WEINMANN at Wacken Open Air Festival
Wacken Open Air: WEINMANN participated for the third time!
Wacken Open Air is one of the biggest heavy metal festivals in the world and every year draws tens of thousands of fans to the little village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein. The medical care and logistical feat of the event, for which the Kaltenkirchen branch of the German Red Cross and the Schleswig-Holstein Emergency Service Cooperation (RKiSH) worked tirelessly, are impressive. This year, WEINMANN once again provided support in the form of medical care and offered on-site training courses. Steffen Kruse, Head of Application Specialist and volunteer paramedic, provides an insight into his work at the festival.
Steffen Kruse on the atmosphere at Wacken
Steffen Kruse has been to Wacken every year for the past three years. He remembers the camaraderie in particular fondly: “The openness of our colleagues on site was fantastic. Whether paramedics or German Red Cross volunteers – everyone treated our team as equals.” The fact that colleagues from Austria and the Netherlands were also present alongside colleagues from Germany made the working atmosphere even more diverse and exciting for him. The appreciation for each other’s work and commitment on site was clearly noticeable. Other WEINMANN colleagues were also on site – not on duty, but to strengthen the team’s presence.
Product training with WEINMANN devices
WEINMANN played a key role in providing medical equipment for Wacken Open Air. A total of 12 MEDUCORE Standard², three MEDUVENT Standard, one MEDUMAT Standard² and one RESCUE-PACK Plus were used at the heavy metal festival. In addition, hundreds of WEINMANN caps were distributed as a small thank-you gift to the emergency services personnel on site. The devices were not only used when needed, but also incorporated back into the training program for paramedics. As in the previous two years, Steffen Kruse and his colleague Thomas Fleckenstein once again offered training courses for users on how to use the WEINMANN devices. The three workshops on non-invasive ventilation (NIV) received particularly positive feedback, with around 15 participants in each workshop gaining theoretical knowledge and practical experience.
Keep up the good work!
The medical care and logistical organization at Wacken Open Air are a good example of successful collaboration and top-level medical care. A big thank you goes to the German Red Cross in Kaltenkirchen, the RKiSH, our WEINMANN colleagues on site, and all the emergency services who make this major event possible and, above all, safe year after year, despite the challenges posed by the weather and infrastructure.
