After 50 + years of life, what I’ve finally found with Dr. Femke is the best and perhaps actual first true partnership/collaboration in terms of my own health. I came to her when I first moved to Spain about a year and a half ago. I was not in great shape in many ways, struggling with peri-menopause and with quite a few other health issues going on as well. Now I am in a MUCH better place all around thanks to her support, and I feel empowered and in control of my own health.
From the very beginning, she wanted to get to know me as a person, not as a pile of symptoms, and her wholistic and human perspective pervades her work. She always sees the interconnectedness of everything and treats accordingly. Necessary prescriptions are just one part of the picture, she gives excellent personalized lifestyle advice (that you can actually achieve and feel good about!).
At the same time, she is incredibly thorough and precise on the medical front, especially in terms of prevention, making sure that I got all the necessary blood tests, PAP, mammogram, bone density tests and that I will continue to get them at the right intervals in future.
The courage she has had to break out of the system and create a practice that actually centers the person/patient is remarkable. The fact that in this day and age, you have a doctor that actually comes to your home and sits and talks to you but most importantly LISTENS to you, in your own environment where you feel comfortable and relaxed, is nothing short of revolutionary.
Even on follow up zoom calls with her, she is always respectfully on-time and always makes you feel like she is fully present for you in that moment. I have never felt rushed or stressed speaking to her, in fact the opposite, I feel like I can actually exhale when speaking with her, like I have all the time and space in the world. She always asks multiple times if you have any questions until the question you’ve forgotten or feel too scared or too embarrassed to ask, gets asked.
She is clear, direct, reliable, warm and humorous. Most importantly, she walks the talk. She is a doctor, but also a woman of a similar age (so she actually knows and understands personally what I’m going through), a mother, and has a great love for life. She is constantly studying and sharpening her skills and she also learns from her patients’ experience and wisdom as well.
She takes breaks and has good clear healthy boundaries (good modeling for someone like me!); she doesn’t work on Friday or the weekend and takes time off every summer to enjoy her personal time with herself (she surfs!), her friends and her girls. I cannot recommend her highly enough (and this is from someone who is incredibly picky about who I trust and who I take advice from!).
