In the Maxima Medical Center (MMC), 25 stewardesses from KLM and Transavia, among others, are helping the patients.
They help out the medical staffs doing all kinds of odd jobs. They replenish materials, help bring the patients to the right place and also bring food and drinks around. “It took us some time to get used to this,” says Femke van Stipdonk, nurse at the Acute Admission Department (AOA) of the MMC. “We had to find out what we could and could not let the stewardesses do. Fortunately, you soon find your rhythm to work together”.
Stewardess Mariëlle Mulders is normally on flight duty full-time: “Of course, there’re a lot less flights now. I wanted to do something useful with the time that remains. The time I’m not in the air, I spend here now. I like it very much that I can be an added value here”.
In addition to the odd jobs, there is huge added value, especially in terms of giving extra attention to the patients. “What I especially like is that I now know for sure that the patients can get all the attention they need,” says Van Stipdonk. “When a department like this gets busy, it’s very difficult to give extra attention to the patients. You’re then more concerned with all the medical procedures.”
Mulders says that it is precisely the social activities she does in the hospital that are comparable to what she otherwise does in the flight. “Create a nice atmosphere, have a chat, give attention, put people at ease. Those are also the things I do on a flight. I notice that such a moment is also nice for the patients. You can bring the thoughts of such a patient to something completely different.”.
The stewardesses are working in the hospital until the end of this year, with the prospect of an extension till 2021.
Source: www.studio040.nl
Translation: Chaitali Sengupta, who gives online INBURGERING classes.
