Bethel - A Bethel resident is Arminia's team doctor

"I've seen you on television!" Prof Dr Stefan Budde often hears this sentence from patients at the Evangelical hospital Bethel (EvKB). There, the specialist in orthopaedics and trauma surgery heads the Department of Endoprosthetics and Special Orthopaedic Surgery. He is known to a wide (television) audience as the team doctor for DSC Arminia Bielefeld.

Stefan Budde can be seen on screen treating injured Arminia players on the stadium pitch. The 42-year-old has been doing the job since 2015 and loves it as much as the first day. As he says, the Bielefeld native was "crazy about Arminia as a boy" and is still a passionate supporter of the Blue and White. "That's why," he says, "it's something special for me to be part of the team." Being close to the players also creates the trust that is important for good medical treatment.

But is it even possible to be a fan and be responsible for the medical care of your favourite team? He always tries to be either a doctor or a supporter, answers Stefan Budde. "As a doctor, I'm so focussed on medical aspects that I've sometimes asked after the final whistle: How did the game end?" he says. When Stefan Budde follows a match in his private life, he cheers goals for Arminia much more exuberantly than when he is playing professionally.

Stefan Budde says that working with young competitive athletes is "a great addition and a great balance" to his work at Bethel. He came to Bethel in 2021 from Hanover, where he studied at Hanover Medical School (MHH), completed his doctorate, habilitated and worked at the Annastift Orthopaedic Clinic. Stefan Budde is still a lecturer at the MHH today. At the EvKB, he is expanding endoprosthetics, specialising in hip and knee operations. Helping older patients to be able to walk without pain "gives me great pleasure, especially as a lot of gratitude comes back". It is also the mix of two different patient groups and medical issues that makes his work so appealing to him.