History & Tradition

„As a circle of Friends and Trustees, the non-for-profit Association „THE HEALTH CAPTAINS CLUB“ is establishing a comprehensive „silo-free“ platform for leadership, innovation and knowledge for the benefit of patients supporting THE HEALTH CAPTAINS CLUB and SÜNJHAID The Health Captains on Föhr Island and Kos Island, among others. The activities of the non-profit association are based on the „6th Kondratieff Cycle“ and thus focus on „health in the holistic sense“ – physical, mental, spiritual, ecological and social = HEALTH 4.0 – and on the necessary sustainable leadership role of „Health Captains“ and therefore makes it its task to make sustainable innovations and knowledge for medicine, nursing, health sciences and the health industry transparent on its comprehensive platform for the „Navigation of Medicine“ to the benefit of patients. In doing so, the association follows two historical role models, which have successfully passed on knowledge as leadership institutions over generations free of charge: This is the tradition of the Captain’s Schools on Föhr Island (North Sea) and the Medical School of Hippocrates on Kos Island (Mediterranean Sea). The Islands are the Deep-ThinkTank-Platforms and THE HEALTH CAPTAINS CLUB takes Berlin as Platform and Hub for Europe and beyond to scale the results, solutions and innovations of our members and speakers“

The Tradition of THE HEALTH CAPTAINS CLUB is reflected by the Preamble of the Constitution of our Non-for-Profit Organization “RÜNJHAID! Freundeskreis der nordfriesischen Seefahrerinseln Föhr, Amrum, der Halligen, Sylt, der Insel Kos und der Medicinale e.V.”:

The non-for-profit association “THE HEALTH CAPTAINS CLUB” refers in its characteristics, orientation and the actions of its members to the model of the intergenerational principles of the historical Föhrer navigation schools from the 16th to the 18th century as sustainable non-profit leadership academies through the success of more than 2,000 captains who emerged from the private Föhrer navigation schools as the intellectual and economic elite of the maritime societies of the North Frisian islands of Föhr, Amrum, Sylt and the Halligen, which have nevertheless remained egalitarian to this day.

In the spirit of the founder of the Föhr navigation schools, Pastor Richardus Petri at St. Laurentii Church in Süderende on Föhr, who held the office of pastor on Föhr from 1620 until his death in 1678, the activities of RÜNJHAID! are to take up the intergenerational non-profit system for leadership academies developed by Petri and, among other things in the sense of the “6th Kondratieff cycle” to “health” in the holistic sense – physical, mental, spiritual, ecological and social – to the leadership role of “health captains” for an outcome based “world medicine” and thus promote the transparent “navigation in medicine” for the benefit of patients and make it visible as Medicinale.

For RÜNJHAID!, the School of Hippocrates on the island of Kos, founded by Hippocrates of Kos some 2,500 years ago as a historical medical leadership academy, is a model for this. The Hippocratic Oath was created there, which, just like the Föhrer Navigation Schools, ensured the passing on of knowledge from generation to generation and which today, with the aim of holistic preservation of the integrity of the patient, his biology and his data, should be continued by RÜNJHAID! as a task for society as a whole.

RÜNJHAID! means in Fering, the language of the island north Frisians of Föhr: Roundness! – the development of “round” personalities should be promoted by the new edition of Petri’s leadership academy principle. RÜNJHAID! also means economic well-being. RÜNJHAID! therefore stands for “Service for Humanity with value-based Leadership to Navigate the Medicine of the Future together with the Medicinale for sustainable outcome for Patients”.

Orientation, anchoring of this circle of friends begins at the place of origin on Föhr. The task of RÜNJHAID! is to bring these traditions of the islands of Föhr and Kos out into the world for imitation and, in addition, to build a European bridge between Föhr and Kos as a starting point for further island partnerships to promote value-based international understanding, in order to make these old private insular school systems internationally visible again for all and to create future workshops for future generations for humans, animals and nature as sustainable “health islands”. RÜNJHAID! stands for “FOEHR THE BRAIN” – the orientation of the youth in the duty – future needs past and sustainability.

The motto of this circle of friends is: “Sünjhaid! to Rünjhaid! – TOGETHER FIRST.”