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VIDEO. Bronchiolitis epidemic: "We have to keep a bed, we have to cancel little Léo's operation"

2022-12-01T14:44:30.468Z


Newborn transfers, emergency intubation, pulmonary oedema… The RSV virus puts pressure on already bloodless departments and accentuates the


The peak of the bronchiolitis epidemic is expected "towards the end of the week", warns the union of liberal pediatricians.

Last week, more than 3,000 children were again hospitalized with bronchiolitis, an increase of 16% compared to the previous seven days.

This represents more than half of hospitalizations for babies under two years old.

This is the case of the Lille University Hospital, where all the pediatric intensive care beds are occupied.

“You have to juggle places, as in a permanent Tetris game logic… To free up rooms”, laments Carole Lecomte, health manager of the pediatric intensive care unit.

Under pressure, the Minister of Health launched a national emergency plan three weeks ago, says ORSAN, planned for exceptional health situations.

Planning in hand and with a worried look, Carole Lecomte calls out to her head of department: “This morning, we accepted two babies transferred from other hospitals, suddenly we have no more room for today… How does -we ?

".

Professor Stéphane Leteurtre decides: "It is absolutely necessary to keep a bed for an absolute emergency, we are obliged to cancel the operation of the spine of little Léo".

Facing him, the nurse in charge of relations with the families, rebels.

“We have been preparing for this very important operation for months.

Leo will have to wait months to get a new slot!

The faces are closed.

"Every day, we are forced to adapt, to anticipate outings, to accept transfers, to cancel operations... The teams are tired" adds Professor Leteurtre.

Bronchiolitis comes to shake up a service under tension

This Monday morning, the head of department received a phone call from the Simone Veil hospital (95), asking him to accept a baby, Moussa, “because they no longer have room in Eaubonne in intensive care”.

This child is from triplets.

All three suffer from bronchiolitis.

Two of them remain hospitalized in Val-d'Oise, but the third, Moussa, must be transferred.

He will travel 230 km in an ambulance to be treated.

In the Smur truck, the child is accompanied by a doctor, a nurse and an ambulance driver.

Each time, the logistics mobilized are very demanding.

“Like all transferred children, Moussa is very tired from the trip and very restless.

He is disturbed because he arrives in an unfamiliar environment, without his parents, and he is fitted with a respiratory aid system which is bothering him," explains the childcare worker, who is trying to calm him down, while placing probes and new ventilation on the tiny infant body.

"I had a very bad experience of the transfer to Lille"

In the next room, Élodie, 27, is a mother exhausted by her stay.

“I had a very bad experience of the transfer to Lille.

My 20 day old baby girl was taken here, 125 km from our home, to be treated for aggravated bronchiolitis.

Because of the distance, my husband cannot come, he is babysitting our other children.

When my daughter was intubated, I was on my own to deal with this horrific situation.

It's very hard, ”says this young woman who is hanging on to the breathing of her little Laÿla.

In Paris, Professor Rémi Salomon of the Necker Hospital launched an appeal Sunday evening on Twitter, given the “extremely tense situation in the emergency rooms and pediatric departments, everything that can be done to avoid bronchiolitis must be done. ".

Ventilation of premises, washing of hands, wearing a mask when approaching a newborn, limiting frequentation of public places with a toddler... "We must resume barrier measures, it is essential to protect babies,” adds pediatrician Dr. Virey, head of the city pediatricians’ union.

“This bronchiolitis is severe, it affects toddlers and will be added to other viruses such as influenza or gastroenteritis”.

SEE ALSO.

VIDEO.

Bronchiolitis epidemic in Île-de-France: "My 6-month-old baby was transferred to Lille by helicopter"

The claims of caregivers

On October 21, some 4,000 caregivers challenged the President of the Republic in a column published by Le Parisien, where they denounced the saturation of pediatric services with "children in daily danger" against the backdrop of an early epidemic of bronchiolitis.

“The annual bronchiolitis epidemic has turned into a bad remake of the Covid-19 pandemic”, note the caregivers in their new forum, highlighting the same evils, “loss of meaning and lack of personnel”, then that the executive has promised 400 million euros in new measures to relieve the services concerned.

Faced with a situation that has deteriorated even further compared to October, caregivers are calling on Emmanuel Macron, who is currently on a state visit to the United States, to make a personal commitment and to implement a battery of categorical measures: recognition of the specificity and expertise of paediatrics, cap on the number of patients per nurse, compliance with rest times and training times, better compensation for night and weekend work.

“The current crisis is pushing ever more resignations.

Back to the wall, will France be able to save its children?

conclude the caregivers.

Source: leparis

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