After 20 years of living and working in Belgium, we still wanted to change location. I became an Anesthetist in Antwerp and then went through a nice career at the University Hospital Antwerp. Still, I wanted to work differently and preferably back to a smaller, well-organized structure. And that's how Autun came our way. A place on the countryside with the amenities of a city (you). A small hospital working according to an organizational structure that is not known in Belgium or the Netherlands and an ok equipped with the same equipment with which I already worked in Belgium. A management that exuded a lot of energy and ambition was hopeful about possible future developments.
In the meantime, I have only been working here for almost four months. Of course it takes a lot of getting used to. Everything is different, habits and routines are very different. Of course communication does not always go very smoothly and initially you miss a lot more information from your environment than you initially could have estimated. But the welcome and support is more than cordial.
I am and am helped on all sides, even patients assist you in the process of integration. Getting used to it is the very extensive administrative obligations and the digital support that is absent in my center.
Hard work is certain and the waiting weeks do not go down for the Belgian in working hours. Yet the work stress is much lower.
In addition, there is of course the bonus of living in the "Burgundian" environment. In all respects a relief after the increasingly hectic western European life where people give each other less and less space. For as yet it seems that commuting is still on a holiday trip and that also applies to the activities that you still have time for after work.
After four months in the Morvan I am far from used to everything and the work is far from routine and routine. Fortunately, I have never regretted this change of course.
Pieter ten Broecke.