Welcome

Welcome Mandie and Ms. Rona.  If there is anything specific you would like to see please let me know.

Medical and Dental Care

Medical and Dental care are always a high concern for those of us with children.  Rest assured, adequate services are available in The Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium if you are assigned to this area.  But, like anything else, you have to become familiar with the options and procedures before you need to use those services.

US Medical and Dental care is located at NATO Airbase Geilenkirchen (Germany).  Medical care is provided by the 470th Medical Flight Clinic.  IMPORTANT - This is a medical clinic only; not a full fledged medical facility.  They do not conduct Sick Call, they do not take Walk Ins, and they cannot handle Emergencies (there is no ER). Below is a copy of the information provided by the USAG Schinnen website:

US Medical and Dental Facilities, GK

Twenty minutes from USAG Schinnen at Geilenkirchen NATO AB, Germany, is the 470th Medical Flight Clinic, which offers health care to the military population within the Tri-border community. The “GK Clinic” Medical Staff’s first and foremost objective is keeping its active duty personnel “fit to fight” by ensuring members meet unit and branch medical readiness standards and by addressing healthcare needs to keep active duty personnel mission-ready. The GK Clinic also strives to provide quality, timely, and accessible health care to all its active duty members and their families, and retiree and retiree beneficiaries.

Clinic hours are Monday thur Friday 0730-1600. Please note: On the first Thursday of every month all sections will close for training between 1300-1700. (limited services during lunch 1200-1300). *Note: There is no Sick Call, and the clinic does not do walk-in appointments. You must schedule an appointment to be seen. You can register to book medical appointments online by visiting http://www.tricareonline.com/, or you can call the appointment line at +49(0)2451-99-3200.

  

TRICARE

TRICARE is the Department of Defense (DoD) health care program for active duty and retired members of the uniformed services, their families, and survivors. The Geilenkirchen TRICARE Service Center offers a variety of resources, including TRICARE enrollments/disenrollments, civilian and military medical referral coordination, medical bill processing, Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) assistance, overseas clearances, and TRICARE benefits counseling. For more information, please call the TRICARE Service Center at +49(0)2451-99-3400, or visit the website at http://www.europe.tricare.osd.mil/. 

  

Dental Clinic

   

Medical Emergencies 

  

Find out which medical emergency facility is closest to your home or location. Make sure the family knows this is the facility of choice. Determine the shortest route from the home to that facility. If new to the area, make a trial run to the facility. 

  

Keep emergency phone numbers posted near the phone where children and adults can easily find them. Below is a list of local civilian hospitals. The 470th Medical Flight does not imply that the quality of care of any civilian hospital is better than the other. 

  

• ■St. Elisabeth Krankenhaus, Martin-Heyden Strasse 32, Geilenkirchen, GE, +49(0)2451-6220
• Note: Pediatric patients will be stabilized and transferred to other facilities for inpatient or pediatric specialty care. OB/Gyn services are not available at this facility.
• ■Städtishes Krankenhaus, Auf dem Brand 1, Heinsberg, GE, +49(0)2452-1880
• Note: Pediatric patients will be stabilized and transferred to other facilities for inpatient or pediatric specialty care
• ■Atrium Medisch Centrum, Henri Dunantstraat, Heerlen, NL, +31(0)45-576-6666
• ■Orbis Medisch Centrum, Dr. H. van der Hoffplein 1, Sittard-Geleen, NL, +31(0)46-459-7777

*Note: This is a new facility, and the address might not show on older GPSs. Please follow direction to the Foroxity Movie Theater—the hospital is across the highway.

  

Family members must inform the TRICARE Service Center prior to obtaining any care from a civilian provider than is not urgent or an emergency. If visiting an emergency room after duty hours, notify TRICARE the next duty day to ensure medical care continuity and avoid out-of-pocket expenses. 

Quick Health Services List

Medical Appointments +49(0)2451-99-3200 Immunizations +49(0)2451-99-3345 Dental Clinic +49(0)2451-99-3535 Pharmacy Pharmacy Refills +49(0)2451-99-3334 +49(0)6561-69-3301 TRICARE +49(0)2451-99-3400 Referrals (military facilities) +49(0)2451-99-3320 Referrals (civilian facilities) +49(0)2451-99-3400/01/02 Telephone Consult +49(0)2451-99-3345 Nurse Advice Line Open 24/7, including holidays 00800-4759-2330 After-Hours On-Call Providers Medical:+49(0)171-260-9365 Dental:+49(0)171-260-9570

END of Extract

The 470th Medical Flight is not equipped to handle emergencies. For all medical emergencies, immediately go to the nearest civilian emergency room, or call 112 for an ambulance.  The GK Dental Clinic’s primary mission is to active duty members, meeting their dental health needs and fulfilling unit dental health readiness requirements. Complete dental care is available for active duty members. Services for active duty family members are limited to annual exams and cleanings. (To schedule, call the first duty day of the sponsor’s birth month.) All other dental services for family members are on a space-available basis. Active duty sponsors should consider enrolling their family members in the TRICARE Dental Program (TDP) to accommodate for all other dental issues, especially emergency dental care. Please visit http://www.tricaredentalprogram.com/ for more information, or call the Dental Clinic at +49(0)2451-99-3535.

