Unconscious

Today my dear friend Kamran came to Magdeburg for visit.
As we walked outside the railway station we saw Horst sitting in his wheelchair in front of the railway station.
We walked to him in order to say hello. When we where standing in front of Horst and started talking we noticed that he was not answering.

Some other people came by and told us that Horst was sitting there for hours without moving.
Kamran and I approached Deutsche Bahn staff to tell them about Horst and to ask them to take care of Horst - we were in doubt that he would make it through the night if he would keep sitting there. Simultaneously a police officer approached them to ask for the same. Unfortunately the staff did not seem to be too interested in this situation. Then we went to the Bahnhofsmission just to notice that they where closed.

After returning from the Bahnhofsmission some other police officers showed up who seemed to know Horst as well.

They also gave us some background information about Horst.
They told us that Horst actually has a place to live but can not move there normally because the flat is not disability friendly and therefore Horst is on the street most of the time. He also has nobody to support him during his daily live - even though it is obvious that he needs a helping hand. The city of Magdeburg was so far not capable to give him this support or at least a flat where he can live with his wheelchair. We all agreed that this needs to change.

After a discussion what to do with Horst - to bring him to the police station or to go for medical help - an ambulance was called.
Unfortunately the ambulance staff - who seemed to know Horst as well - hesitated a bit to take care about him because from there point of view Horst was not in a critical or live threatening condition. In the end they cleaned his stomach and brought him into a local Hospital.

Inevitably this incident reminded me about events that I witnessed in Calgary.