With just a few more days before Christmas and with snow and minus degrees predicted I think I safely can say that the whole of Sweden will for the first time in many years have a white Christmas.
In Gävle we have had snow for nearly a week now with degrees down to -13 C. However I woke up this morning as the news on the radio told me that in Trelleborg, where my parents live and almost as south as you can get in Sweden, tanks were placed beside the ambulances ready to leave is an emergency happened. People were warned to go outside and definitve drive on the roads. Still the news showed cars on the roads, in trouble.
As the snow is still falling I guess my collegue might have a hard time to drive to work as she lives about 45 minutes drive from Gävle. I guess I should start preparing my mind that I'll be cancelling her patients first thing tomorrow morning. And that I'll be ploughing through the snow myself.
Now if I just could remember what I had booked in my calender myself ...
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Friday, 18 December 2009
kitchen update
After all the setbacks with my kitchen it has now slowly started to get going.
The kitchen itself was ordered in October and will be delivered in January, last Saturday I ordered the tiles and wallpaper (today I got a call telling me that the wallpaper has arrived), and Monday I ordered the floor and that will turn up on the 14th January.
And today – I got my new stove home.
It doesn’t fit; it’s not even supposed to fit, as the plane was that it wasn’t to be installed until the kitchen was in place. And it is not the stove I once ordered. I have learned a lot during the past months especially about stoves. The oven has got, and this I didn’t know until I looked in the instruction book, a pizza/pie function and two sorts of grill functions besides the ordinary warm air and heat function. I think my stove and I are going to have some great moments together. The fancy display the first stove had isn’t there but who cares. Just because it’s fancy doesn’t mean it’s functional, and who knows it might just have been one of those things that looks good but works like crap.
However I am happy that I did do my saffron buns Sunday as I’m sure it will take some time before my new friend Electrolux and I are on the same waveline!
The kitchen itself was ordered in October and will be delivered in January, last Saturday I ordered the tiles and wallpaper (today I got a call telling me that the wallpaper has arrived), and Monday I ordered the floor and that will turn up on the 14th January.
And today – I got my new stove home.
It doesn’t fit; it’s not even supposed to fit, as the plane was that it wasn’t to be installed until the kitchen was in place. And it is not the stove I once ordered. I have learned a lot during the past months especially about stoves. The oven has got, and this I didn’t know until I looked in the instruction book, a pizza/pie function and two sorts of grill functions besides the ordinary warm air and heat function. I think my stove and I are going to have some great moments together. The fancy display the first stove had isn’t there but who cares. Just because it’s fancy doesn’t mean it’s functional, and who knows it might just have been one of those things that looks good but works like crap.
However I am happy that I did do my saffron buns Sunday as I’m sure it will take some time before my new friend Electrolux and I are on the same waveline!
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Another step closer to my holiday in London
Hotel is booked. Flight is booked. Today I have ordered a ticket to Chelsea Flower Show on my birthday and Ritz a few days earlier. Now I think I should start to check what the theatre market has to offer – even if I’ll get most of those tickets in London. Now that sounded like I would go every evening! I do know however that if there is a very special one that I want to see it might be better to pre-order it and take a chance.
Still ....
Another day closer to my London holiday
Still ....
Another day closer to my London holiday
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Isn’t it typical?
This should normally be a very busy period at work but it’s not. I have since the 1 December only seen 17 patients (compared to normally 24) I wouldn’t say so much I guess it was so that I have now finished all the paperwork I had laying on my desk, done some inventory among the disability equipment we rent, read the magazine I had etc. it’s getting boring and the worst part is that the rest of the month don’t look any better, with one exception: I’m going to have, nearly every day, a evaluation/testing of possible dementia. Those sessions create paperwork and right now I’m happy for that!!
I guess I should try to remember today when I have more than I barging for in a few months time.
And the situation will toughen up. From the first of January a new health care system starts in Sweden, meaning that we all shall have picked a health care centre. The health care centre will get a certain sum of money, based on several things population aged being one. What the politicians have been thinking of here in Gävle I don’t know but basically it is like this that if you are young and in no need of medicinal care you have “top status” aka it’s you everyone want to have listed at the centre since you will bring money and not cost anything. Having said that you might have guessed that even if the same system “rules” over Sweden the containes is different.
