Blog moved

Hey everyone!

My blog moved a couple of weeks ago. It's now located at: http://chaurica.tumblr.com/

It allows me for prettier and more different types of posts. It's really surged me to show more of what I'm actually doing on a daily to weekly basis. Hope you join me there!

Team growth

So, it's been a while. Sorry for that. It's been incredibly busy at work.

The talk for the CEO's I wrote about last time went really well and I heard that there is about 30 other organizations in the country that will be starting to work with the cliëntkompas or Omaha system next year as well. It will be the main digital patient file for district nurses in  the country. They signed a contract for it, and I'm very happy to have helped accomplish it.

Important things

Later today I will be telling a whole bunch of managers, CEO's and other likewise important people about the new digital client file system we work with both at Buurtzorg and at Amstelring. About how we have worked to implement it and what it means for us as nurses to work with it and use it in our every day work. 

New beginnings

Next Tuesday will be the last day I work at Buurtzorg. Last week and this week I have been busy telling all my clients, dividing all my tasks and clients among my colleagues. And we're planning a good bye lunch.

It's still a weird feeling though, to leave everything I know behind and start all over. All that networking that I've done the last three years will be mostly useless.

But I also have grown a lot as well the last three years. One of my clients told me when I told her: " Oh you came in so quiet and now you're yourself and talkative. I really hope you have fun in your new job and will be able to hang on to the way you're working now."  I really didn't expect her to say something like that, so that took me by surprise but she is right.

Today I was for the last time at one of my clients. They were so happy with the way I delivered the care that they gave me a little good bye present. And his ex-wife gave me a hug and told me to let them know how I was getting on. I so didn't expect that, but all this has given me such a confidence boost!

Last Wednesday I did my first day at the new team already and it's so cool! I'm really looking forward to really kicking into gear there!

Big changes

Well it's been a while, but in all honesty that is because once again there was not much to tell. Over the past few months I have been getting the occasional message from Karen and James with questions and updates about how they are doing in Cornwall. Still not too well sadly as it's still very difficult to get funding. But they are still working on it and last I heard there is quite some interest in district nurses working the way we do. So that is something right?!

As for myself I have been contacted by an old colleague. Aenne worked for Buurtzorg many years and had to leave sadly last November, since then she has been working for this other company, Amstelring. Since a few years their nurses have been educated and retrained to work in a similar way as we do at Buurtzorg. Before that they worked like any other old large healthcare organisation. Now you can barely see a difference, if anything they do better because they have been able to look at how Buurtzorg did things and improve on that.

In January Aenne contacted me, their nurses were going to use the same electronical patientfile system that we already used at Buurtzorg and she wanted me to teach their nurses! So I started on my spare Fridays and the more I did the more they wanted me to do and the more did I want to do for them. I love training and teaching so this is quite a fun experience for me!

However it started to become a bit much to work for two organisations all this time. In May I accepted Amstelring's offer to work two days instead of one, meaning I am now working 5 days a week. 3 at my team at Buurtzorg and 2 at Amstelring teaching. But with the weekend and other irregular shifts at Buurtzorg that means I need to work quite a lot of days in a row quite often. So a couple of weeks ago I started looking into their offers to work for them full time. And the end result is that I will sadly stop working for Buurtzorg per the 1st of August.

It is most certainly a bit sad too, leaving my colleagues behind. They taught me so much there and I am so grateful for that!! But it is also very exciting to see what I will be able to do with what they taught me. And I know that for me this is absolutely the best choice right now.
At Amstelring I will become part of one or two starting teams so I will be able to use my experience of already working in a self managing team to help them set up and get going.

Quiet

It's been a while again since my last blog, but then there's been very little to write about. Everything is going on very nice and steady.

Enthousiasm!

It's been a little while. But after beating a major cold and a busy couple of weeks at work I finally have some time to make a post again.
About three weeks ago Karen and James came by. They are a nurse and a GP from Cornwall and super enthousiast about setting up something in their local area. Something that resembles Buurtzorg.

