Bye, Matthias!

“From end-of-life care to end-of-life care”

Matthias Tures ended his 30 years at ZeSIA with this quote in August 2024. It describes very well the transformation of his and our work in the former AIDS Initiative, then Aidshilfe and now ZeSIA. Matthias started in 1994 with the care and end-of-life support of HIV+ and AIDS patients. He visited people at home, in hospital, in prison and in a residential group for HIV+ people. Thanks to medical developments, he was then able to devote himself more and more to the life issues of this target group. For example, when he led the men's group. Until the end, long-standing clients came to Matthias and were pleased with his always open ear. In addition to counseling, he was also responsible for workshops for nursing staff and trainees, the choir concert in the small church for the WAT, press, newsletters, statistics and much more. With his humor and his calm and structured manner, he always enriched our team and made it easy to work together. We will miss Matthias and wish him all the best for his retirement!

But there is also a new addition to our team!

Since July, Corinna Lange has been supporting us as a social worker in prevention, education and public relations work. She holds dialog workshops for schoolchildren, teenagers and young adults and offers further training for care professionals and trainees on HIV and diversity. “My offers on sexual education and awareness programs are designed to enable everyone to find a shame-free and self-determined path to a healthy sexual identity.”

Isabell Boyde has also been part of the team since August. She has a background in health promotion and is primarily responsible for press relations, managing the website, our social media channels and graphic design. “I find the combination of health promotion and communication so important and exciting because it can make a decisive contribution to communicating health and prevention topics in an understandable and appealing way. Visual content can be used to convey important messages more effectively, as it appeals to the emotions. In this way, health communication can help to positively influence behavior, educate with information and promote prevention in a way that is accessible and memorable for all target groups.”