The following is a prime example of how direct democracy through citizen referendums is being undermined. Instead of examining our operating concept, politicians are using every channel to attack our citizens' initiative, which shows us we are on the right track. As long as no administrative court rules, our citizens' initiative is not inadmissible under Section 17 of the Municipal Code. Today, even the official gazette is being misused for fear-mongering. We now demand a retraction.
The politicians who want to close the Loreley Hospital are using defamation tactics otherwise only found in totalitarian states. The Association of Towns and Municipalities is acting as a court of law, and its opinion is being presented to the public as if it were an administrative court ruling. Some citizens, at the demonstrations of the long-standing citizens' initiative "For the Preservation of the Loreley Clinics," called for donations, and individual companies donated over €10.000 to the hospital's support association. We received €0 in donations, and our citizens' petition is being criticized because, following the recommendations of Mehr Demokratie e.V. (More Democracy Association), we included our donation account number on the petition.
The last chance to save the Loreley Clinic is a citizens' initiative in each of the three partner cities. Anyone who is over 18 and has their primary residence in the respective city can sign. Please distribute the documents widely in your community.
Scroll down to choose between Oberwesel, St. Goar & the Hunsrück-Mittelrhein municipality.
Citizens' initiative for the city of Oberwesel
Citizens' initiative for the city of Sankt Goar
Citizens' initiative for the municipality of Hunsrück-Mittelrhein
Current Situation 20.04.2020 21:15
The current CDU Oberwesel compass from April 2020 makes a false claim, namely that the clinic is non-profit.
The St. Goar-Oberwesel Hospital GmbH, as the name suggests, is a limited liability company (GmbH) and not a non-profit limited liability company (gGmbH). It is merely exempt from certain taxes and fees, but is not a non-profit organization. In summary, it should be noted that it is exempt from trade tax, the
Exemptions from sales tax and property tax are granted to all hospitals that meet the requirements of Section 67 of the German Fiscal Code (AO). This applies regardless of whether the hospital is a non-profit organization. However, exemption from corporation tax is only granted to hospitals that are non-profit within the meaning of Sections 51-68 of the German Fiscal Code (AO). Currently, it is a limited liability company (GmbH) with all the associated possibilities for diverting funds. Departments have been closed, and hospital equipment has been redirected to other hospitals. Conversion to a non-profit limited liability company (gGmbH) is being pursued. Please support the citizens' initiative for the continued non-profit operation of the hospitals. facebook.com/loreley-klinik With a non-profit limited liability company (gGmbH), significantly more funding is available than with a standard limited liability company (GmbH) structure. Profits can no longer be siphoned off but must be allocated to the charitable purposes of the new non-profit hospital. In our case, this would include the hospital itself, the senior citizens' center, and the new workshop for people with disabilities at the existing location in Sankt Goar. For more information, simply scroll down this page.
Current situation as of April 16, 2020, 13:00 PM
We are launching three citizens' initiatives in the cities of the shareholders to achieve a new "extraordinary shareholders' meeting" that calls on Marienhaus Holding GmbH to transfer its 55% shares in the hospital to PixelHELPER Foundation gemeinnützige GmbH, just as they had offered to the Red Cross.
Furthermore, the hospital is to be converted into a non-profit organization so that all profits remain within the organization and no distributions to shareholders are permitted. To achieve this, we need to collect approximately 300 signatures from eligible voters at each shareholder location. If the respective city council does not approve the citizens' initiative, a referendum will be held.
The PixelHELPER Foundation, a non-profit limited liability company, developed a concept and proposal for the preservation and continuation of the clinic in Oberwesel. At the Sankt Goar location, services with a special focus on inclusion are to be created. This includes new forms of housing for 8-16 people, as well as an affiliated workshop for people with disabilities.
The hospital in Oberwesel should also reactivate all necessary specialist departments, such as the intensive care unit, in order to operate as a fully functional hospital.
In collaboration and cooperation with the University of Marburg and nearby medical technology companies, the workshop for people with disabilities will produce relevant and certified medical building components made of wood, which will be used for export to Africa.
Funding of up to €600.000 is to be applied for from Aktion Mensch solely for the construction of a new workshop for people with disabilities, including barrier-free housing.
The PixelHELPER Foundation aims to impressively demonstrate how the demands of an aging society can be met in a modern and future-oriented way in rural areas.
To ensure financial security, the PixelHELPER Foundation will focus on developing new profit areas to guarantee its continuation as a non-profit hospital; we also expect funding of over 22 million euros from the Hospital Structure Fund to continue operating and expanding the clinic.
Here, the Pixelhelper Foundation, through its supporters, can draw on a renowned network in German health policy.
Since a non-profit limited liability company does not pursue its own profit interests and does not distribute profits to shareholders, we invest any surplus in the clinic and the workshop for people with disabilities.
The focus of a non-profit hospital is always the common good – synonymous with the well-being of the individual patient. The term "non-profit" is relevant for tax purposes, as only those activities listed in paragraph 52 of the German Fiscal Code that serve the public good are considered non-profit in the tax sense – for example, the promotion of healthcare. The non-profit limited liability company (gGmbH) is exempt from corporation tax. In return, the gGmbH is obligated to use the funds it generates exclusively for non-profit purposes.
We therefore want to become a non-profit specialist clinic – and act accordingly. This allows us a flexibility that ultimately benefits the patients. Because we will then not only work with the highest professional competence, adhering to the latest standards, but also according to humane, quality-related, and economic principles – which includes using all our financial and human resources specifically for the benefit of our patients.
