Over 220 people are accommodated there for permanent or temporary care. It is one of the largest facilities in Lower Austria. She describes her job as thoroughly fulfilling. There are countless reasons for this, but she revealed some of them to us in our interview.

Interest in management

"It's not just the care that needs to be well managed in a care facility, but also everything around it," she emphasises. She acquired the know-how for this on the Bachelor's degree programme in Health Management and Health Promotion at University of Applied Sciences Burgenland. This is a business degree programme with a focus on health topics. Students can train to become a care home manager - an asset that paved the way for Lena Fritz-Reicher's career. She followed her bachelor's degree with a master's degree in Health Management and Integrated Care.

During several internships, she familiarised herself with different areas of the healthcare sector. Among other things, she worked at the Rechnitz Nursing Competence Centre and the Eisenstadt Hospital of the Brothers of Mercy.

Versatile work

Over the years, she learnt to appreciate the versatility of working in the care sector. "Personnel management, quality management, cost accounting and financial reporting... I deal with all of these topics professionally. That's what makes it so exciting."

She applied for a junior management programme run by the state of Lower Austria and was selected after an intensive assessment process. From then on, she got to know various care facilities in Lower Austria - "I was able to find my own examples of best practice, so to speak," she says.

In January 2020, she accepted the position of Deputy Director of PBZ Baden and took over management of the center in 2022.

No two days are the same

She finds her job enormously fulfilling.

With 224 residents, the center is one of the largest in Lower Austria. The needs of the people entrusted to the PBZ team are diverse. "We are not just a care center, we also have 60 beds for people with psychiatric needs. They receive psychosocial care from us. Another focus is the area of rehabilitative transitional care. People come to us directly from hospital and receive rehabilitative care." The PBZ is also a home for people who require intensive care.

Contact with people

The many forms of care on offer also make the job colourful for the director. "That's very interesting for me. We have many professional groups in the building: nursing staff, permanently employed doctors, a social worker or social pedagogue, psychotherapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, administrative staff, everyday support and building services. This closes the loop to the Master's in Integrated Care, which I completed at the University of Applied Sciences Burgenland."

Contact with the residents is at least as important to Lena Fritz-Reicher. "First and foremost, it's the typical small celebrations and festivities throughout the year, which I'm not only heavily involved in planning, but which I also attend myself, of course. However, I also like to personally congratulate the people entrusted to our care on their birthdays and am constantly approached in the house. This contact is very important to me. You can see what is going well and what can be further improved, which gives you the opportunity to react proactively.

Highlights from her studies

Lena Fritz-Reicher has come to particularly appreciate the generalist approach in her two degree programmes at Burgenland UAS. "The soft skills subjects were also very important for everyday working life - group work, communication workshops and so on. In the Master's programme, I particularly appreciated the exchange with my fellow students. Because they came from different professional groups, from nursing, social work, therapy and business." Project and process management, business administration, controlling and quality management were also topics in the degree programme that are important on a day-to-day basis in the job.

"The care home manager training programme not only gave me a certificate, but also opened my eyes to the fact that a care home is not a dusty institution. Rather, it is a highly professional and modern home to many interesting people and the workplace of very committed and competent employees."