Just before the summer holidays, a large part of the ECDT team - PhD students and staff - enjoyed a number of days together, in a holiday home on the Zeeland coast, to further build the team, make joint plans, and work together to write papers. In addition, the entire team was warmly welcomed by the SVRZ Ter Schorre in Terneuzen, where director Dirk De Korne and his team took us through the challenges for healthcare in the Zeeland region, with its rapidly aging population and the rapidly growing shortage of healthcare workers.
We talked about the different forms of intramural and extramural care and the needs of people with dementia. We also discussed the technological innovations that are used at SVRZ to increase quality of life, but also to improve efficiency of staff deployment and quality of work. In addition, some of the many ethical considerations that may arise surrounding the care of people with dementia were discussed, for example around privacy and the use of sensors, freedom of movement in the context of the much-discussed Living Circles, and self-management of people with dementia.
The days in Zeeland flew by, with coaching and writing sessions, joint consultations, but also cooking and eating together (Wijnand is still recovering from the green peppers in Rucha's dish), swimming in the Zeeland waters, games, and walks with Hannah , Minha's ECDT dog who viewed us all from a philosophical distance. A pleasant and inspiring environment - away from daily obligations - where we got to know each other better and were able to work with concentration.