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Offering medical care to homeless people in Frankfurt, Germany, is one of the hundreds of ways in which Medical Mission Sisters around the world try to be a healing presence to those in need today. Our District Coordinator in Germany, Sister-Doctor Maria Goetzens, has been managing an ambulance service for homeless people in Frankfurt for the past ten years. At the ambulance, homeless persons can have a cup of coffee, talk, get a bath and fresh clothes, have their prescription medicine administered, and get references for further medical care, along with three-night passes to area shelters. In her ministry, Sister Maria encounters homeless addicts, psychologically ill people, the handicapped, and the mistreated. Going out daily in a medical van, Sister Maria or one of the volunteers checks on those with known health problems. She also visits homeless people at the "regular" places they sleep for the night. Sister Maria initially served as a volunteer with the ambulance service for 3 years. She had been searching out the poor and marginalized in Frankfurt when she heard about the plan for this program, which is funded by Caritas. It was a pioneering involvement for her, as there were no projects like this in Germany at that time. "It became obvious to me that political awareness and cleverness are needed, as well as professional know-how," she explains. "In addition to my involvement with the homeless and working on behalf of them in fighting for their rights with political bodies and health insurance…I learned how essential it is to let my daily experiences be touched by God's unconditional love. I am learning from Jesus, the wounded healer, what it can mean to be a healing presence nowadays, every day anew." Sister Maria also realized that collaboration and networking with non-government and government organizations, religious groups, and health care associations is important in influencing politics and making changes possible. "I have discovered that I have to work for changing unjust structures in order to work for the good of the poor. It is one thing to cure their diseases, and another to look for their God-given potential and to use it for healing."
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