Press Release no. 3 from 16 August 2004
Lease signed for health centre for the homeless in Berlin-Mitte.
The Jenny De la Torre Foundation intends to open a health centre for homeless people at Pflugstrasse 12 in Berlin-Mitte within the next year. The district council has put this building at the FoundationŒs disposal, where extensive support will soon be offered to the poorest of the poor.
Besides the outpatient medical care facilities, there are plans for the installation of a soup kitchen and clothing room. In addition, social and psychological care, as well as legal advice will be made available. This combination will make the medical centre the first of its kind in Germany. But the FoundationŒs chairwoman, Jenny De la Torre, wants to go one step further and actively try to protect people from the threat of homelessness in the future.
The cityŒs politicians have indicated their openness to these intentions. For the city councillor for economics, Dirk Lamprecht (CDU), gthe medical centre is a good solution to the problems caused by a difficult social structure.h It was with this in mind that the city council decided the building should be made available to the Foundation for the establishment of a health centre, even though there were five other applicants. The contract has just been signed.
The next task will be the conversion of the three-storey house. Jenny De la Torre is aware of the projectŒs scale. gOur plans are ambitious, but we know how important this institution will be for Berlin in the future,h she says. Her foundation will be the driving force behind the centre, which will be partially financed by donations. Additional donations and voluntary workers are therefore always welcome.
Jenny De la Torre has been treating homeless people since 1994, when she started work in a practice for the homeless occupying 12 square metres at the railway station Ostbahnhof in Berlin. She treated people with a variety of symptoms that were largely the direct result of living on the streets. Her last place of work was on Stralauer Platz, where she stayed until September 2003. Since then, the Foundation has been the focus of her activities.
|
