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Published: September 13th 2009
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The past few days I have been in Western Denmark, aka Jylland again. I got a really bad head cold the day before we left, which was highly unfortunate, but I survived. We left Copenhagen at 7am in the coolest bus i have ever seen. This bus was like a space bus, it had blue track lighting, a full bar in the back with a Heineken tap, like 10 TVs, reclining seats...it was AWESOME. (all the other groups got normal charter buses) So we drove over the Great Belt Bridge which connects Sealand and the island of Fyn. In Fyn we had an academic visit at the Svendborg Syghus...the hospital in Svenborg. Here we learned a bit about the hospitals role in the Danish healthcare system (quite different from the U.S.) and about telemedicine. We got to watch one of the nurses give a consultation over telemedicine to a cute old man who had COPD.
Then we drove to Rødding and visited the Rødding Lӕgehus which is the general practitioners office. Here we learned more about GPs in Denmark and their role and were able to ask lots of questions about how they feel about the healthcare in Denmark compared
to the U.S. and what they like and dislike about their positions. One of the GPs does a lot of acupuncture, and so he stuck an acupuncture pin in my hand so I could see the effects they had, it was weird feeling.
After we were done at the GP clinic, we walked over to the Rødding Højskole, which is literally a folk highschool. This one was the first folk highschool in Denmark, and it is where we spent the night. 30 Danish and eastern European students were currently studying and staying there. These folk high schools were originally built to educate the adult rural population in Denmark. Today they are used for people typically between 18 and 25 who finished Gymnasium (highschool) and don't yet want to go to University. At the folk high school they take classes together, but have no tests or homework or grades. The purpose is to give the students the opportunity to learn about whatever they through that, find themseleves and their place in the world. Most students only stay at a folk highschool for a semester. It is a really interesting system, and a lot of Danes participate in them.
We had
Odense
Downtown where we ate dinner dinner with the folk highschool students, and afterwards played a danish version of dodgeball in the gym. After dodgeball we had coffee and cake with the students and sang songs, and then we all went out to a bar in town.
In the morning we ate breakfast and took off for Region Syddanmark (Region South Denmark) The region covers 22 municipalities, and plays a big role in the decisions of healthcare. One of their top responsibilities is to decide where to place hospitals throughout the region, and what services to offer at each. This was our last academic visit, which we were all very thankful for.
Next up: Danfoss Universe
Danfoss Universe is a giant hands-on science museum. Here we were set free for a few hours to play. They had a segway obsticle course where me and my little gang spent like 20 minutes because nobody was in line behind us. I now feel very comfortable on a segway :D There was also a building of digital technology of the future, as well as a building dedicated to the effects of global warming and what the world could look like if it continues at the rate it
is now. There was a lightning room too!
That night we stayed at a nice hostel in Sønderborg and we were treated to a nice dinner downtown. After dinner a group of us wandered around town and ended up finding a huge concert in a square where this band called "Johnny Deluxe" was playing. We had no idea who he was, but EVERYBODY in the square was going crazy for him, so we joined in and jumped around. Later we found out it is like one of the most popular bands in Denmark.
Saturday we went to Egeskov Castle where the Count and Countess live. Half of it is open to the public, including lots of gardens, mazes, and cafes. Then we drove into the town of Odense which is where Hans Christian Anderson is from, and saw his house, and ate lunch at "The Ugly Duckling" then we walked to a square where there was something called "Robodays" which was basically a bunch of exhibits of robots and interactive things. It was really interesting what some of the robots could do.
Anyways, I realize that was an incredibly detailed account of my trip, but it was a great
time, and I got to know the students in my Healthcare in Northern Denmark class very well, so class from here on out should be a lot more fun.
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