Call me “Dr. Hans”

Our Dr. Online introduces himself to the Community.

“Call me Dr. Hans” was my first experience in Australia where nobody was able to pronounce the “ch” in my last name properly. From then on I was “Dr. Hans from Switzerland”.

I was hired on April 1, 1990 by the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation. Staff was needed in order to be able to run the new Swiss Paraplegic Centre in Nottwil in the future.

After its successful completion, clinical work commenced at the end of September 1990. It mainly consisted of introducing and training new staff that was a mix from all over Switzerland and its neighboring countries. We, i. e. a small but motivated team of nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and physicians. Everyone’s mood was euphoric and our hearts were entirely in it. The REGA (Swiss Air-Rescue) brought us our first patient and everyone was ready and keen to apply what they had learned.

Ever since I have been working in the area of spinal cord injury (SCI) dealing with all aspects and topics: I worked in the operating room when no interns were available. I introduced a system that allowed us to store every patients’ medical history electronically since my hobby was computer science. I was head of the rehabilitation department when a sudden lack of staff occurred after the first euphoria was over. As chief physician, I was not only responsible for the well-being of our patients but also for the clinical and social training of our interns for several years.

During my 23 years of clinical work with persons with SCI I maintained close relationships with many patients and their families. Many of these coincidental encounters developed into more than only a patient-physician relationship. Friendships have formed which built the basis for rehabilitation and the start into a new life and to new horizons. Many of them are holding true until today.

In this Community I will try to answer medical questions from a physician’s perspective in a possibly easy to understand manner. Simply contact me on the board “Ask the doctor”. I am looking forward to it!

Yours,

Dr_Hans