To the carers the grateful homeland. This will be one of the messages of the traditional military parade on July 14, this Tuesday. The day before, nearly 800 health personnel will be welcomed by their Minister, Olivier Véran, for a reception at the Grand Palais in Paris to thank them for their mobilization during the Covid-19 crisis.
No celebration on the Champs-Elysées during the national holiday, coronavirus obliges, but a ceremony on Place de la Concorde where 2,500 people will parade in front of the President of the Republic and 2,000 spectators, including 1,400 caregivers as well as representatives of civil society (such as cashiers or relatives of victims). The event, which usually brings together a compact crowd, will not be open to the public.
After an unprecedented epidemic, the tribute is taking place when the Ségur de la Santé should be implemented. This consultation, launched on May 25 between the government and the world of health, has already resulted in a memorandum of understanding, Friday, on the salary increase of hospital staff excluding doctors. The CFDT, FO and UNSA have announced that they will sign the text, which makes it possible to cross the threshold of 50% union representation necessary for its application. The text provides for 20 measures, including a general increase of 183 euros, half in September, then in March 2021. On the government side, the Minister of Health specified that it was "the biggest increase in income never offered in this country ”.
This is not the opinion of six organizations which consider Ségur de la Santé as a “sham” and have called for a demonstration in Paris, on the very day of the national holiday. "Rally planned Place de la République for a departure around 2 p.m. demonstration to the Bastille", announce, in a joint press release, the CGT, SUD-Santé, the Association of Emergency Physicians of France (AMUF) or the National Syndicate nursing professionals (SNPI).
Two of the caregivers who will be on July 14 in the stands, Place de la Concorde, come back to us on this invitation from the Elysée Palace and the weeks they have spent as close as possible to the sick.
Pr Alain Cariou: "It is important that the State shows its recognition"
“In all sincerity I was surprised by this invitation from the Elysée. Hundreds of thousands of caregivers have been mobilized to deal with this health crisis. I do not know what were the criteria for choosing who would be present. "Like 1,400 caregivers and representatives of civil society, Professor Alain Cariou, resuscitator at the Cochin hospital in Paris (XIV), appointed on March 19 as crisis medical director of AP-HP Center (which brings together the Corentin- Celton, Georges-Pompidou, Vaugirard-Gabriel Pallez, Necker-Enfants Malades, Hôtel-Dieu, la Collégiale, Broca and Cochin) during the fight against the epidemic of Covid-19, will be in the stands this Tuesday during the ceremony of July 14 in Paris. A ceremony planned in a reduced format that will pay tribute to those who were applauded every evening at 8 p.m. for two months, not so long ago.
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To the white coats who take this national tribute as a provocation in the face of wage demands and the improvement of working conditions worn for years, Professor Cariou retorts. “It is not in contradiction. It is not one or the other. A tribute in no way prevents negotiations from continuing for a better promotion of the trades. It is important, even if it is symbolic, that the State show its recognition. It's even touching, ”he admits.
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The intensive care doctor, however, rejects any desire to "heroize" the caregivers. "We received a lot of very unanimous messages, but we just did our job. The whole community was there. I do not know if it is the right term to say that the caregivers have a feeling of satisfaction, but they have done the job. "
They "did the job" but under conditions of difficulty never imagined. “The most complicated thing was to reorganize the services to accommodate a large number of patients in a very short period of time. He had to adapt quickly and hold on for several weeks, recalls Professor Cariou. The roughest period was ten days between the end of March and the beginning of April. The famous "peak" in Ile-de-France where the hospital group, to the maximum of its capacity, continued to see patients flock. "Every day, we waited for the plateau phase," breathes the doctor.
When we are at the very heart of the whirlwind, do we have the necessary perspective to realize that the situation is new, even historic? “Yes, we perceive it, concedes Professor Alain Cariou. Especially since the stake was not only hospitable. This abnormal situation has had, and still does today, an impact on everyone's daily life. At the family, professional level… Today, we are happy to resume more normal activities, but our fear is not to see patients coming back from other pathologies, including chronic patients. They must feel confident in the hospital and not associate it with a dangerous place. "
It is also time for feedback, to stop what needs to be improved in view of a possible second wave. And Prof to assen: "We must be ready now. "
Audrey Roux, nurse: "Another effort, Mr. President"
Without the furious email she sent to her superiors, Audrey Roux, 30, a pediatric oral surgery nurse in Necker (AP-HP), would probably never have found herself in Place de la Concorde. “When the confinement started, my service was transformed into a screening center, I experienced it badly enough: it was so absurd! The patient services of Covid-19 were overwhelmed, and we were asked to stay there, arms dangling! "
The young woman sends an email to the management of the AP-HP where she highlights the inconsistencies of the white plan, the device provided in the event of an exceptional health crisis. "The next day I was summoned, I was made to understand that it was not how it worked, but I was still sent as backup to the Georges-Pompidou hospital in the medical service infectious. "
There Audrey, nine years of profession including two in geriatrics, and five in neurosurgery in Necker, finds himself at the bedside of people over 80 years old, "too old to be admitted to intensive care, because it was necessary to prioritize" slips-t- she. Patients whose life often hangs by a thread: “At 6 pm, everything was fine. An hour later it was a relapse. At 9 pm, it was over, without even having had time to warn the family, ”she breathes.
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The working conditions are extreme, “the mask we kept for 8 hours a day whereas normally, we have to change it after 4 hours, we wore the same blouse all day. Even the disposable ones were reused: they were washed at night, ”says this Parisian who, despite the many deaths, the pressure, keeps, despite everything, the memory of a sort of magic parenthesis. “Managers, doctors, paramedics, we all got together, everything was fluid, we had couriers available, it was extraordinary. She remembers another small miracle: "That of being able to - well - take care of the patients. Since visits were forbidden, the sick only had us, so since there were enough of us for once, we pampered them. "
Audrey, a heroine? "I simply did my job," replies this little brunette, a little surprised to have been invited to the Elysée Palace. Why she ? “Frankly, I have a lot of colleagues who deserve it just as much as I do. In geriatrics, it was much harder: there, they really broke down and some still do not recover. "
She is not fooled Audrey Roux, she knows that this type of invitation is "a little bit of the lottery". She still takes "pride", just as she appreciates the 180 euros increase. "It's better than nothing," she reacts, "but not sure it's enough, the caregivers are broken, too many closed beds, too many hellish tempos, too many clogged careers ..."
So, if Audrey had a message to transmit to Emmanuel Macron, it would be: "Another effort, Mr. President. "
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