It says that the GK clinic is 20 minutes from Schinnen but I think you would be hard pressed on most days to get there in less than 30 minutes if the back gate is open and 45 minutes if you have to go around to the main entrance.  make sure you have somebody show you how to drive both routes.  GK will close the back gate with no notice and if you drove there and it is closed, well just add another 15-20 minutes to your drive time.

I have used the clinic on two different tours to The Netherlands and I have always been satisfied with their professionalism.  Years ago, if you needed services beyond what they can offer you would be referred to the Medical Clinic at Bitburg, Germany.  But that has closed.  Now, you will be referred to a Dutch or German health care provider in the immediate area.  This is not always a timely process; both Germans and Dutch schedule things far in advance so they are usually booked solid in the near term.  I was referred to the German hospital in Geilenkirchen (St. Elizabeth) and had no problems. The doctors will all speak pretty good English but the rest of the staff in St. Elizabeth's did not.  Luckily I also speak passable German so I managed but if you don't speak Dutch or German, and you have to go to one of their hospitals, you might want to take someone with you that can speak the language.  Otherwise, just be patient with them and they will do the best that they can to find someone to talk to you.

The Tricare office at GK is top notch.  They are knowledgeable and very helpful.  But they have no information about CONUS Tricare services.  Apparently it is two completely separate programs and contracts. You will have to call the states if you have a CONUS Tricare question.  Be aware, that if you are referred off post for medicine or care that you will most likely have to pay upfront and then seek reimbursement through a Tricare claim.  I had one Tricare claim for twenty-some Euros and submitted the paperwork but I have never been paid.  I live too far away to keep driving back to GK to try and get my money, I would burn up more in gas then what I am owed so i have let it drop.  So keep copies of receipts and write down everything so you have a log of your actions and maybe you'll have more success than I have had.

The Dental clinic is as good as any military dental clinic I have ever been to in the past 34 years.  I am very satisfied with them.  I had a crown installed on a molar this year and it was done very well.  The dental clinic does not do Orthodontics though.  For braces and such you'll have to go on the economy but they will do the pre-screening for braces.

For more information just Google "470th Medical Flight" and you'll get plenty of references.

Movies - Where to go

There are four possible places to go see an English language movie in the Schinnen/Brunssum area that I am aware of. Two are in Belgium, one on the economy in The Netherlands, and one at the theater at AFNORTH in Brunssum.  I'll start with the ones in Belgium because that is where I go.

Euroscoop Maasmechelen.  This bioscoop is located at the north side of Maasmechelen, Belgium.  From Schinnen it is a ten minute drive, without traffic.  It is right next to the outlet shopping center called Maasmechelen Village.  The theater has eleven screens; two of them are set up for 3D movies.  Adult (volwassen) ticket price is 7.00 Euros, children (kinder) under 12 years old get in for 5.00 Euros.  3D movies cost two Euros more and you must put up a ten Euro security deposit for each pair of 3D glasses so make sure you bring the extra cash. You get your money back when you hand in the glasses after the movie. Sometimes they hand out the 3D glasses at the snack counter and sometimes they set up a special stand (mostly on busy days for new movies). On Tuesday (dinsdag) it is filmdag (movie day) and everyone gets in for 5.00 Euros.  This is a very nice, modern theater with stadium seating.  It is always clean and there are a lot of bathroom facilities.  The snack stand is fully stocked with a wide variety of snacks and drinks.  The prices aren't too bad but popcorn (it is sweetened kettle corn) and a drink will cost about the same price as admission.  Eat at home and save a bundle.  This theater takes a ten minute intermission about halfway through the movie and it is a sudden stop.  The first movie of the day starts at 1400 hours. Parking is free but it shares parking with several restaurants and the outlet center so sometimes you have to park out on the street.  Get there early to ensure you can park close by.

URL: http://www.euroscoop.be/nl/maasmechelen/home/

Euroscoop Lanaken.  When I was here twelve years ago this is the theater I went to.  It is maybe five minutes farther away from Schinnen and is just outside the Lanaken Centrum.  This theater has eight screens and is a little older and of course smaller than its sister theater.  I haven't been there in quite some time but I remember it as being a nice theater. Prices are exactly the same as the Euroscoop in Maasmechelen, including Tuesday's discount, and the hours are also the same.  Parking is also free here.  The snack counter is smaller but more or less the same.  I presume that they also have an intermission.