James, Jos and Karen busy talking

Preparations

It's been busy the last few weeks. Dan's pc broke the other night, so he currently doesn't have any sound on his pc, and his skype got hacked we think. So that's all a little frustrating.

New hope

Well, there might be some hope after all, maybe. Last week I got contacted by a district nurse from Cornwall.

Waste of time

Well, it certainly feels like I wasted a lot of time, energy and efforts with all this. Setting up Buurtzorg in England like it is in the Netherlands will not be possible. Main reason: the NHS..

British visitors

Well, it's been a while, but that's mainly because I've been quite busy. First Sue came over and we had a lovely couple of days together. We visited the zoo and spend a lot of time out and about in the city.

Catch up

Well, it's been a while since my last post. And for the biggest part of the time nothing much of interest happened. However in the last few weeks some quite interesting stuff happened. So join me on this awesome adventure!

First about two to three months ago my colleague suggested I talk with my boss about starting up a Buurtzorg like company in the UK. So I did, because working in a hospital is just nothing for me.. It sounds interesting to do all the awesome crazy difficult stuff, but there is such a gap in the care for the elderly people. And I do very much enjoy and feel like I make a difference here. So while working in a hospital could be cool, I don't actually see myself do that again. The pressure from colleagues, time and doctors is just nothing for me.

Basically my boss (Jos de Blok) said that there is interested parties in the UK, but he needs someone to actually set stuff up. So I asked my colleague (Aenne) for help, because I wasn't sure where to start. So she started me off a bit and continuously carries on to support me as well. Mainly by helping with a lot of connections and networking. Which is very awesome :D

So a couple of weeks ago Aenne contacted me that the BBC had contacted Buurtzorg because they wanted to go with one of our district nurses and do an interview with them as well. She asked if I wanted to do that. And of course I did! I regretted it a bit in the morning of the interview because I was just that nervous! But in the end I really enjoyed it!
I got interviewed by Adam Brimelow and I took him with me to one of our clients as well. The day was really cool and ended up being really relaxed, even though I was very nervous in the morning. I also met Jos for the first time, but luckily he wasn't there for the interview itself! Imagine your boss sitting next to you while doing a radio interview.. So scary!
He also took some pictures and told me there would be an internet article about it as well. He also gave me his business card and said to me that when we were setting up a similar company in the UK he'd love to interview me again about that.

And, a couple of weeks ago, on the 27th of May the piece aired and the article got aired on the Health section of BBC news. Sadly the radio piece is only able to be listened too for about a week, so that is now not possible to listen to any more :( However, I do have the article :D
The radio interview was only about 5 minutes long and I was on for about 2 of those 5 minutes. It was really short and quick, but I got so many positive reactions! So many people said they wanted to hear more, so luckily there is the article, that goes a bit more in depth about the whole story! So, here is the article. It's not just about me or Buurtzorg, it's actually about the way we do our district nursing here. It includes Radio Steunkous, a radio station organized by Buurtzorg nurses and and also some notes from one of the biggest health insurance companies in the country.

I didn't even know of this article until yesterday, because I got another email from Aenne asking me if I would be okay with taking a Scottish district nurse with me for a couple of days. She had emailed our company saying she read the article and wanted to see how we manage and deliver care by going with one of Buurtzorg's district nurses. And of course I said I would do it. I don't really care that it's a nurse from Scotland instead of England, at the end of the day it's all in the UK and if something kicks off in Scotland due to it it's only positive sounds and promotion for the rest of the UK as well!

And the last note for today is that in July there will be two guys coming over from the UK. They work for a company that wants to help us set up. So I have already written down some questions for them and it will be really cool to see what they want and what they can offer!

Zoey

 Well, it's been a while since the last blog. Mainly because we've been really busy with all kinds of stuff. From moving in the house to building two awesome new pc's. But also we've got a cat now!!

