Settling in

Erratum


Whoops, sorry.  I gave completely the wrong address for the charity website in the previous post.  I have now corrected it.  It should be;
www.vfmh.org.uk
Also, sorry about all the spelling mistakes.  My spell checker has switched to Romanian which is not terribly useful.  Also, the formatting seems to have gone a bit strange this week.  No idea why, but the more I try and fix it, the worse it gets.
Snow

Romanian snow

Now that the heating in the house is working we can enjoy the weather a bit more.  The snow in Romania must be very different from that in England as it doesn't stop everything dead in its tracks.  It looks and feels just the same - Quite a mystery.


We took the shortcut walk into town which involves crossing a rather iffy bridge.  Its actually a narrow railway bridge over a river with just enough room at the side to walk across.  Because it was snowing, we assumed that no trains could possibly be running.  Mistake - we have a lot to learn about Romania. 

The path into town

You can really tell that you are in valley. The hills surround you on all sides.  Hopefully we will get out and about a bit and explore some of the surrounding countryside.

The Railway / Footbridge

'Health and Safety Gone Mad' is not a phrase that has reached Romania yet.  Long may it continue.  People just seem to get on with things. 

Look over the right shoulder of the chap in front
you can just see the train coming (whoops)

Actually the bridge is not as safe as it looks.  The pedestrian bit is only really designed for maintenance people to stand on.  It is made up of lots of seperate metal plates.  Some are missing and have been replaced by wood - the snow made it difficult to see what was safe and what wasn't.

It may only be doing 10mph, but at least its is still moving
in the snow.  Eat your heart out South Eastern Trains!

There is another route into town along a main road, but its nice to get out into the countryside a bit.  Also, this route takes you to the market which is wonderful.  More of that another time.










The Club


I wanted to write a bit about the day-to-day activities in the club.  It is a great shame that I will not be able to post any photos of patients (should I call them club members?) doing activities in the club.  Obviously I need to respect their privacy and confidentiality.

Corridor looking from the club
there is actually a lot of work
going all.  The pipework in the
ceiling will be covered

The club room is in a semi-basement along a long corridor.  It does have natural light and quite a good view of the hospital grounds.  There are three good sized tables that can seat 6 at a squeeze.  There is also a full size table tennis table - this is excellent and well used.  There are a number of cupboards and a small work surface for making coffee etc.


Patient groups are decided by senior ward staff, although our suggested groupings based on interest and ability will be considered.  A typical session starts off with a cup of coffee and some fruit for each individual.  We then ask what people would like to do.  We also provide a number of options as some people really don't know what they want to do, or are so phased out by the institutionalised life they lead that making any choice is a real mental mountain to climb.

Club Room with some of the finished art work on show

Last week we ran a themed day and set up two tables for painting projects. - Painting pots, plates, stenciling etc.

Some patients were a bit unkeen at first but then threw themselves into the activities with real gusto.  One patient said that he would happily spend all day in the club. - If only that were possible.  Patients get one hour per week.  I am beginning to understand more and more how this small amount of 'therapeutic space' is so absolutly vital for patients and absolutely must continue.

Other end of Club Room with more work on show
Kiki, Paul

Groups are arranged by Ward.  There are two 'closed' women's wards and one 'closed' men's ward.  There are also a number of 'open' patients who come to an open session which we run once per week. - I'll cover 'open' and 'closed' at a later date; it is a difficult subject. - the Wards are a difficult subject.


One of the women's groups really did not want to do the painting.  They were really keen to get their own nails done and not keen at all on getting their fingers covered in acrylic paint.  This was no problem at all.  We really want to give patients as much control over their lives as possible during the club sessions.  Little though it is, it is more than they get on the wards.

A wonderfully decorated plate

Simple stenciling - but effective

Two Romanian psychology students on placement joined us at the end of the session and really rolled their sleeves up and got stuck in.  This was lovely to see as they will be the new generation of Meantal Health Professionals in Romania and will be key in starting a new paradigm in Mental Heath practice.

A one-off original design

We have planted a bulb in one of these
and plan to present it to the Hospital
Director

One of my favorites

Assorted

Both mine and Kiki's Romanian is getting better very slowly.  By coincidence we both speak German which has been very useful as there are a number of German speaking Romanian patients (more on the Saxon towns etc at a later date).  Also, one of the security staff at the local supermarket speaks German which is great as I am sure we must look very suspicious wandering up and down the isles with handfulls of stuff off the shelves having never remembered to get a trolly.

A 'buf' Romanian Dacia with a very treasured number plate.

A very local Romaian word is 'Buf'. This is not used anywhere else in Romania and has no English equivalent.  It roughly means 'good' or 'desirable' and is considered very positive and lucky.  It can be heard all the time in the Plevnie area.

Kiki becoming too attached to Gertrude and Hans

We got home the other day and there was a man coming out of our back garden.  He made the universal sign for 'Rabbit' by wiggling his fingers over his head (although I initially mistook this and thought it was a fellow member of the Tuffty Club).  He had put two rabbits in the hutch in the garden.  Babies expected in March.  Kiki has already named them Gertrude and Hans and become fond of them.  I have a feeling that the little ones are not being bred to be family pets.  This might not end well...I will keep you posted.


Pe Curand


Paul