Ruth Mattheis

Ruth Mattheis (born November 29, 1919 ; † June 6, 2010 ) was a German pediatrician , school doctor and Senate conductor in the Senate Department for Health in Berlin .

Live and act

Ruth Mattheis attended the Luise Henriette School in the Tempelhof district of Berlin from 1930 to 1939 . After graduating from high school , she studied medicine in Berlin and Halle from 1939 to 1944 . In 1944 she put her state exam and was at the University of Berlin Dr. med. PhD. In 1951 she finished her training as a specialist in paediatrics . From 1952 to 1962 Ruth Mattheis worked as a doctor in child care and as a school doctor in the Zehlendorf district of Berlin. In 1962 she moved to the Senate Department for Health and in 1968 was appointed Head of Department for Hospitals and Outpatient Services . She held this position until her retirement in 1984, in the last few years as Senate conductor. From 1971 she worked in the working group of the leading medical officers of the federal states. At the international level, she was a delegate of the Federal Republic of Germany to the World Health Organization (WHO) from 1972 to 1991 . From 1984 to 1990 she was the chairwoman of the Berlin Hospital Society

During her work in the Senate Department for Health, Ruth Mattheis played a key role in shaping the Berlin health system and had a formative influence on developments. She operated the construction and expansion of hospitals, worked intensively for the integration of outpatient and inpatient care and ensured the establishment of hospitals, a hybrid of hospital and nursing home. On her initiative, social-psychiatric services were set up as part of the psychiatry reform and the way to de-hospitalize many sick and disabled people was paved. In order to improve prevention , health promotion and assistance for the disabled , she set up a network of advice centers , including special consultation hours, for example for children with certain disabilities . In addition, in connection with the reform of § 218 StGB, Ruth Mattheis created model counseling centers and a social-medical service for pregnancy, marriage and family counseling.

Honors

• 1984: Professor e. H. of the state of Berlin
• 1987: Order of Merit of the State of Berlin
• 2000: Paracelsus Medal

Web links

• In memoriam Ruth Mattheis (PDF; 939 kB) . In: Berliner Ärzte, 7/2010, p. 34
• Laudation on the award of the Paracelsus Medal to Ruth Mattheis . In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt 2000; 97 (19): A-130