My company will continue with the two health care centres they have in Gävle but the economy prognosis isn’t too good. Having said that I mean it’s not that we are going to close but we won’t expand either. Rehab is, for instance, a huge cost factor for them and we are in for some changes. As an OT there isn’t any too way to bring in some extra patient points either, instead we will have to think twice or three times before handing out equipment. We will always put our patients well being first but if it can be done with equipment that cost less but are equally good well than that’s what we have to give them. In Gävle it has for many years been so that the patients have to pay for certain things themselves. We can lend for a short period of three months and then under certain situations. These situations and the length of time have sometimes been floating but during the past year we have already started to “stiffen” things up a little and more is to come. Now everything isn’t as black as it may seem. We have lots of ideas of how we are going to extend the service to the population we serve. We are as prepared as we can get.
I’m more worried about things that I can’t do anything about. For instance has the director for the community heath care centres already declared that her health care centres will be allowed to continue as they are now, and during next year prepare for 2011. Hummm, their economy is really, really bad today. How isn’t it going to be if they don’t do anything? And it’s my tax money they are spending!! How can you compete against someone who continues spending money and give what the patient demands while we have to find solutions to the problem and perhaps suggest something equally good but not what the person wanted?
Competition- you might wonder, well in a way it is as anyone who wants and can full fill the qualifications can start a health care centre, even I. However for there are just so many people to enlist so we have to “compete” and win will be listed patients.
In a way I feel sorry for the staff. I know that we are a much better prepared here as we always have been involved and informed of our economy status and how things are/can be effected if something is done. Also we have been a slim organisation from the beginning. We are prepared and used to work in a high tempo. I still have colleagues in the community health care centres that think that 2 patients/day is OK. The demands on us are not that hard as a fulltime OT should have at least 20 patients/week (the problem now is low “input”). I think they might have a really hard wake up.
I guess I should try to remember today when I have more than I barging for in a few months time.
And the situation will toughen up. From the first of January a new health care system starts in Sweden, meaning that we all shall have picked a health care centre. The health care centre will get a certain sum of money, based on several things population aged being one. What the politicians have been thinking of here in Gävle I don’t know but basically it is like this that if you are young and in no need of medicinal care you have “top status” aka it’s you everyone want to have listed at the centre since you will bring money and not cost anything. Having said that you might have guessed that even if the same system “rules” over Sweden the containes is different.
My company will continue with the two health care centres they have in Gävle but the economy prognosis isn’t too good. Having said that I mean it’s not that we are going to close but we won’t expand either. Rehab is, for instance, a huge cost factor for them and we are in for some changes. As an OT there isn’t any too way to bring in some extra patient points either, instead we will have to think twice or three times before handing out equipment. We will always put our patients well being first but if it can be done with equipment that cost less but are equally good well than that’s what we have to give them. In Gävle it has for many years been so that the patients have to pay for certain things themselves. We can lend for a short period of three months and then under certain situations. These situations and the length of time have sometimes been floating but during the past year we have already started to “stiffen” things up a little and more is to come. Now everything isn’t as black as it may seem. We have lots of ideas of how we are going to extend the service to the population we serve. We are as prepared as we can get.
I’m more worried about things that I can’t do anything about. For instance has the director for the community heath care centres already declared that her health care centres will be allowed to continue as they are now, and during next year prepare for 2011. Hummm, their economy is really, really bad today. How isn’t it going to be if they don’t do anything? And it’s my tax money they are spending!! How can you compete against someone who continues spending money and give what the patient demands while we have to find solutions to the problem and perhaps suggest something equally good but not what the person wanted?
Competition- you might wonder, well in a way it is as anyone who wants and can full fill the qualifications can start a health care centre, even I. However for there are just so many people to enlist so we have to “compete” and win will be listed patients.
In a way I feel sorry for the staff. I know that we are a much better prepared here as we always have been involved and informed of our economy status and how things are/can be effected if something is done. Also we have been a slim organisation from the beginning. We are prepared and used to work in a high tempo. I still have colleagues in the community health care centres that think that 2 patients/day is OK. The demands on us are not that hard as a fulltime OT should have at least 20 patients/week (the problem now is low “input”). I think they might have a really hard wake up.
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Losing temper
I don’t often loose my temper. I can whine and be irritated about things but I very seldom raise my voice. Last Thursday I did that to a colleague. I can only say that she pushed me over the edge when doing something at the wrong moment.
Since our youngest colleague went home as she had her baby it has just been the two of us. My colleague’s capacity to take many patients hasn’t been very high and she has never managed to reach the amount of visits that the company has set for us. She has this year but under the steady compliment that it’s too much and that she doesn’t have the time to do things the way she wants. She has been allowed to work extra (she works part time) when she has needed. On the opposite side there is me. I admit that we are like black and white. I have during the last year taken everything that hasn’t been with in the specific areas that she has or the patient has been one of hers before.
