Sunday, 5:30 a.m. In Nancy station (Meurthe-et-Moselle), medical teams are on the warpath. Teams arrived the day before from the destination areas - Bordeaux, Libourne, Pau and Bayonne - to which are added caregivers from Metz and Nancy, sectors from which the patients affected by Covid-19 come. A team from Ile-de-France is also present, made up of staff from Essonne, Yvelines, Val-de-Marne and Hauts-de-Seine. Among them, Lionel Lamhaut. Samu emergency doctor at the Necker hospital in Paris and trainer, he participated in the trip as coordinating chief doctor. His experience led him to coordinate the first TGV of Operation Resilience three days ago, then this one.
From 6 am, patients are prepared for this trip like no other. Patients with Covid-19, whose departure is intended to relieve hospitals in the Grand Est, region today among the most affected by the pandemic. For this, as for the first transfer, three days ago, two new TGVs were specially fitted out and chartered. One leaves from Mulhouse with 12 patients on board. The other is Nancy's. It transports 24 patients, half hospitalized in this city, the other 12 coming from Metz. Destination New Aquitaine.
All patients are asleep
"The choice of patients is made on medical criteria, in coordination with local resuscitators," says Dr. Lamhaut. These are heavy cases but they must be able to support the transport. Rather, we retain patients who have already passed the most acute phase ”. Aged on average in their sixties, all or almost all have risk factors such as hypertension or diabetes.
On board the TGV, the six cars are equipped like real resuscitation services. Four nurses, a senior doctor and an intern plus a logistician take place in each of the cars with the charge of four patients.
Boarding of the sick begins around 8 a.m. All are asleep and on artificial respiration. It will take more than two hours to install them. "If we consider that they are 24 and in intensive care, it is a relatively short delay", explains the coordinating doctor. Everything is even ready with a little advance, at 10:45 am.
The train takes 4 hours to reach Bordeaux. “Throughout the journey, the patients remain under constant surveillance, insists Lionel Lamhaut. We are in constant contact with the destination hospitals to direct this or that patient to the most suitable establishment if there is any problem. It is not. The trip goes without worry. The doctors present are even surprised not to feel any vibration or deceleration. The TGV driver was made aware of this. On arrival at 5 p.m., it takes another two hours to disembark the patients and transport them to the various reception hospitals.
Departures from Paris for Brittany soon
"With these TGVs, we save lives," says Lionel Lamhaut. "We couldn't transport as many patients with this level of security otherwise." And it's far from over. "This week, certainly Wednesday, a TGV will leave from Paris, where the situation becomes very difficult, for Brittany," breathes the emergency doctor.
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At 7 p.m. this Sunday evening, Lionel Lamhaut and the other Ile-de-France residents were already on the return train. "I think I will be at home around 10:30 pm," said the doctor on the phone. “One of the advantages of these train transfers is that the resources are reinjected the next day into the services. For my part, I am starting a 24-hour guard on Monday, in intensive care at the Samu in Necker. We can't afford to stop. ”