And for all you people interested in some kitty pictures I've selected a couple and put them up here.
Get ready to meet Zoey!

First of some pictures from the very early beginnings. The picture at the top is on the day that she arrived. The same day she went on our laps to sleep and even slept with us on the bed that night. It was the only night that happened so far!

And on the side is Zoey laying on the bed with Dan. She nodded off for a bit as well, but she was mainly just looking at what shenanigans I was doing with the camera.

 Then it really became summer in the Netherlands with temperatures of up to 35 degrees Celsius. And after Zoey had gotten all of her vaccinations she was allowed on the balcony and had a whole new space to investigate. This resulted in some chilling with us in the sunshine.

The sunshine also made it very easy for me to grow some catgrass. The tub below I grew in a weekend! And there's still some left of it. She absolutely loved and loves it!

Zoey likes to sit, play, sleep and live on the desks a lot. We use the pc's a lot and she loves being close to us. So when we put a hoodie or  something else on the desk this is a fantastic new toy. And she loves to hide.

And then she started to venture to places she shouldn't go, the counter, fridge and bookshelves. Also her old scratch-post started to go a tad bit wonky. So we got her a new one. It's only a tiny one, honest!

Well, okay it's not. But it's still only one corner of the house that's for the cat, the rest is ours. And she absolutely loves it. She sleeps and plays on it. And most importantly she uses this instead of our furniture to scratch.

She still loves to sit on our desks and the closer the better. While I'm writing this she's gone from sitting in front of Dan's monitor to sitting in front of mine and even laying between my keyboard and monitor. But she also loves to lay on my mouse-pad. So much even that I couldn't use it or my mouse any more. So I bought a bigger one. And as you can see, she still loves to lay on it and take it completely over.

She also loves hiding! In the most unconventional places if possible. So in the sofa is a good contender! We actually lost her the first time she did that. She was completely under the blanket that's on there.

Moved!

Well, we've moved most of our stuff now. Just the dinner table, clothes closets and the bottoms of the beds left at the old place. Which was sadly due to running out of time :(

And of the beds we do have the matrasses but well the sofabed is quite comfortable as well.. We have kind of nested in it for the moment while watching tv :) As seen on the picture below. More pictures will follow soon when I can find the camera and batteries back :p

Keys!

Well, today we've gotten the keys to our new apartment! I'm soooo happy!! I was until now constantly expecting something to go sideways still.. But no, it's really ours! :D
So, here come the promised pictures!

This is as we just got the place. So it's nothing too fantastic yet, but very good for it's age as it's not too young any more! From 1979 to be exact, so ten years older than me! :P

So, at the top at the left is the front door and at the top at the right is the outside. Nothing too special about that though.

The one on the right is the kitchen, with room for a gas stove, and a proper vent too :) The empty space on the left is for a fridge, but we're not sure ours is going to fit due to the heater and it's pipes just straight in front of the door..

The one on the left is the rest of the living room, no idea who came up with the colour scheme by the way, but they do not have taste if you ask me... Baby blue and light green?... No thanks :P So the green walls will end up white-ish later :)

Then on the right is the bedroom, very spacious :) Will have plenty of room for our stuff, and we'll be able to walk around the bed! How luxurious will that be!
Below is the other side of the bedroom, again the green and blue :s ... It also has a door straight to the bathroom from the bedroom as well as from the hallway.

Next up, the bathroom. Very nice. Could do with some more storage room though, but that will come over time :) It's got a connection for a washing machine, which I think is just plain awesome! On the picture to the left the connection fall just off it. But once I get the washer in I'll take another picture anyways :)
The washer is actually a birthday present of my parents, complete surprise! We also have a bath now! That is going to be nice now and then :)

Then we also have a nice little balcony :) It's pretty much completely out of the wind, but will get sun most of the day :) It wasn't a sunny day today though, so that will have to wait a little bit for now.

