He had lent his voice so recognizable, warm and calm, for an unusual little announcement.
On September 23, Francis Cabrel appeared in a video clip, produced by the inhabitants of the village of Astaffort, to praise the good life in this small town of Lot-et-Garonne, richly stocked with two schools, a pharmacy, a Ehpad, three restaurants ...
"However, a shadow hangs over the village, it lacks a general practitioner", launched the singer, on a music conceived by his daughter, Aurélie Cabrel. Since then, the small, humorous 2.30-minute video has made the buzz with more than 28,800 views on Youtube, more than 57,000 on the Huffington Post page, in just two weeks. A digital success ... but for now, at the nursing home, applicants are not jostling to replace one of the two doctors who, at 68, hopes to one day be able to retire.
"Changing city, planning a move takes time, even more if the doctor comes with his or her family, we have to be patient", relativizes Sophie Mas-Chevalier, speech therapist and president of the association of the house medical.
"We are ready to welcome a couple of doctors, to help find accommodation, but for that, there must first be applications",
slips Paul Bonnet, the mayor of the town, surprised by the success of the video, seen even across the Atlantic.
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"An American doctor saw the video and applied but we have to check the equivalence of the diplomas",
specifies the first deputy, ready to study "all serious applications.
The research, which began eight months ago, first on platforms and then in medical journals, is progressing slowly.
But time is running out and not just for Astaffort.
"It is a whole basin of life in the south of Agen which is concerned, this represents 10,000 people who could soon have to share a single doctor", warns the elected official.
In the meantime, Doctor Gérard Rivière who hopes "sooner or later to go away" as Cabrel would say, takes over the interim ... again and again.
