Training: the chair of well-being

We have welcomed the Local Healthcare Team (LOGO) as a way to collaborate in different projects about prevention and health promotion, on themes such as healthy eating, prevention of depression and suicide, and health promotion for disadvantaged people. As part of this collaboration, our psychologist has participated on December 9th, 2013 in a training session that was organised by LOGO and VIGEZ (the Flemish institute for health promotion and prevention of disease). The programme of the “chair of well-being” was divided into three sessions, and it addressed socially disadvantaged people as a way of empowering them psychologically. This project was based on the principle that “everyone has an equal right to health and also to prevention”. As such, everyone deserves to receive help and support, everyone has a right to protect themselves and a right to well-being. Thanks to this training, our psychologist has acquired a new set of skills that she can apply to her patients.

Congress in Brussels

On November 23rd, 2013, our GP Dr. Demirkapu Hakki participated in the congress “Becoming a Doctor”, which took place in Brussels. The young GP gave a speech about his professional experience. Other doctors and university professors, as well as trainees and medical students completed the assembly. The goal of this congress was to incentive doctors to work in Brussels.

Our meetings

The year of 2013 was also filled with meetings with other healthcare teams, GPs, and different specialists. These meetings allowed us to make closer bonds with local partners so that we could work better together in the future :

• We had lunch with members from different medical centres: Medikuregem, Santé et Bien-être, Sainte-Marie, and also members from the VUB polyclinic, located nearby.
• GPs, cardiologists, and other specialists were also invited to MediSina.

MediSina has also inspired and opened new horizons, both to GPs and to medical students who have visited our medical centre :

• « Architecture tour » : MediSina was selected among four medical centres for its architecture and its multidisciplinary concept. As part of the project « Architecture tour » , around forty doctors visited the medical centre on October 5th, 2013. MediSina charmed the doctors due to both its architectural design and to its way of working.
• Visit of medical students from KU Leuven. On May 10th, 2013, a group of last year general medicine students have visited MediSina, as part of their internships. The future doctors learnt about the working of a multidisciplinary clinic, as well as about the pros and cons of working as a GP in an ever-changing society.

The inauguration of MediSina Health Centre

The inauguration evening of MediSina took place on Tuesday, November 26, 2013 in the presence of around sixty guests including the Minister Laurette Onkelinx, Senator André Du bus and Dr. Louis Ferrant (general practitioner at the medical center Medikuregem and lecturer at the University of Antwerp); several health specialists as well as representatives of different institutions were also present. The doctors at the centre presented its operations and its perspectives. In his speech, Doctor Ferrant congratulated and supported the project by saying "the MediSina project aims to answer the seven fundamental questions asked by the world of medicine". Minister Laurette Onkelinx warmly welcomed the initiative "MediSina is an innovative and promising project for both Belgium and the world of medicine; the patient is placed in the center and the care becomes more global, multidisciplinary ”declared Laurette Onkelinx. "This project can be a model for other entrepreneurs," she concluded.

Seminar for couples and families in the Turkish community in Belgium

Seminar for couples and families in the Turkish community in Belgium: the different dynamics and repercussions for the individual, the couple and the family. On October 27, 2013, our team participated in a seminar delivered by the clinical psychologist Ertugrul Tas and organized by the Network of Professional Europeans (EPN). As a psychologist and researcher, Ertugrul Tas has shared with us his clinical observations and experiences in the field of marriage issues with the Turks in Belgium. Ertugrul Tas is also the author of the book «KISMET! Belgique / Turquie: regards croisés sur mariages et migration » and coordinator of projects at the CERAIC (Center Régional d’Intégration de La Louvière).

Authority problems in children and adolescents

On Wednesday 19 February 2014, our psychologist Tülay Altintas gave a seminar on authority problems in children and adolescents.

Topics covered:

• How to show authority without falling into a permanent power struggle?
• How to provide adequate and reasonable limits and prohibitions that are essential for the good development of the child?
• Do parents have to agree on everything?
• What can be forbidden and what can be tolerated? What are the most common mistakes to avoid?
• What are the tools of authority?
• What are the techniques to stop negative behaviour or, on the contrary, to encourage positive behaviour?