Personal perspective
‍Marc Hoogland

An unexpected hospital stay
It was supposed to be a routine operation, with no more than 7 days of hospitalization. But it ended up being a 7-month stay in the hospital for serial entrepreneur Marc Hoogland as a result of complications. "'Staying active is so incredibly important for your recovery. The Ivy Duo+ would have made my life so much easier." 

Marc Hoogland is an investor and has businesses in several industries, from hospitality to installation technology and real estate. Last year, he was on the Rabobank Innovation Loan jury as an expert when he first heard about Ivy Medical. "When I heard their pitch, I realized: I'm not sitting here as an expert, but as someone with that experience. I really would have benefited a lot from a portable IV therapy at the time. And that's just why I think it's so important to share this story." 

Bypass 
Just over 5 years ago, Marc suffered a coronary heart attack and had to undergo triple bypass surgery at the University Medical Center Groningen. "As an entrepreneur, I worked 24/7 for 25 years, so I ended up paying the price for that. This operation was actually a standard procedure that required you to stay in the hospital no more than a week. But because of multiple bacterial infections, I had to stay in the hospital for more than 7 months, with a total of 19 surgeries." 

"To go through all those surgeries, you obviously need to be in great shape", he continued. "And fortunately, I was very fit. Between operations, I was allowed to receive visitors in my room, thankfully. My wife was allowed to stay over occasionally, and I was able to work and hold meetings in the hospital. As an entrepreneur, you’re cut from a certain kind of cloth anyway, so it is also very difficult to keep someone like me in bed.” 

Autonomy 
And that proved to be true. "I 'escaped' from the hospital a couple of times with IV pole and all, just to walk to the market for a bite to eat. Of course that's absolutely not allowed, but during that period I wasn't really open to reason. I just needed that freedom. I had to move and I was going to move. And to spend some time outside the hospital, to not feel like a patient all day." 

At the time, Marc was also on a patient focus group at the hospital. "And there you heard a lot of the same stories. Look, I was stubborn and just went for a walk with my IV, but there were also patients who didn't actually want to get out of bed because of it. Walking with an IV pole is just awkward, and of course people are all looking at you, too. And the slightest bump sets off all sorts of alarm bells. I didn't let that stop me, but not everyone is like that. Moving around is just so important to your recovery, as is maintaining your sense of autonomy."

"This whole experience has opened up a new world for me and made me a different person," Marc continues. "As an expert by experience, I think: why has something like the Ivy Duo+ not been around for a lot longer? So many people would benefit from it, and I think it also saves on healthcare costs and nursing staff time. And as an investor and entrepreneur, I then think: with all good ideas, people wonder why it hasn't been around forever. That's why I really believe in the potential of Ivy Medical."