When Sandie enters his field of vision, Thierry's face lights up.
“He always asks for it,” smiles his wife, Joëlle, tenderly caressing the hands of her husband, hospitalized for cancer.
Delicately, Sandie's hands move back and forth on the patient's back.
“I look at the places where there is tension, by caressing them I see if that relaxes them.
But above all, I listen to his breathing.
It always gives a good idea of the anxiety,” explains Sandie in her soft voice.
“There is everything we can say to each other, with words.
And then there is everything that the body will say,” she continues, gently touching Thierry’s face.
At the Elsan group's Estrée clinic in Stains, Sandie Boulanger has made her place within the medical team of the cancer and palliative care department.
A somatotherapist, she has an approach with patients “that we are not used to seeing in hospitals”.
Through touch, caresses and cuddles, she helps patients relax and manage their pain and anxiety.
Also read “I am the lady who gives the cuddles”: Sandie is in contact with cancer patients in Stains
“She sees things that we don’t necessarily see,” explains Camille, a nurse.
Her work helps us a lot because she has this reflection and this time that we don’t necessarily have with patients.”
“We take care of the body, she takes care of the soul,” adds Jorge Ayllon, one of the two oncologists in the department.
Seduced by his method, he will soon accompany Sandie to present his profession to the National Assembly, in front of the Cancer study group.