TGIF - Bordeaux - April 17th

Today we visited a hospital in Bordeaux which differed from the others in management style. This was a “clinic” that was run by a private non-profit cooperative group. Health Care in France can be catagorized by hospitals (government run) clinics (privately run for profit) , mutualist clinics (not for profit co-ops created to keep rates down for patients who use the system's services.) Patients have the option to choose which type of medical facility they use however their rates may be more or less depending on their decision as the obligatory national system will only cover a percentage. At the mutualist clinic we were surprised to learn that their nurses’ tablet computers are US army surplus, because they are tough enough to withstand the daily rigors of hospital usage. Apparently the tablet computers are fresh from US army use in Iraq.



While we were at the hospital Kelly tried to talk her way into the American Consulate office for a career visit. She was unable to breach their security though, despite the fact that we all joked we had seen a brown-haired American woman on the evening news breaking into the consulate’s office. The security here is set very high, and the office is not allowing any visits, so unfortunately she will not be able to experience a true “career” visit while here in Bordeaux.

We presented to the Bordeaux-Est club today at their lunch meeting at the Bordeaux automobile club.

After the meeting we headed off to Angela’s “career day” at the Musee des Beaux Arts, which has a temporary exhibit all about the quays along the waterfront in Bordeaux. The quays (known as warfs in English) were a center of commerce back when Bordeaux was primarily an import/export town, and many pieces of art were created about the area. Our very knowledgeable guide Thierry Saumier, showed us the progression of painting styles throughout history as portrayed by these water scenes.