'A warm welcome, both in the neighbourhood and at the hospital'

This article is part of the series 'Twente lives!' Here you will read personal stories about working and living in Twente. According to young talented people that we speak to, Twente is the place to be. The beautiful nature, the space, the down-to-earth mentality; all things that characterize Twente. In addition, there are plenty of career opportunities! Twente has many innovative, international and future-proof companies that are in need of  additional staff. Want to know what Twente has to offer? The story of Rayner Maayen can be found below.​

"Indeed," he says. "For a very long time, my life centered in and just outside Leiden. "I started studying Biomedical Sciences, being the science behind healthcare. But I soon found out that I missed the contact with patients and switched to the study of Medicine." He graduated from Alrijne hospital in Leiden and Leiderdorp. "But I really wanted to work in a big hospital. The Royal London Hospital is known as one of the best and biggest hospitals in Europe. I really enjoyed working there during my fellowship. The work was complex and the hospital big, hectic and always busy."

He was living in a small flat - incredibly expensive, he adds -, but had a great time and learned a lot. Since it was a temporary job, he returned to the Netherlands to work as a trauma surgeon. "The hospital where I was working was nice, but when I saw the vacancy for trauma surgeon at MST pass by, I applied because I thought it would be good to discover different places than Leiden; both for my work and my private life. I wanted to experience other influences."

Despite having to to find his way in Twente in the middle of the COVID pandemic, this has worked out pretty well. Rayner has since found his way entirely. He is currently living in Roombeek with his girlfriend as he consciously chose to live in the city. "The move to the other side of the country already seemed big to me. I am a real city person, so living in a village would probably have been too big a transition," he says. The surgeon gets on his bike to work every day and to the gym in his spare time. He is also a runner and likes the fact that there is so much nature and space very close by in Twente. "I am not saying I will never leave, but for now I am completely at home here," he says. It is difficult to say anything about 'the Twente people' because I don't want to generalise, but we have been received very warmly here. We were added to the neighbourhood groupchat in no time and were invited to neighbourhood get-togethers and barbecues as soon as COVID-measures allowed it again."

The atmosphere at MST is one that Rayner likes. "In a hospital there is always hierarchy, but I have noticed that it is more informal here compared to Leiden, for example. There is a team feeling here, from the cleaners to the members of the Board of Directors, everyone is equal, which suits how I think."

He does not want to measure all the patients of Twente by the same yardstick, but he has found that Tukkers generally wait longer before seeing a specialist than the people in and around Leiden. "In general, people here are a bit 'tougher' and I sometimes think they could have raised the alarm a bit earlier. When they come to us, they are often sicker than I was used to in Leiden. But of course my job is the same wherever I work. I find it a challenge to be able to solve an acute problem after an accident or other trauma. It's nice to be able to contribute to the best possible outcome for a patient. To be able to help them continue living as optimally as possible."