"Overwhelms me insanely" SRF star Mona Vetsch struggles in a hospice for the dying
SRF journalist Mona Vetsch visits the hospice for the dying in Sankt Gallen for the reportage series "Mona mittendrin". There she meets former sports teacher Heidi Steiner in Villa Jacob. There are nine hospices for the terminally ill in Switzerland.
Image: SRF
Vetsch also meets the seriously ill computer scientist Nicolas Kressig at the hospice. Kressig was born in 1979 and is suffering from a tumor.
Image: SRF
Mona Vetsch in conversation with hospice patient Doris Niederer, who has cancer.
Image: SRF
Raoul Pinter is the head doctor at the palliative care hospice in Sankt Gallen. The facility has nine rooms for residents.
Image: SRF
Sarah Krüsi Leber (left) is a nurse at the hospice. She has been working in palliative care for 15 years.
Image: SRF
SRF journalist Mona Vetsch visits the hospice for the dying in Sankt Gallen for the reportage series "Mona mittendrin". There she meets former sports teacher Heidi Steiner in Villa Jacob. There are nine hospices for the terminally ill in Switzerland.
Image: SRF
Vetsch also meets the seriously ill computer scientist Nicolas Kressig at the hospice. Kressig was born in 1979 and is suffering from a tumor.
Image: SRF
Mona Vetsch in conversation with hospice patient Doris Niederer, who has cancer.
Image: SRF
Raoul Pinter is the head doctor at the palliative care hospice in Sankt Gallen. The facility has nine rooms for residents.
Image: SRF
Sarah Krüsi Leber (left) is a nurse at the hospice. She has been working in palliative care for 15 years.
Image: SRF
Mona Vetsch spent three intensive days in a hospice in St. Gallen for the reportage series "Mona mittendrin". Her conclusion: "The encounters made me realize how precious life is."
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- SRF star Mona Vetsch spent three days at the St. Gallen hospice for her TV documentary series "Mona mittendrin".
- Mona Vetsch's encounters with dying patients get under her skin. "Accompaniment by adults recommended", writes SRF about the episode "Farewell in the hospice - a dignified life until death."
- "Mona mittendrin" aired on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, 9 p.m., on SRF 1 and is available online.
Mona Vetsch sometimes pushes herself to the limit for her reportage format "Mona mittendrin". Whether the 49-year-old from Thurgau is visiting neonatology, a psychiatric facility or a children's cancer ward.
In the current episode "Mona mittendrin: Farewell in a hospice", Mona Vetsch meets people at the last stage of their lives.
The Villa Jacob in Sankt Gallen is a place of life and death where joy and grief have their place, writes SRF. Seriously ill and dying adults find a home here and are supported and accompanied in their last phase of life.
And Mona Vetsch immerses herself in this world for three days, meets the residents and talks to them about saying goodbye and death. Vetsch approaches the conversations with great empathy, asks questions and sometimes elicits a laugh.
And the SRF woman lends a hand, supports the team at Villa Jacob in their work and learns from nursing specialist Sarah Krüsi Leber: "Around 80 percent of all people would like to die at home, but in reality it's around 20 percent."
"Mona mittendrin" shows the everyday life of the hospice for the dying in an unembellished but sensitive way.
It's an episode that also demands a lot from Mona Vetsch: "It overwhelms me," she says after briefly visiting a deceased person.
After three days in the hospice, Mona Vetsch sums up her time in Sankt Gallen as follows: "I am grateful for the encounters that made me realize how valuable life is - right up to the end."
