From 24th to 25th June, the Summer Open Air Music Event ‘Wenn die Musi spielt’ took place with numerous stars playing in front of the mountain scenery in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Carinthia. The local branch of Johanniter Austria provided medical care for the visitors and was joined by four Johanniter colleagues from Germany. Read the report by Andreas below:
“Early Friday morning, June 23rd, Udo Klasen, Tatjana and me, members of the Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe Regionalverband Lippe-Höxter from Germany, made the almost 930 km long journey to our Johanniter friends in Carinthia, station Patergassen, in the context of the JOIN Volunteer Swap to carry out the medical service for two days at the Summer Open Air – ‘Wenn die Musi spielt’ in St. Oswald, near Bad Kleinkirchheim.
This year, we were provided with a service vehicle of the Austrian local Johanniter federation Bad Salzuflen.
Another volunteer from our regional federation, Wolfgang Grüneberg has stayed already since the beginning of the week privately in beautiful Kärnten and completed the team of German helpers to 4 task forces.
On Friday around noon, all 4 met in the Johanniter rescue station in Patergassen. After a warm welcome from the station manager Christoph Aufegger we were assigned our rooms and went to lunch together.
In the evening and night, we had enough time to recover from the approximately 10-hour journey, before heading to the event site in the early evening.
Unfortunately, the weather became increasingly worse on Friday, and it started to rain. However, this did not bother the Johanniter paramedics; we put on our rain gear and started with the first aid service at the rehearsal. Daniel Rauter, the head of operations, thanked us for our support, and the teams were formed.
The next morning we had breakfast together and had some free time to visit the Pyramidenkogel at the Wörthersee. The Pyramidenkogel is the highest wooden observation tower in the world. The view over Lake Wörthersee is unique.
Of course, we did not miss the opportunity to combine the beautiful view with a group photo as a souvenir.
On the way back to Patergassen we went to the ‘Minimundus’ in Klagenfurt. In this park, you can marvel at many famous buildings of the world in miniature. The Pyramidenkogel was also found in the park.
In the evening, with the best open-air weather, we went to the event area for the first-aid service.
The teams were formed again, and the open-air festival could begin. Since the weather now played along, more and more spectators arrived, and the event area filled up.
After the first-aid service, our group returned to the rescue station and enjoyed the end of their joint service. On Sunday morning, we set off again on our journey home and reached the Lippe-Höxter regional association at around 10 pm.
Conclusion of the travel group: The Volunteer Swap Program of Johanniter International is a great and recommendable opportunity to get to know the international Johanniter family and to establish and maintain friendships.
We are very happy to be part of it again in 2024, When it is time again for “Wenn die Musi spielt – Summer Open Air” in beautiful Carinthia.