Emily Jacobson

HTA Study Abroad

5/13/13 – 6/4/13

Swedish Culture and its impact on Healthcare

Table of Contents

1. Churches in Sweden2. Religion in Sweden and Healthcare3. Swedish Signs4. Food in Sweden5. Surprising Aspects of Swedish Life6. Swedish Lifestyle and Healthcare7. Swedish People8. Swedish History and National

Identity9. Swedish Architecture

Churches in Sweden

As seen in the photo on my title slide, Stockholm was easily navigated by the various towering church spires seen across the city. The beautiful architecture seen here appeared to be the norm along with certain universal design aspects such as the upraised pulpit seen below, the presence of a pipe organ located in the back balcony, and the traditional spires and arches.

The churches seen here are from the Gamla Uppsala, the Sophiakyrkan, a local Catholic church in Jonkoping, and various churches around Stockholm.

Religion in Sweden and Healthcare

While there were an abundance of beautiful churches in Uppsala, Jonkoping, Stockholm, and Gothenburg, I discovered through conversations with various Swedes and my own attendance of a service at the Sophiakyrkan that religion is not a major issue in Swedish life. During one of the events orchestrated by the Sushis at the local health park, I had the opportunity to befriend two Swedish students. We discussed multiple points of differences between Sweden and the U.S. including religion. They explained that most people are baptized as infants into the Church of Sweden but that it has very little influence on daily life. This was confirmed later by the Sushies Annie and Ida that they too did not care about religion and that most Swedes are not active in attending church or incorporating Christianity into their daily life. When I attended church in Jonkoping, the pews in the Sophiakyrkan were relatively empty considering the enormity of the church and those in attendance were mostly middle-aged to elderly. From these encounters it seems that Christianity is respected more for its historical influence on Sweden. Regarding health care, many charitable health care institutions are ran by faith-based organizations in the US. These are nonexistent in Sweden since everyone is covered by the government. From my observations, Sweden appears to be a post-Christian society and its health care system is not based off of Christian duty or ideology.

Caption at Gama Uppsala on Christianity’s role in Sweden

Local Catholic Church inJonkoping, Sweden

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The crown as seen in the Husqvarna

symbol is respresentative of the Swedish three crowns. They are

seen everywhere.

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This sign is for a baby changing station in a

men’s restroom. With the large

amount of time given for maternity

and paternity leave, such signs are not

uncommon.

I came to Sweden with the misconception that all Swedes would be blonde and blue-eyed. I quickly realized my mistake, but Swedish advertising consistently illustrates model Swedes as so.

Just for fun! However, 1.5 million people Swedes are recent immigrants out of the total population of 9.2 million. The growing diversity of the Swedish population is illustrated in signs like these.

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Swedish Signs

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This first picture was taken at the fish market in Stockholm. Fish was a very common plate in Sweden. Swedes buy lots of their food fresh and unprocessed. Even their cafeteria food had much more selection for healthier unprocessed food.

McDonald’s was on of the few chain restaurants in the entire country. We ate at the restaurant seen in the second picture, Master …., the first night in Jonkoping. Most restaurants and cafes appeared to be stand-alone locally owned businesses.

A Vending Machine at the Stockholm Airport- Please note that there is no Dr. Pepper to be seen. I could not find any in the entire country. I don’t think Swedes realize what they’re missing!

We ate San Marino’s pizzeria on our first Saturday in Jonkoping. According to Anthony, it was the best pizza he’d ever had. Unfortunately, the owners would not tell us how to make the kebab sauce. The large number of immigrants in Sweden has led to great variety among restaurants.

