Sanne
MARCH 2020
Though some people have been employed by Hospitainer for longer, Sanne has been involved with the organization since the very start. It’s rather hard to ignore when your father starts to build a mobile hospital in your neighbour’s yard, after all.
After getting degrees in social studies and teaching English, Sanne began working for the same company who had previously taken her on as an intern. At GGnet, she worked as a therapist who handled clients in a crisis situation. While she enjoyed the variety the work presented, she felt there was little room for her to grow.
As such, she decided to join the family company. Sanne started out as a Backoffice employee but, over the course of 4 years, began to take on different tasks. These days she’s an account manager who also handles IT and communication. Whether it’s getting your pc running, getting new project ready or even determining the layout and styling of the new offices, Sanne does it all.
“I’ve travelled a lot for Hospitainer, met clients abroad, invited clients and met them here in the Netherlands, I’ve gone to seminars here and abroad and that’s not even mentioning a lot of day-to-day things.”
When asked what she enjoyed most about working for Hospitainer, she mentioned that she enjoys that no two days are ever entirely the same, much like with her old job. She also mentioned that she’s glad that she’s been given so much room to grow. Aside from courses on marketing, pitches, properly conducting online meetings and online brainstorming, she spoke of getting involved with the Young Professionals program. This program is meant to raise awareness of the sustainable development goals and get young professionals involved and excited, so they’ll urge the companies they work for to improve and do their part to meet those goals
Sanne also mentioned how much she enjoys getting news on how the Hospitainers and the people getting treatment there are doing. For example, the news she got that a woman had given birth to quadruplets in a Hospitainer really made her day.
“50% of what we do is for the health of women. Women suffer a lot but also make a lot of impact in the world, that it why it is so important to serve them. Most of my work now is focusing on impact projects. This is a part of our work where we focus less on commercial aspects but more on the impact that results. This is also the reason why my main account is UNFPA, the UN organization for sexual and reproductive health. Our main service to them is to provide for instance our Maternitainer, this is a unit where women can be served in pre- and antenatal care, save delivery and treatment of sexual violence. As a mother this means a lot to me. So it is great to be able to offer a safe, well equipped and clean environment for medical treatment to both patients and staff.”
For those looking to join the Hospitainer team, Sanne emphasized the importance of being flexible in your work and being a true team player. There can be slow periods, but there can also be very busy periods where everyone is rushing to meet a tight deadline. It’s important for anyone working for Hospitainer to be able to adapt to those circumstances. Being a team player helps with that. Having a sense of humour also came highly recommended.
One experience that has stuck with Sanne involved a trip to Lombok in Indonesia. Shortly before she arrived, a Typhoon had ravaged the island. While there she spoke to the locals to see what they needed from Hospitainer in that situation and what could be done to ensure the medical solution was tailored to suit their needs.
“It was great to see where our Hospitainers wind up and how they’re used. However, the locals told us about the impact the typhoon had on their lives. Some feared going back inside their houses in case they would collapsed after all. Some doctors even told us how they’d had to resort to operating on people in carparks under makeshift shelters because there were no other options before we got there.”
“All in all this job makes me feel like my tasks and efforts really help the people who need it the most. I know it’s worth my time and that motivates me every day.”
