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!