FOOD IN SWEDEN

Certain aspects of Swedish society surprised me, and these picture are demonstrative of that. Throughout Jonkoping and Stockholm, we saw many fathers pushing baby carriages or carrying their children without the presence of the mother. The government of Sweden actually offers monetary incentives if the husband and wife will split the time allotted for paternity and maternity leave equally, respectively six months each. This emphasis on the man’s role in child rearing is quite different from societal norms in the U.S. While walking everywhere in Jonkoping and Stockholm, I noticed all of the outdoor cafes provided blankets with their chairs. I would be hesitant as a business owner in the U.S. to leave blankets out at my restaurant tables for fear of them being stolen before the day is out. On the trip, one of the student left their cell phone in one of the subway stations and then returned half an hour later to find it untouched. I think this speaks of the respect the Swedes have for each other as well as a more collective mindset. The amount of smoking as well as the demographics of smokers vs. non-smokers was unexpected. This glass smoking room was at the Stockholm airport. Throughout Jonkoping and Stockholm, I observed well-dressed businessmen and women smoking in public places. It appeared to be more acceptable to smoke in public places than in the U.S., and more upper class Swedes appear to smoke than their U.S. counterparts. The rise in smoking, obesity, and other unhealthy practices will lead to increased strain on the healthcare systems of both countries. I happily adopted the Swedish practice of fika. I loved how breaks were built into the days in Sweden to slow down the business of the day. I think Americans would benefit greatly in terms of productivity and stress-levels if we took small breaks for ourselves to fika.

Surprising Aspects of Swedish Life

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Lifestyle and Healthcare

I chose these three pictures to illustrate how certain aspects of Swedish lifestyle are conducive for the workings of their current health care system. Foremost, Swedes have a great sense of national identity as well as trust in their national government. Swedish flags fly everywhere along with the three crowns. This identity lends itself to the collective society needed to provide healthcare coverage for everyone. The second picture is not an abnormal sight anywhere in Sweden. Swedes bike everywhere and they illustrate how sedentary Americans are. Since gasoline is so expensive, cars are not as prevalent. This more mobile lifestyle lessens the strain on the health care system. With greater mobility, obesity and other problems from lack of exercise decrease. This Swedish norm acts as a form of preventive care by keeping people healthier longer. Apartment complexes in Sweden often take on this uniform almost Soviet-style look. This emphasis on uniformity and conformity to the norm is found in all parts of Swedish society. Individual achievement is not celebrated but actually looked down upon. This collective viewpoint has enable the country to enact a healthcare policy that cares for all parts of society. Conforming to societal norms, many of which promote a healthy lifestyle, are visibly felt in this society. These and many other attributes of Swedish culture contribute to the success of the Swedish healthcare system.

Swedish People

From my observations and as depicted in the two top pictures on the right, elderly Swedes appear to be far more active and in better physical condition in comparison to their American counterparts. In most parks, exercise equipment was found and usually an older man or woman would be using it. Prolonging healthiness and independence saves healthcare systems untold billions of dollars each year. Even though I am not Swedish and neither are the seven other member of the Health Teams Abroad team depicted below, this picture does include a Swedish nurse, Ms. Annicka Koch. While the diversity in Swedish appearance was surprising to me, blonde hair and blue eyes are two still very prevalent traits. Ms. Koch’s hairstyle along with her hair and eye color are common in Sweden. In the bottom right picture, we are listening to John Flannigin who holds dual citizenship in Sweden and the U.S. He and his wife chose to live in Sweden to raise their children. Mr. Flannigin represents one of the 1.5 million Swedes who are not native-born but who choose to live in a society that cares for its own.

Swedish History and National Identity

Throughout Sweden, the three crowns and the yellow cross on the Swedish flag could be seen everywhere. Also, artwork depicting famous Swedish kings such as the sculpture of King Gustaf II founding Gothenburg or the painting of King Gustaf at the Vasa museum seen here are just two examples of the many pieces we saw. Everywhere, Swedish culture and history was celebrated and it was obvious talking to Swedes that they were proud of their heritage. This actually proved a problem when it came to discussions on health care. For good reason, the Swedes are proud of their current system; yet they were reluctant to discuss the problems facing them today. Only in our prosthetics and orthotics talk with Australian-born Mrs. Ramstrand and our talk at the Karolinska Institute with U.S.-born Dr. Flannigin did we get to hear more of the flaws in the Swedish healthcare system. Pride in the rich history of Sweden as well as displays of national identity are a huge part of the collective society found in Sweden today. As a history major, I thoroughly enjoyed learning of the rich long history of Sweden, and I am able to understand their healthcare system the better for it.

The Royal Palace in Stockholm

The Lipstick Building in Gothenburg

17th century Church Bell Tower in Jonkoping

Swedish Architecture

Sweden was a beautiful place that I shall never forget. The proud heritage, collective mindset, and healthy lifestyle all contribute to a culture that enables one of the best healthcare systems in the world to thrive.

View from a boat dock

in Jonkoping