A relief for many Drenthe parents with children who have heart problems, because the pediatric heart surgery department in Groningen remains open. But a lot more happened in our province this week. In the Week of Drenthe see and read an overview of the most important news.
According to the judge, the police intervened too hard during the anti-Zwarte Piet demonstration at the beginning of November in the town hall in Emmen. The public prosecutor stated that “the limit of the permissible was sought and public order was affected by their actions.” The judge did not agree that the demonstration was peaceful and that the intervention of the police could have sufficed by removing the demonstrators from the council chamber.
Of the four pediatric heart surgery departments in the Netherlands, Groningen (UMCG) and Rotterdam (Erasmus MC) will remain open. And that brings a lot of joy to Drenthe parents with heart patients. “Your trust and your heart are literally in the hospital in Groningen. You have experienced everything there,” says Melissa Slingerland, whose daughter has a complex heart defect. According to the Dutch Healthcare Authority, closing the children’s heart center in Groningen would have disproportionately affected academic medical care in the north and east of the Netherlands. Health minister Kuipers has adopted the advice not to close the department in Groningen.
Wednesday was the national collection day for the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. In our province, too, people are doing their best to raise money for the victims. For example, students from primary school Het Kompas in Assen collected empty bottles. “It is very nice to participate in this, but also very sad to see people come out of the rubble,” says a student of the school.
School Noord, the most important defense training in the Northern Netherlands, is leaving Assen and will settle in Havelte. And that move will be a problem for some people, says Major Meijer: “Of course there are people who have lived here for years, close to their work. For them, they will have to travel further.” The current students at the school will no longer receive anything from the transfer. By the time the move takes place, they will have long since completed their education.
Three of the four men suspected of involvement in the death of 35-year-old Jordy have been released. They are still suspected in the case, reports the Public Prosecution Service. A 23-year-old man from Emmen will be detained for fourteen days longer. The Emmenaar was found lifeless last Saturday under ‘suspicious circumstances’ in the hallway of an apartment complex on the Hunenbaan in Emmen.