Tuesday I talked to a person from the community’s care taker. They were having huge problems with a customer. I didn’t have a time that was suitable for the rest of the week so I booked my colleague, who had the whole afternoon free (unbooked) a few days later. Sent a notice to my colleague, as we has as a routine, to notify her about it and got the answer back that she had had other plans for that afternoon. I didn’t comment on that even if I had a very sharp one on the tip of my tongue.
Comes Thursday, my colleague goes to that patient and when she came back she told me what was needed to be done and handed over the papers to me. I snapped. In my defence I do have to say that I had received that day 3 new patients from the hospital that I had booked on me and two more from our Health Care centres. I yelled at her and grabbed the papers from her.
Later I went and talked to her and found this out:
- The patient wasn’t hers; she had just gone in and judged the means of need. I told her that with that reasoning the patient and the staff around her were to wait for help until April since the patient was our "mummy colleague's". I had during the summer talked a lot with the night patrols boss but I hadn’t met the patient for years, and then I was only there to help "mummy colleague" to lift a bed. As I saw it the patient was hers but that I now had taken care of what needed to be ordered and would do the follow up.
- She thinks I’m going to take over some of her patients which I’m not. I have said that I can help her out. I have before seen to that equipment has been ordered or sent back. This doesn’t sound as much but takes it time. And if I start taking over her patients she won’t have many left. I know that I have said that I have time over sometimes and we are not getting in very much new. This is true. In fact we don’t have enough work if all three of us were working and every woman did what she was supposed to. There isn’t any waiting list and yet it’s our full-time colleague that is home. But perhaps I'm wrong, perhaps helping out means taking over patients.
We also talked about what the company wants and I was clear to her that they won’t, in the situation that is just now, listen to what we say, they will look at what we produce and costs for it. If we don’t produce they will simply see to that more OT % disappears. We simply have to accept that it’s going to be tough at work and if we want to keep our jobs accept it and do the best we can. It’s definitive not going to be easier next year, on the contrary, it's going to be even tougher.
I know I shouldn’t have snapped/yelled but I’m not sorry that I did.
Still, I’m dreading to go to work tomorrow.
Since our youngest colleague went home as she had her baby it has just been the two of us. My colleague’s capacity to take many patients hasn’t been very high and she has never managed to reach the amount of visits that the company has set for us. She has this year but under the steady compliment that it’s too much and that she doesn’t have the time to do things the way she wants. She has been allowed to work extra (she works part time) when she has needed. On the opposite side there is me. I admit that we are like black and white. I have during the last year taken everything that hasn’t been with in the specific areas that she has or the patient has been one of hers before.
Tuesday I talked to a person from the community’s care taker. They were having huge problems with a customer. I didn’t have a time that was suitable for the rest of the week so I booked my colleague, who had the whole afternoon free (unbooked) a few days later. Sent a notice to my colleague, as we has as a routine, to notify her about it and got the answer back that she had had other plans for that afternoon. I didn’t comment on that even if I had a very sharp one on the tip of my tongue.
Comes Thursday, my colleague goes to that patient and when she came back she told me what was needed to be done and handed over the papers to me. I snapped. In my defence I do have to say that I had received that day 3 new patients from the hospital that I had booked on me and two more from our Health Care centres. I yelled at her and grabbed the papers from her.
Later I went and talked to her and found this out:
- The patient wasn’t hers; she had just gone in and judged the means of need. I told her that with that reasoning the patient and the staff around her were to wait for help until April since the patient was our "mummy colleague's". I had during the summer talked a lot with the night patrols boss but I hadn’t met the patient for years, and then I was only there to help "mummy colleague" to lift a bed. As I saw it the patient was hers but that I now had taken care of what needed to be ordered and would do the follow up.
- She thinks I’m going to take over some of her patients which I’m not. I have said that I can help her out. I have before seen to that equipment has been ordered or sent back. This doesn’t sound as much but takes it time. And if I start taking over her patients she won’t have many left. I know that I have said that I have time over sometimes and we are not getting in very much new. This is true. In fact we don’t have enough work if all three of us were working and every woman did what she was supposed to. There isn’t any waiting list and yet it’s our full-time colleague that is home. But perhaps I'm wrong, perhaps helping out means taking over patients.
We also talked about what the company wants and I was clear to her that they won’t, in the situation that is just now, listen to what we say, they will look at what we produce and costs for it. If we don’t produce they will simply see to that more OT % disappears. We simply have to accept that it’s going to be tough at work and if we want to keep our jobs accept it and do the best we can. It’s definitive not going to be easier next year, on the contrary, it's going to be even tougher.
I know I shouldn’t have snapped/yelled but I’m not sorry that I did.
