They have Turks who have been in

Germany for two generations, but are not considered Germans; they are now getting Africans, Koreans, Thais, and Chinese.

We had two tracks:  adults and children. I was on the adult track.  I visited a pain clinic, a hospice, group homes for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, a homeless shelter for men, which lets them bring their dogs, an inpatient clinic for the homeless, and a mobile dental clinic for the homeless, sponsored by Colgate.  I am still processing what I saw and learned.

We got very close to our German and British colleagues.  The Germans welcomed us into their homes; one had a barbeque which offered tofu bratwurst for the vegetarians.  On our last day we went to the island of Sylt in the North Sea and got to spend some time at the beach. (Hence the sunburns.)

 

I also spoke to some professors of Social Work.  They do not license their social workers and do not require CEUs.  They struggle to get some concepts across to their students and to teach professionalism.  They would enjoy making connections with Illinois schools of Social Work and I hope to facilitate this. 

We are already looking forward to going to Birmingham next year and to the visit to Chicago the year after.  I hope that we will have some exciting projects for them to see.