| Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe e.V. | |
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Logo of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe |
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| Abbreviation | JUH |
| Motto | Aus Liebe zum Leben (German: For the love for life) |
| Formation | 1952 |
| Type | Eingetragener Verein |
| Purpose/focus | Medical care, humanitarian relief, youth programmes |
| Headquarters | Berlin |
| Location | Germany, Austria, Poland |
| Parent organization | Brandenburg Bailiwick of the Order of St John |
| Affiliations | Johanniter International |
| Staff | 12,000 |
| Volunteers | 30,000 (incl. Zivildienst and voluntary social year) |
| Website | www.juh.de |
Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe e.V. (JUH; German for "St. John Accident Assistance"), commonly referred to as Die Johanniter, is a voluntary humanitarian organisation affiliated with the Brandenburg Bailiwick of the Order of St John, the German Protestant descendant of the Knights Hospitaller. The organisation was founded in 1952 in Hanover under the leadership of Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, one of the main reasons for its creation being the rise in injuries and deaths from road traffic accidents (hence the word "accident" in its name). JUH participates in international aid efforts together with its sister organisations in other countries as part of the Johanniter International partnership; it also works with the German Malteser Hilfsdienst, affiliated to the Catholic Sovereign Military Order of Malta. As of 2008 the organisation has 28,300 active volunteers and youth members and around 1,500,000 registered members.[1]
Among recent developments of JUH in Germany is the establishment of local and regional groups that provide first responder services on horseback (see Mounted search and rescue).
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Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe in Germany is organised in nine state chapters which comprise more than 200 associations on district and local levels. It has about 12,000 full-time and part-time employees and is supported by roughly 1.5 million financial donors. The Brandenburg Bailiwick of the Order of St John has been certified as a recipient of donations by Deutsches Zentralinstitut für soziale Fragen (German Central Institute for Social Matters), a Berlin based private organisation. Civil servants are another factor that contributes to JUH's economic success. More than 10,000 children and youths are engaged in the organisation's youth chapter Johanniter-Jugend. This youth chapter is a member of the Evangelical youth consortium in Germany and also of the European Movement Germany.
Since 2002 retired General Hans-Peter von Kirchbach is president of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe. Professor Horst Wilms is the federal chief physician.
Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe in Austria was founded on 21 June 1974 in Vienna, where it first conducted patient transport together with the Austrian Red Cross with a single van. Today JUH in Austria is member of the Vier for Wien ambulance association. Vienna's four largest ambulance services (Red Cross, Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund Austria, JUH and Malteser Hilfsdienst, have been cooperating for a few years now in the ambulance sector. JUH serves areas in Vienna, Orth an der Donau, Tyrol and Carinthia. These regions have different focuses though. While JUH in Vienna is primarily tasked with emergency medical service, the Johanniters in Tyrol are mainly employed with home nursing and patient transport. There is an acute nursing service A.I.D that is specific to Vienna.
The Brandenburg Bailiwick of the Order of St John has been active for more than 20 years in neighbouring Poland where it has established 21 social care points. In the course of the eastward expansion of the European Union in 2004, the relief organisation Joannici Dzieło Pomocy was founded, which became active on 31 August 2004. Together with the Polish Johanniter foundation (established 2003) it engages primarily in ambulance services, nursing and youth work. Since its foundation, Joannici Dzieło Pomocy has recorded a constant growth which is thought to continue due to high requests in first aid courses.
Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe has bound itself to Christian charity. As a work of the Order of St John it sees its challenge in the needs and dangers of the people. The central motivation is humanitarian aid.
The statutory tasks of JUH include
Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe e.V. is a registered charity association according to German law. It is an association within Diakonisches Werk of the Evangelical Church in Germany and is an acknowledged voluntary relief organisation in accordance with article 26 of the first Geneva convention of 12 August 1949.