Still, I’m dreading to go to work tomorrow.
Ayurveda and yoga
This weekend I have learned more about Ayurveda and yoga at a weekend course. It has been theory and practice. It has been cold! I who normally don’t want to have a blanket on me while doing Yoga Nidra or meditation have been wrapped up in a couple, plus today I took a pair of really thick socks with me. And yet I wished I could have some gloves on.
It has been very interesting and even though I have read and studied books and information on the internet since I went on the consultation I have got a new insight to the subject. I can also understand why I have had a hard time struggling with understand which kind of personality I have when a lot of things are against it. Mattias is going to e-mail us the information he has given us. I’m sure that if I can sit down I’ll understand more. Also we did get a book of him (one that I had before but never mind). I know that when I reread it I’m sure I’ll get more out of it.
It is as Mattias told me in February: I have got to much wind in my life. The imbalance means that I either blow out the fire or dry out the mud causing problems/dysfunctions in me. Also I can see why some food really isn’t for me and some is.
Now to be able to get healthier on all levels I need to start living more according to Ayurveda and avoid or at least lower the things that are nonos.
The question is: do I have the strength and energy in me to do so?
It has been very interesting and even though I have read and studied books and information on the internet since I went on the consultation I have got a new insight to the subject. I can also understand why I have had a hard time struggling with understand which kind of personality I have when a lot of things are against it. Mattias is going to e-mail us the information he has given us. I’m sure that if I can sit down I’ll understand more. Also we did get a book of him (one that I had before but never mind). I know that when I reread it I’m sure I’ll get more out of it.
It is as Mattias told me in February: I have got to much wind in my life. The imbalance means that I either blow out the fire or dry out the mud causing problems/dysfunctions in me. Also I can see why some food really isn’t for me and some is.
Now to be able to get healthier on all levels I need to start living more according to Ayurveda and avoid or at least lower the things that are nonos.
The question is: do I have the strength and energy in me to do so?
Thursday, 12 November 2009
You never know or you should never say never
I have lately done a couple things I thought I would never do.
1) I have ordered tea online! I have ordered my favourite tea that I before only have been able to find at Selfridges in London (and Düsseldorf’s airport). I knew the company had a site but I never thought that I actually would order from it. And it didn’t stop just there my dear friends in Burr Ridge are getting some coffee and teabags of my favourite tea from that company too.
2) This week I started a savings account. Now that I have done before but I have never had one with just one purpose. This one is called San Francisco 2014. The week I stayed there in 2005 was really nice but still in a way disappointing since I damaged my knee when getting off the plane. I want to go there again and when I earlier this year looked into it I realized that the cost was too high. I can travel and stay in London for 8 nights and still have lots of spending money for the cost of just hotel and plane tickets. Monday this week one of the newspaper had a Lonely planet travellers guide about San Francisco as “extra” and this made me make a decision about saving to a trip and it felt suitable to have a goal too. You see, I plan to celebrate my 50th birthday in San Francisco.
Stella update
I made the tough decision that she shall stay with my parents. I do know that she doesn’t like to go by train and I do already know there will a few trips next year. Stella seems to enjoy her stay. She makes “our” bed each day, she spends so much time in the kitchen that dad thinks she must have been a chief in an earlier life, I say she is probably just amazed that the kitchen can be used for something and that someone knows how to cook.
1) I have ordered tea online! I have ordered my favourite tea that I before only have been able to find at Selfridges in London (and Düsseldorf’s airport). I knew the company had a site but I never thought that I actually would order from it. And it didn’t stop just there my dear friends in Burr Ridge are getting some coffee and teabags of my favourite tea from that company too.
2) This week I started a savings account. Now that I have done before but I have never had one with just one purpose. This one is called San Francisco 2014. The week I stayed there in 2005 was really nice but still in a way disappointing since I damaged my knee when getting off the plane. I want to go there again and when I earlier this year looked into it I realized that the cost was too high. I can travel and stay in London for 8 nights and still have lots of spending money for the cost of just hotel and plane tickets. Monday this week one of the newspaper had a Lonely planet travellers guide about San Francisco as “extra” and this made me make a decision about saving to a trip and it felt suitable to have a goal too. You see, I plan to celebrate my 50th birthday in San Francisco.
Stella update
I made the tough decision that she shall stay with my parents. I do know that she doesn’t like to go by train and I do already know there will a few trips next year. Stella seems to enjoy her stay. She makes “our” bed each day, she spends so much time in the kitchen that dad thinks she must have been a chief in an earlier life, I say she is probably just amazed that the kitchen can be used for something and that someone knows how to cook.
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