20 years of BELOP - a success story

They exist, these people who are passionate about a task. And they do it for years. Such people are Ursula Pugin and her colleagues from the BELOP association (Association for the Support of Parents during their Child's Operation). For 20 years now, the association has been providing parents at UKBB with a counsellor on request - and Ursula Pugin and her colleagues take on this task with unwavering commitment.

„I like being in hospital and making myself useful for a day to make other people's lives a little easier,“ says the former nurse, who speaks of an „impressive job“.

But what do the parent carers - all women - from the BELOP association actually do? For example, they show parents where they can wait during an operation or anaesthetic examination, help them to find their way around the hospital or simply listen to them. The parent counsellors are available to parents at all times.

Ursula Pugin, who has been president of the association since 2008, has a positive view of its 20th anniversary: „The collaboration between BELOP and UKBB is very good. Everyone, nursing staff and doctors, is in favour of us,“ she says, „The general consensus is that we are indispensable. It is now generally recognised that we are a support for the parents, but also for the staff.“ She also describes the feedback from parents as „wonderfully positive“. „The vast majority of them are very grateful to us, and many still remember us years later when they bump into us again.“

The parent carers have experienced the recent history of the UKBB first-hand: they started in 1998 at the old Basel Children's Hospital on Römergasse. Back then, 7 counsellors were on duty from Monday to Friday from 7 am to 3 pm. Today, in the new UKBB building on Spitalstrasse, 16 carers - three of them every day - are present from Monday to Friday from 7 am to 8 pm. Over the past 20 years, they have provided support to several thousand parents. One highlight for BELOP was that the parent carers were able to be there from day one when the centre moved into its new building in 2011. „That was wonderful,“ says Ursula Pugin. Since the hospital has been on one site, this has also made the work easier.

One challenge for BELOP is the search for new parent counsellors. According to Ursula Pugin, it has become apparent that it is difficult to find new people. The parent counsellors receive a modest salary, the work requires respect, the ability to maintain the necessary distance and enjoy dealing with different cultures. Another challenge is the finances of the organisation, which has around 100 members.

A main sponsor was soon found in the Marie Anna Foundation. Among other things, the foundation has set itself the goal of financing purchases and facilities that make hospitalisation at UKBB easier and more pleasant for patients. In recent years, BELOP has received between CHF 10,000 and CHF 20,000 from the Marie Anna Foundation. This support and the membership fees are not enough. ‘We are constantly on the lookout for new sponsors,‘ says Ursula Pugin.

Incidentally, BELOP celebrated its 20th anniversary modestly with an aperitif at UKBB following the members„ meeting in May 2018. “Our main wish for the future is that the cooperation, both among ourselves and with the staff at UKBB, remains very collegial and good," says President Ursula Pugin - with audible pleasure in her work at UKBB.