Background: The PixelHELPER Foundation was founded by several Freemasons and the light artist Oliver Bienkowski. In Hamburg, there is the Freemasons' Hospital in Rissen, which is run by the Red Cross, as well as the Freemasons' Retirement Home in the center of Hamburg. The Freemasons' Hospital in Hamburg opened its doors on October 3, 1795, on Dammtorwall as the first institution for the care of sick people, something that had been completely lacking in Hamburg until then. It was initially established as a hospital for female servants and was expanded a few years later to include male servants. Upon dissolution of the PixelHELPER Foundation, its assets will be transferred to the Freemasons' Relief Organization (Freimaurer Hilfswerk e.V.), which is part of the Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband (a German welfare association).
Current situation as of April 16, 2020, 12:00 PM
We are currently looking for a rental property in downtown Oberwesel. We will use this location to coordinate three citizens' initiatives: one to save the hospital and another to produce canned bread for refugee camps and the homeless. Once the location is secured, the signature lists for all three cities can be downloaded from this page. After collecting signatures, you can submit your completed initiative lists to us in person. The citizens' initiatives will begin before May 1, 2020.
Current situation as of April 16, 2020, 12:00 PM
We see the Marienhaus Holding's failure to mention our purchase offer as a clear deception of the other shareholders. The PixelHELPER Foundation gGmbH (non-profit limited liability company) has contacted an administrative law attorney in Koblenz and the association Mehr Demokratie e.V. (More Democracy) to examine the feasibility of a citizens' initiative to initiate an "Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting to overturn the resolution of April 09.04.2020, 1." The draft of the citizens' initiative is complete but requires legal review. The citizens' initiative would obligate the city administration to make a decision at the Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting. A corporate lawyer is examining potential legal challenges related to competition law. An Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting could allow the shares to be transferred to the PixelHELPER Foundation gGmbH, enabling the continued operation of the remaining facility in Oberwesel, as well as the preservation of the senior citizens' center.
Although we sent our takeover offer to the company spokesman of Marienhaus Holding twice by email, there was no reaction to our offer apart from a phone call from Heribert Frieling.
The Loreley Hospital and Senior Center is a vital public institution for Oberwesel. At the last shareholders' meeting on April 9, 2020, Marienhaus GmbH failed to respond to a takeover offer from the PixelHELPER Foundation non-profit GmbH and denied receiving any further takeover offers. We believe this constitutes the criminal offense of fraudulent misrepresentation. Marienhaus is transferring assets to other hospitals and ultimately intends to secure the senior center as a cash cow. Self-employed individuals who engage in such actions in Germany are committing a bankruptcy offense. Anyone who transfers assets, i.e., hospital property, before impending insolvency is committing a crime. The hospital has been stripped of its assets by Marienhaus GmbH for the benefit of other clinics, such as those in Bingen. We urge all shareholders to expel Marienhaus GmbH from the St. Goar Oberwesel Hospital Corporation. The PixelHELPER Foundation, as a non-profit limited liability company, will not distribute any profits but will lead the senior citizens' center and hospital into the future for charitable reasons.
Donation receipts are sent immediately. For donations up to €250, your bank transfer receipt is sufficient as a donation receipt for the tax office.
With a light projection onto the Federal Ministry of HealthThe PixelHELPER Foundation is intervening in the closure of the St. Goar / Oberwesel. Our proposal: The non-profit company PixelHELPER Foundation will acquire the 55% shares if the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Health provides the 22 million [units/units/etc.]. If funds from the hospital structure fund, which are already earmarked for severance payments, are released for employee salaries, the continued operation and expansion of the hospital, PixelHELPER would have over a year to restructure the hospital and retain all employees at the Oberwesel hospital. The house in St. Goar is to be used to build ventilators for the Third World. The University of Marburg will soon present simple ventilator construction plans for Africa to the public. Using wood and simple parts from the hardware store, ventilators can also be built for countries that currently do not have a functioning hospital system. Furthermore, the PixelHELPER Foundation will have an action office in St. Hospital. Goar plans to establish further non-profit aid programs such as a canned bread bakery for greater food stability, organize a light art festival, and take further steps to support the citizens of St. Goar and Oberwesel. The next pandemic is coming; before the Cold War, Germany had over 40 auxiliary hospitals, which were closed as part of cost-cutting measures. We must not close any more hospitals during a pandemic. Jens Spahn's reply came via email; he referred to the Ministry of Health in Rhineland-Palatinate. Politicians must act quickly now. The 22. Millions in subsidies must be released for the continued operation and salaries of the hospital, and an attempt must be made to bring the hospital to at least a break-even point in the coming years with a new non-profit operating company, because unlike Marienhaus GmbH, a non-profit GmbH does not have to generate a profit. That would be a great opportunity to at least reopen the hospital in Oberwesel for normal hospital operations. We appeal to the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Health to release the funds from the structural fund, to Marienhaus GmbH to transfer the shares to the PixelHELPER Foundation, and to save the employees from the Oberwesel hospital. So that in the future we can operate hospitals and nursing homes side by side for better basic care. The government of Rhineland-Palatinate is also obliged to operate a hospital in Oberwesel with regard to the tourists who visit the Middle Rhine region; we hope that the politicians will reconsider. There has been no response so far to the purchase offer sent by email to the company spokesman Frieling of Marienhaus GmbH. However, we assume that, just like the German Red Cross, to whom the transfer of the 55% shares was offered, Marienhaus GmbH is also prepared to offer us the 55% shares for one euro. If the takeover of the shares doesn't work out, at least we will have tried to prevent the senseless closure of hospitals.