On leaving places, and being home.

Here, on my last day with SveDem and the Karolinska Institutet, it is foggy.  All of the Swedes I talk to gaze longingly out the window at the fog and say, “winter is coming.”

Although I experienced some snow in Sweden, I won’t experience the near eternal darkness with only 2 hours of sunlight during the winter.  I think I’m okay with that for now.  I’ve enjoyed some of the loveliest weather during the past six weeks and have thoroughly enjoyed working with the researchers here in Sweden. 

I’ve gotten to know Stockholm, and I know now that I will forever be at home here.   I will certainly leave a piece of my heart here.  I looked back on my post from August 21^st, when I left Cleveland, and all of the things I wrote about, hoping that I would find a home here.

I did.   

Today, I realize just how lucky I am to call myself a Brueggeman Fellow, and I get to look back to see how much I have learned and changed.  I have a very full journal that has a chronicle of my adventures, and all of the fears, joys, challenges and exciting times I experienced here.

I have so much new knowledge about Sweden’s healthcare system and a growing curiosity about the issues surrounding aging in our world. 

While preparing the presentation I will be giving today at SveDem’s staff meeting I ask myself “Am I qualified to ask these questions?”  Here I am, a new college graduate who is simply curious about how the world works and I got to come here to Sweden to see for myself! 

There are not enough words to express my gratitude to the Brueggman Center for Dialogue for honoring me with this experience, my family and friends for their everlasting support, and the researchers and practitioners here in Stockholm who have taught me so much in just six weeks.  Last, but not least, thank you to my readers, for following along on my adventures. 

Fråga mig om SveDem!

Hej då från Sverige!

What a day!

Let me tell you about my day. 

Can I tell you about my day?

I’m going to tell you about my day.

Quite simply, it was one of the best days I’ve spent here in Stockholm. 

It was cold and rainy.  But that was okay.  I had an early meeting 9am in Drottningholm (Queen’s Island) at a place called Silviahemmet. (Conveniently located just across the street from the Royal Palace!)

In 1996, Her Majesty the Queen of Sweden founded Silviahemmet, a non-profit foundation focusing on educating professionals and on delivering day-care within the area of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

All work of Silviahemmet is based on the Palliative Care Approach.  It involves an active, total care of patients whose disease is not treatable.  The Palliative Care Approach includes control of pain, of other symptoms and of psychological, social and spiritual problems.  The goal is to achieve the best quality of life for the ill person as well as his or her close family.

Now, when I read that, I got excited deep in my heart.  Over the summer I read several books by Dr. Ira Byock, a Palliative Care Physician in the U.S. and fell in love with his way of thinking and his recommendations for how to live better in order to die well.  (See my reading list on the right side of my page for the books I read!)

This organization combines holistic care with palliative care, two very excellent care models and gives personal attention to each guest.  That is the kind of care I want to be a part of. 

Learning about Silviahemmet and their use of the Palliative Care Approach really inspired me.  It made me want to go through the trainings they offer for nurses, OT’s and PT’s.  It made me want to use their model in the U.S.  It gave me hope that holistic care is possible and that Palliative care can be active.

Oh my goodness. I could go on for days about how exciting that meeting was, but I’ve still got to process it myself. 

Along with most of this trip.  Today was another day when I couldn’t believe how lucky I am to be here in Sweden.  I stopped by the Royal Palace before meeting a friend from Switzerland for lunch, and despite the rain, it was lovely.  There are some really well trimmed hedges in the gardens on Drottningholm.

I walked around downtown Stockholm after lunch and on my way home I noticed a guy in full UF Oiler’s gear.  I recognized it immediately and hesitantly asked if he went to the University of Findlay.  HE HAD.  Oh my gosh.  Here, 4000 miles from home, I found a person who knew a small town in Ohio just like me.  We talked until our train came and the entire ride to our stops. 

This meeting made both of our days.  It’s funny how small the world can be sometimes!

(Thanks to those of you that have been following along on my adventures – my blog has almost 1000 views, which means that someone has been listening to my ranting about Alzheimer’s.  Thank you for listening, thank you for being interested, and most of all, thank you for your support!)

Hej då från Sverige!

Still learning.

I am still learning so much.  Today I started the last week of work with SveDem and Karoliska Institutet.  Wow. I can’t believe six weeks could go so fast and so slow at the same time.

Today was SveDem’s Annual Meeting, which I attended and listened SO hard to try and understand what was going on.  I figured out that I understand Swedish when there are pictures associated with the words.  Context gives you hints!  I won’t be fluent in Swedish when I come home, but I’ll know some, although my vocabulary will be a lot of medical words, and mostly to do with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.  

