How to Use the Fax Machine and Scanner at Fisher House Landstuhl

When you are sitting in a guest room more than fifteen thousand kilometres from home, even simple paperwork can feel like a huge logistical headache. Many Aussie families who travel to Germany for medical care at Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre still need to deal with Centrelink, their bank, their kids' school back in Brisbane or Adelaide, and a long list of medical claims. The two Fisher Houses near the hospital understand that, which is why they keep a fax machine and a scanner available for guests around the clock.

These machines sit in a quiet corner of each shared office area, and they are meant for exactly the jobs that pile up when a family is far from home. You do not need to be a tech whiz to use them, and staff are happy to show you the ropes the first time. Knowing what is available before you arrive saves a lot of stress during those first chaotic days of treatment.

This guide walks through how the equipment is set up, what you can reasonably expect to send or copy, and the small house rules that keep things running smoothly. Whether you are chasing a Medicare rebate, sending a signed form to a solicitor in Melbourne, or scanning a medical record for your files, the tools are there when you need them.

Finding the Equipment in the House

The fax machine and scanner live in a small office nook on the ground floor of each Fisher House, usually next to a desk with a powerboard. You do not need a key or code to get in, but the area is shared, so it pays to keep the door pulled shut and not hog the space during busy arvos when other families also have paperwork to sort out.

If you cannot find the office on arrival, the easiest move is to pop your head into the kitchen or the front desk and ask. Volunteers and staff are used to the question and will point you straight to it, sometimes walking you down to show you where the paper tray, ink levels, and on-screen menu sit. The setup is intentionally straightforward, with labelled buttons for fax, scan to email, and copy, so most guests only need a quick demo.

Because the machines run off the main house phone line, the front desk holds the master number list and can help you dial out if you are unsure about an international code. This is especially handy for Aussie numbers, which need a +61 prefix instead of the leading zero. Keep a notepad in the office drawer for confirmation pages and reference numbers.

Sending Faxes for Medical and Official Paperwork

Faxes still earn their keep for legal and medical documents, particularly anything that needs a signature witnessed or a wet ink stamp. Defence families often send signed consent forms, DVA paperwork, or specialist referrals back to Australia, and the fax machine makes that a matter of minutes rather than a trek into town.

Before you start, gather everything you need: the full international fax number including country code, a cover sheet with your name, your room number, and a contact phone where the receiving office can call back if there is a problem. The house keeps cover sheets in the top desk drawer. Always double-check the number, because a single transposed digit can send your paperwork halfway across Europe.

Slot the pages face down into the feeder tray, punch in the number using the + prefix rather than 00, and hit send. The machine prints a confirmation report as soon as the transmission is complete, so hang on to that page and slip it into your personal file or scan it straight away. If the line is busy, the machine will retry two or three times before flagging an error. For a fuller rundown on how mail and scanned documents flow through the house, the guest mail services page covers the postal and delivery side of things in more detail.

Scanning Documents for Digital Records

The house scanner is a flatbed model, so you can handle delicate originals like old x-ray printouts or passport pages without feeding them through rollers and risking a crease. Most files save as PDFs straight onto a USB stick, which you can bring from home or borrow from the front desk.

The on-screen menu lets you choose colour, greyscale, or black and white, and the resolution can be bumped up for documents with small text. If you are unsure which setting to use, the volunteer on duty will usually pick the right one for you, especially during the first few days. A standard A4 page at greyscale takes less than thirty seconds, so you can clear a thick pile of paperwork in a single quiet morning.

For electronic submissions back in Australia, many Centrelink and Medicare portals accept PDF attachments up to a fair size, and a good house scan is usually well within those limits. If you are sending scans to your GP in Perth or a claims officer in Sydney, keep file names tidy with the date and a short description, such as "2024-09-mri-results.pdf", so nothing gets muddled later. The office also has a shredder for anything you no longer need.

Sharing the Space with Other Guests

Because the fax and scanner live in a shared part of the house, a little bit of arvo courtesy goes a long way. Try to keep your sessions short, especially during the early morning window when parents are printing school enrolment forms, or during the late afternoon rush before the kitchen fills up for dinner. If you have a big job, leave a quick note on the office door with the time you expect to be done so others can plan around you.

Keep the noise down and avoid speakerphone calls, since the walls are thinner than they look and someone next door might be catching up on sleep after a long day at the hospital. The recycling bin is for scrap drafts only, not for personal letters or anything with medical details on it; use the shredder instead. If you run out of toner or paper, let the front desk know straight away so they can restock before the next guest needs it.

Children are welcome in the house but should be supervised in the office area, partly because the equipment is expensive to repair and partly because confidential paperwork from other families might be sitting in the output tray. The playroom down the hall is a better spot for little ones while you sort out a tricky multi-page fax, and volunteers are usually happy to keep an eye on them for a few minutes.

Sorting Out Problems and Getting Help

Most things go smoothly, but occasionally a fax line drops mid-send, a paper jam catches you out, or the scanner refuses a dodgy old document. The good news is that none of these are deal breakers, and the staff have seen them all before. The volunteer on duty will happily clear a jam, restart the machine, or talk you through an error code so you do not have to battle it alone.

If your fax is urgent and the house machine is playing up, the front desk can point you towards a backup option at the hospital admin building, only a short stroll across the car park. For everything else, leave a note on the office whiteboard with the time and a brief description, so the next volunteer knows to give the machine a once-over before the morning rush.

Before you head back to Australia, spend ten minutes tidying your personal paperwork and shredding anything you no longer need, so the next family has a clean slate. If the fax and scanner made your stay easier and you want to help keep them running, a small donation goes a long way, and there are easy ways to chip in online or via the front desk. Take a look at supporting families overseas to see how volunteers and donors keep both houses welcoming for the next wave of Aussie guests.