Dutch Health Care Professionals Visit Northern Westchester Hospital
to Learn About Patient-Centered Care

A group of approximately 20 health care professionals from the Netherlands visited Northern Westchester Hospital (NWH) in Mount Kisco on May 11 as part of a "Learning Journey" to the United States to learn more about Planetree patient-centered care. The goal is to take what they've learned back to their country and implement it in their health care facilities. It was the group's fourth visit to NWH and other Planetree hospitals in the region over the past year-and-a-half.

NWH, which has long been noted for its high quality of medical care, was one of the first five hospitals in the country to become a "Designated Planetree Patient-Centered Hospital" in 2007. Planetree is a not-for-profit organization that is in the forefront of the movement to transform healthcare to the perspective of the patient. Requirements for Planetree designation include: access to information, family involvement, nutrition, a healing environment, arts and entertainment, massage and caring touch, spirituality and diversity and integrative therapies.

This latest group of Dutch health care professionals, including a doctor, nurses, and hospital administrators, sat in on a presentation that provided an overview of NWH's "Planetree initiatives" and took part in a discussion on how the Hospital started its patient-centered care program and how it engages its physicians, staff, and volunteers in the practice. The group then toured various parts of the Hospital including the Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center, the neonatal intensive care unit, Women's Imaging and the Ken Hamilton Caregivers Center.

The Netherlands contingent is the furthest traveling group to visit NWH to learn about its Planetree program. NWH has also hosted visitors from Canada and other parts of the U.S. 

"We are honored to be considered a premier destination for those looking to learn more about patient-centered care," said Maria Hale, NWH's vice president of Patient Advocacy & Patient Centered Support Services. "We are happy to be able to open up our Hospital to health care professionals from around the world who are interested in learning about Planetree and enhancing the patient and family centered culture in their hospitals."

Marcel Snijders, founder and director of Planetree Netherlands, is one of the people responsible for the way Planetree and patient centered approaches develop at hospitals in his country. He accompanied this latest group to NWH and said that roughly 100 health care professionals from several hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other health care organizations in the Netherlands have previously participated in these visits. Snijders said that more than half of the Dutch health care professionals who have participated in the Planetree Learning Journeys go on to implement the program in their hospitals.

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