AOK PLUS remains health partner of the University of Erfurt

"AOK PLUS is not only financially committed to the University of Erfurt, it also provides us with advice on all matters relating to health and prevention," says Jens Panse, project manager for University Health Management. "Together, we have been able to achieve a great deal in the past three years and have steadily expanded UGM. For example, in addition to our health weeks, we were able to organize various bicycle campaigns, the campus run, the 'Active Break' and various workshops and lectures on student health, as well as offer Corona and flu vaccination campaigns, a back school and yoga classes for employees, and mindfulness classes for students on campus."

In addition, a variety of offerings could be made in the area of mental health. This was particularly important in view of the Corona pandemic and the associated special stresses in studies, but also in the workplace, Panse explains further, highlighting in particular the Students's Helpline, a low-threshold offer by students for students, which was launched as part of the project with AOK PLUS.

2023 will also be marked by numerous activities and measures as part of the university's health management programme. For example, a bicycle action day already took place on April 27 and the annual health day on campus on May 11 – this year with a focus on heart health (and with a record number of participants!). On June 28, the Erfurt Campus Run will enter its 7th round, where the University of Erfurt will once again welcome numerous runners and running teams to the campus on Nordhäuser Straße.

In the context of an internal university workshop together with AOK PLUS, further focal points for the subsequent cooperation period are to be worked out in 2023. The design of a "healthy campus" or the training of mindfulness multipliers are initial topics by means of which the partners would like to confirm their joint project goal of anchoring the topic of health sustainably in the structures of the university.

Jens Panse: "We are glad that we can offer all this to the employees and students of the University of Erfurt and look forward to further impulses in the next three years." And Alexandra Krumbein, Managing Director of AOK PLUS, adds, "We are happy to support the University of Erfurt on its path to becoming a 'healthy university' and are pleased with the commitment of all those involved – explicitly including the students – in this cause. The past Corona years in particular have once again impressively reminded us all that health is not a lifestyle issue, but essential for our society and for a good life."