I went to a fika last night, and went a little early to try and find my way around T-Centralen – it’s huge, and I’m always lost. I was wandering around Drottninggatan and I found where I was my very first day in Sweden.  I stood on a street corner looking at a coffee shop thinking back to when I had just entered the city.  I remember all of the hesitance and the anxiety and how small and unprepared I felt.  I stood there yesterday feeling completely different, feeling sure of where I was and how to get around, and all in all, about six weeks older.

My life has changed drastically. I’ve met people and experienced things that no one will experience the way I have.  I’ve been able to ask the questions I’ve been curious about and explored a city on my own.

Today on my way home I found a train going to Hökarängen!  (That’s where I’m living here, it’s on the green line towards Farsta Strand.) For the first time I understood why I had to get off at Hökarängen my first day and WALK to Farsta station.  For the first time I didn’t feel bad that I was so confused that day.  I was exhausted, overwhelmed and in culture shock.  Above that, I had no idea how trains worked. (I know, I know, it sounds silly, but honestly I grew up in farm country.)

All in all, I’m still learning a lot. 

Friday I visited a memory clinic in the Huddinge Sjukuset (hospital) and spoke with a Kurator (Social Worker!!) about how patients are diagnosed with AD and Dementia disorders in a specialist unit.  There were two Polish geriatricians also meeting with us and they asked some very interesting questions, and I got to learn a little bit about the Polish system as well!  

Saturday was Cinnamon Bun Day.  If you missed it, celebrate today! :)

On Sunday, I was on my way into the city on the tunnelbana and two pidgeons strolled right on down the centre aisle. I had to look twice, but they were just minding their own business, looking like they ride the train every day. 

I’ve got a busy week ahead of me, I’m visiting Silviahemmet tomorrow – a Day Care center founded by the Queen of Sweden, and I’ve still got to prepare a presentation for our staff on Friday!

Hej då från Sverige!

Gotland

Yesterday I got home from the island of Gotland, after a 3-hour ferry ride and another 1 ½ ride on two trains, plus a 15-minute walk home.  This makes me not want to have a job where I have to travel.  My perception of the public transit system is that it works really great and is very efficient, but it can’t seem to go fast enough when I just want to be home.

Gotland was a very beautiful place.  It’s UNESCO World Heritage Site capital is Visby, and it did not disappoint.  There are absolutely stunning ruins sprinkled throughout the “old town” and charming little homes built of wood packed within the 13^th century walls of this ancient trading port.

I also got to see some of the coastline and countryside, which made it feel like my coworker and I had been there for much longer than just 2 days, and made it easy to forget that we were on an island. 

Before going to the ferry to come home last night, she showed me the famous Tofta Strand (beach) as well as Pippi Longstocking’s house, and numerous herds of sheep! (They are famous for their wool.)

The farmlands and countryside of Gotland looked a lot like Ohio, which made me feel right at home, however, there were little churches and windmills sprinkled throughout the landscape, which always surprised me.

Now, I don't want you to think that I went to Gotland to sightsee, there was plenty of learning and listening involved as well!  Tuesday morning, my coworker, one of the District Coordinators for SveDem, and I met with several nurses to discuss enrolling their specialist care units in SveDem and contributing data to the registry. 

I listened SO hard to try and understand their Swedish, and try and glean some meaning from their words… but I had little luck.  I caught some words, but couldn’t grasp the overall theme of the discussion.  My coworker filled me in afterwards.

One of the nurses at the meeting was in charge of an assisted living facility/nursing home in the building, and asked if I would like a tour.  YES!

There were four wings, each with 10 residents and 3 staff members for each unit.  That is a 3:10 staff: resident ratio, which is much better than the US.  It was a beautiful place, spacious, accessible, and homey. 

I asked about the cost of living here and I got this breakdown:

Rent – 6000sek         ~$835 USD

Food – 3500sek         ~$490 USD                (these numbers are for one month)

Care – 1775sek         ~$250 USD

Total – 11,275sek     ~$1570 USD

I also learned that if one cannot pay these amounts, there is a financial planner who will work with you and figure out what you can pay.

Basically, if you can pay this, you do, but if you can’t, the government helps you out.

People are happy to pay taxes because they know that someone in need is getting the care they deserve because of their tax dollars, or tax krona. :P

Amazing.  I really like this country.

Mom, I promise I’ll come home, but perhaps this would be a nice place to grow old. They would certainly take care of me.

I spent Tuesday afternoon listening to more Swedish, but this time with OT’s and nurses from Primary Care units who were already enrolled in SveDem.   I believe this discussion was focused more on how to improve the data reporting. 

I’ll leave you with the sunset over the Baltic Sea, I scaled a 13^th century wall and waited a half hour for this beauty.

Hej då från Sverige!