Then the view of the balcon is just FANTASTIC! As said, it wasn't a clear day, so we'll have to redo these pictures again on a clear day, because you can see nearly twice as far then! But due to being on the 7th floor, we can see pretty much all of the south of Diemen. The pictures are arranged as the view is. The first picture is when you look to the right, the middle one when you look ahead and the last one when you look to the left. All standing from our balcony.

We also can't wait to take some pictures at night, as we can imagine this will look absolutely fantastic then as well!

I have no pictures of it, but we've got some ground floor storage space as well. When you enter it's like soooo odd, it's almost a building change. It is small and damp and the numbering is all over the place. So, Dan and I have started to dub those the catacombs from now on, as even the guy from the estate agent didn't know where our storage box was. So we all ended up just running around down there, just about not getting lost :P

Either way, this is all I've got for now. I will keep on posting as we continue to work in the place and move in over the next couple of weeks.

Got it!!

We have got it! The new apartment! It be ours!!
I'm signing the contract on Friday, and then a week later, we can move in :)
I'm so incredibly happy we did! It is a shame it means we won't be moving to England for at least another year, but I really don't mind that right now :)

Obviously pictures will follow :)

Housing update

Today I've had contact with the estate agent again. They don't know yet when they will hear something. They are hoping to hear something today or tomorrow, but they are not sure if they will..
So we will just carry on doing what we've done before and the only thing we can do.. Wait.. And try to not get too hyped up..

In the mean time I've continued with trying to get another place. Reacted on a couple more decent places but it's really difficult and expensive most of the time :(
Sometimes so much that single rooms go for more money than this appartment does.. That is more then € 500 for a room and then you have to share the livingroom, bathroom, toilet and kitchen..

The other thing I've noticed is that it seems like it's calming down.. Since we have viewed this appartment it seems like there is less places offered then before we viewed.. With the very big possibility that we don't get this apartment I have continued to look just as much as before the viewing, so I don't think thats the issue

Viewing

Well, last Friday we've had a viewing... together with about 30 other people..... But it's a very nice apartment, and I still fit all the requirements, so that is nice. Today I've filled in all the forms and I hope that we'll get something from this because this apartment is just IT! It looks nice, is the right size and the right price!

Sadly it was so busy I haven't been able to take any pictures but it's got a very nice floor in and some wallpaper on the wall that isn't too great (light green and light blue) but it's wallpaper anyways. It's got a nice little balcony that's pretty much entirely out of the wind and rain so for good use. And because it's on the 7th floor it's got an AMAZING view! It's got a bedroom with an actual door in it and a bathroom with a bath and the connection for an actual washing machine! That would be heaven! :D The kitchen is an open kitchen and has plenty of storage room and room for our current fridge and stove.

It's all nothing special, but so much better then what we've got now :) So hoping and praying that we get the place! :)

Just a short update

I figured I would post a little update on how things are going :)

I'm currently corresponding about at least four apartments, all pre-furnished and on the west side of Amsterdam. Would be cool if I could get something on that side as it's the side my work is on. Depending on the amount of furnishings we might have to put some of our stuff in storage but with some luck and cleaning up it won't be too much :)

The biggest question about all of these apartments is whether they will allow us to live in it together as they are meant for one person. But of course as soon as I know something more I'll post mor again ;)

Edit: I looked more into the four apartments I was going on about and it turns out the emailaddress I have been given is owned by a scammer.. So that won't do..

Snow!

Well, it's been quite a while since I wrote anything. But I have to start at some point again. I will try to keep it to a weekly or two weekly posting.

So far we still don't have a place in Amsterdam, and due to that the moving to England has been postponed. The other thing to that is that I've still not passed my driving test, so that makes moving to England a lot more difficult as well. For the driving test I'm going to change driving school as my old instructor was not a very nice person and not teaching me much any more :(

Also it has snowed today!! This fell in a little over 3 hours...