What a trip!!!

Wow! What a trip! It was a whirlwind of a week, but a great one none the less! I have learned so much, seen so much, and been influenced and changed because of all that I have seen and done!!!

Thanks, Lindsay, for letting tag along for a great adventure!!!

and of course... a few last pictures of our trip!

1- Lindsay in Gronigen on Sunday evening.

2- Amsterdam-- Specifically Dam Square, which is where our hotel was. We were only there for about 14 hours. So we did not really see any of the city since we did not get to town until about 7pm. But... at least we stayed in a great location and could have dinner at one of the cafes on the square!

3- Lindsay and I in Gronigen... same time she was having her coffee above :) (probably should have taken my glasses off.... oh well. too late now!)

Gronigen Day 2

Today was my last full day in Europe on this adventure. Our day was a busy one, but a very good one and we learned and saw sooooo much! Today we spent our entire day (930am to 430pm) at Martini Hospital in Gronigen.

Martini was the only hospital we visited that we actually had a positive response from. Lindsay had been in contact with Atti, the head neurology nurse. Atti was a wonderful lady, who was so sweet and so eager to help us. Atti set up a whole day that included meeting with her to see how the neurology unit worked/operated, a meeting with the building construction manger, a meeting with infection control, and then a tour of the entire facility.

We were able to see and learn so much that will be wonderfully valuable for both my research as well as Lindsay's research on the semi-private patient room. Martini is such a different hospital from any hospital I have ever seen in the US. The attention to the life cycle of the building, design of the exterior, views to nature and access to natural light, as well as the overall design of the facility was incredible. I think American health care designers could learn a lot from European designers and hospitals like Martini.

Here are a few pictures from our day at Martini!

1- "Famous" facade of Martini Hospital. This is the southeast facade that has a double skin facade where there is the facade of the building and a second glass facade about 24" out from that. The glass acts as a sound barrier as there is a busy road there, but also acts as a heat gain controller. During the summer (like when were there) the censors open rows of the glass skin when the temperature between glass and building gets to 21 degrees C. That creates a stack-effect ventilation where the hot air rises, drawing cool air up along the face of the building cooling the building. During the cold winter months, the glass facade helps keep the building heated and warm!

2- Here you can see where the glass opens to allow the double skin facade to vent.

3- One of the foot traffic areas where visitors and hospital staff can go from one side of the building to the other. The glass windows on the left of this picture look out to the court yard that is created by the two connected wings of the building.

3- The walls in the hospital are all wall systems that are easily movable and changeable should the building use ever change. They are also magnetic (yet dont feel like metal) which allows patients to display all of their cards and what not.

4- The main entrance of the hospital (at the end of the road). I love that the Dutch ride their bikes everywhere!!!

5- Typical 4 bed room. The typical unit in Martini is comprised of 32 beds-8 private patient rooms, 4 4-bed rooms and 4 2-bed rooms. The boom with the screen on it at the top of the picture is actually for entertainment. Each patient has their own entertainment screen and telephone.

6- Typical private patient room.

7- The workers from the lab use scooters to get around the facility (which is HUGE) and has over 500 in-patient beds plus houses outpatient doctors unit as well as outpatient oncology!

Gronigen

Hey Everyone!

Today has been a somewhat boring day.... we mainly just traveled. We work up this morning in Deventer, packed and headed to the train station. We caught the train from Deventer to Zwolle and then Zwolle to Gronigen. We got to Gronigen about 1pm and took a taxi from the train station to our hotel. Our room was not quite ready, so we sat in the sun room at the hotel and waited for about 30mins for them to finish in our room. Once it was ready, we freshened up a bit and then headed out to find lunch! We had lunch at another little street cafe. I had a great sandwich with some sort of ham, goat cheese and marinated tomatoes. It was SOOO good! After lunch we walked around town. Gronigen is similar to Deventer except a bit bigger. It is probably about the size of Greenville or Columbia. This evening we walked around a bit more and then stopped at one of the cafes for a soda. All of the stores are closed (maybe because it is Sunday... we are not sure as most stores in Deventer were open this morning when we left). So, we have come back to the hotel. We will probably watch a movie or something.
Tomorrow we will be at Martini Hospital all day. They have been so gracious as to set up tours for us of the facility as well as meetings with different departments. It should be an interesting day! After we finish at the hospital tomorrow afternoon, we will catch the train back to Amsterdam. We will spend the night in Amsterdam and then catch a plane back to London. From London, I will immediately catch a plane back to the States, but Lindsay will remain in London for a few more days!

It has been a great trip and I have loved seeing these places and being in Europe. However, I am very excited to be going home as well! I am ready for a home cooked meal, being at home, sleeping in my bed. Plus I am really excited about this semester and what the future holds!

Today may be my last post for a few days... I am not sure what tomorrow's schedule will hold as we will be leaving Gronigen around 530 or 6 and then wont get Amsterdam until about 8.... so I will update with more pictures and more stuff, but it will probably be when I get back to the US!