URL: http://www.euroscoop.be/nl/lanaken/home/

Foroxity Geleen-Sittard.  The Foroxity is between Geleen and Sittard and is easy to get to from Brunssum.  It is a new and modern theater.  Most US personnel that I know go to this theater and I think they are more accustomed to English speakers (I have never had a language problem at the Belgian theaters but I do speak decent Dutch). There are eight screens and these can seat 250 people each. Tickets have seat numbers assigned so if the movie is first run and full, you won't have a choice of seats.  You can buy your ticket online and select your seat. Prices at Foroxity are: 4.50 Euros for movies between 1000-1200 hours, 6.00 Euros for movies between 1200-1800 hours, and 7.50 Euros for movies after 1800. 3D movies (no matter when it plays) are 8.50 Euros and you must purchase the 3D glasses for 2.00 Euro and then you can keep them.  I believe parking is free here. URL: http://www.forox.nl/index.php?event_id=10869714

NOTES: 

1. Adult movies will be in the original language with Dutch and French subtitles at the Euroscoop and in Dutch at the Foroxity; you get used to that after awhile.

2. Kids movies are very often dubbed to Dutch.  You need to pay attention to whether the movie is in the original language or Dutch.  If it is in the original language you will see the letters, "OV" after the title.  If it is dubbed to Dutch you will see the letters, "Ned, NV, or NL" after the title.

Alliance Theater, AFNORTH (Joint Force Command, Brunssum is its real name but most people still call it AFNORTH) is run by Aafes but you must pay in Euros.  Last time I was there a movie cost 4.00 Euros and the snack counter prices are also much lower than out on the economy.  This is not quite as comfortable a theater and they only show movies on the weekend (right now only on Saturdays).  The movies are all English language movies with no sub-titles but they usually are not as current and obviously there is no choice or selection, there is only one screen.  They cannot show 3D movies here. But, it is the place to go if you are too timid to go to a Dutch or Belgian theater.

URL: http://www.shopmyexchange.com/ReelTimeTheatres/Movies-Brunssum.htm

There is (or was?) a theater on GK (NATO Airbase Geilenkirchen is always referred to as GK) but I have never been there and know nothing about it.

Economic Effects

The Netherlands, while a very affluent country with a robust economy, is just as adversely effected by the world's current economic downturn as anyone else.  The Dutch stereotype is similar to the Scottish stereotype; very tight with the money.  It is true, the Dutch hate to spend money.  The average Dutchman saves almost 14% of their disposable income every month (according to a radio show I heard a couple days ago this is about 240 Euros a month into savings).  The average American saves less than 5%.  Dutch people do not use credit cards, they abhor debt.  The average American owes $10,000 to $14,680 in credit card debt alone (different stats by different sources but the effect is the same).

The historic economic paranoia means that the Dutch will start to cut back spending at a point where most other countries would think they were on top of the world.  So right now a lot of simple stuff just isn't getting done.  Road and bridge work continues as well as any other project that directly impacts commerce and trade.  But other things are put off.  In my village, the Gemeente (municipality) is only cutting grass in public areas twice a year.  This past winter theu made no attempt at all to clear roads or put down salt except on major roads.  My village was nearly impossible to drive through several times this year.

The Dutch government announced severe military personnel and funding cutbacks earlier this year.  Several thousand positions will be eliminated; and that is from an already really small military force.  The entire Dutch army, for example, was only three brigades.  The Dutch eliminated their entire armor force as part of this cutback; they no longer have tanks.  See the news article below:

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The Dutch Military In Action...Against Cuts

For (most) foreign soldiers it's a strange concept, but in the Netherlands there are several military Labor Unions. When the plans of the current Dutch government became known, they started organising small scale action meetings to get attention for the consequences of those plans. The first was on December 10 on Volkel AFB.

After that came a surprise. At a demonstration in the Dutch seat of government, the Hague, for all employers in the public sector a lot of soldiers were present in uniform. That was something I had never seen before. When the actual cuts were presented, different military unions (7) decided to join forces. They have organised 30 local action meetings and set up a website and twitter account.

And while soldiers aren't allowed to strike, they have decided they will stop with all the volunteer work they do. And they do a LOT. Also, they will do rule-book slowdowns. This could have consequences for Rotterdam and Eindhoven airport, that are also military airports and civilian flights could be delayed because of it.

So if it takes you a little longer to get services done or the Dutch military member you work with is not in a great mood; you now know why.