At the end of this long corridor, the door of which is barred with prohibited directions, life is on hold. At the heart of the resuscitation service at Fontainebleau hospital, doctors, nurses, nurse's aides and physiotherapists work together to resuscitate the seven patients seriously affected by Covid-19, connected to respirators and plunged into artificial coma for several weeks.
Each in their closed room benefits from constant care given by the nursing staff who take care of them, equipped with FFP2 masks, blouses, glasses, charlottes, gloves and overshoes.
The service counted its first 3 deaths this weekend
Like seven others whose condition is less degraded, placed in an improvised space in the recovery room which adjoins the operating room, separated by screens. The majority are over 50, but the fate of a 28-year-old woman who gave birth ten days ago is particularly moving.
In this bubble where we speak with restraint, the caregivers support each other with accomplice looks, smiles, sometimes a few laughs, as if to defy death that lurks. We also imagine the tears while this weekend, the service counted its first three deaths. But modesty prevails and Vincent Catanese, the chief resuscitation physician, focuses on those he still hopes to save.
“We see them deteriorating. For ten days the results have not been good, ”he sighs, while until now the south of the department had been a little more spared from the epidemic. No anger at home, however. "It was a catastrophe that we could not have foreseen," he believes. We had enough intensive care beds for normal activity. We couldn't have had beds open like that, in the meantime. The maximum is now done every day to open more beds, that is essential. ”
51 resuscitation beds spread over the three sites
The southern Seine-et-Marne hospital center, which brings together the hospitals of Fontainebleau, Montereau and Nemours, has 51 resuscitation beds distributed on three sites on Wednesday, compared to eight only in Fontainebleau outside of the crisis context. The caregivers of the cardiology departments, of the operating room and soon perhaps of the Smur provide the staff reinforcement.
To go up to 60 beds, the hospital is waiting for the regional health agency to send nurses from other regions. But already, other patients from neighboring departments are welcomed here.
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Besides, the phone rings with a phone line, a family asking for news. You will have to remember, the caregivers are caring for their loved one and cannot leave the room under penalty of having to re-equip themselves. "We can't know how long the case will last. It is between one and two hours for the toilet and nursing, says Karen Lengrand, the nursing executive. Every two hours, we come in to check that everything is going well ”. A physiotherapist also comes to manipulate the patients to help them breathe and avoid atrophy of their muscles.
"We talk a lot to patients, we hold their hands"
The imprint of families who came to see their loved ones one last time this weekend is still there. “Yes, it's hard to manage, admits Karen Lengrand, her voice knotted. Visits are prohibited, but we still authorized relatives to come and see them one last time through the window. It is important that they have a visual to mourn. You have to be human. "
Humanity is what guides these men and women who spontaneously return to their days of rest and stand up despite the storm. “We talk to patients a lot, we hold their hands,” continues Karen Lengrand. Sometimes their condition deteriorates so quickly that there is no time to let them call their family before putting them in an artificial coma. Some cry, others suffocate so much that they want to be relieved. "
Karen Lengrand, who became a manager a few months ago, would like to help her colleagues, but she has to manage so many things, such as the supply of equipment. "It's tight for masks, especially FFP2," she says. There are missing overshirts ”.
But it would not occur to the nursing staff to complain, other than to ensure the well-being of the patients. “We already had to manage the storm of 1999 with a lot of trauma. Ebola and the H1N1 flu have also arrived so far, underlines Lahcene Foudi, the emergency chief of CHSud77. We are not used to this epidemic, but we know how to keep pace. Emergencies and resuscitation know how to work in a heavy context. Yes, the mortality figures make people fearful even those who are not usually afraid. But we all know that the system depends on us. "
Management is already anticipating the implementation of psychological support within the teams.
"I know why I chose this job"
She understood that the terrain is the best training. Lucie, a 5th year medical student at Paris-Est-Créteil University, volunteered like five of her friends to join the Fontainebleau hospital.
“I could have stayed at home in Yerres (Essonne) to prepare for my exams. But I needed to be useful, insists the young woman of 23 years, who joined the resuscitation this Monday. Here, there is a lot of mutual aid, we were briefed by the nurses, the medical officers of health. We receive food and gifts from outside, it warms everyone's hearts. ”
After a week regulating the Samu de Melun, Lucie is now assisting nurses and nursing assistants. "I help with the toilet of the sick. I'm going to learn how to give infusions and blood tests, ”she describes. Hosted in a hotel requisitioned by the State, Lucie will spend her rest hours, alone, revising her lessons. Going to see his mother whose health is fragile is out of the question. But she doesn't regret anything. "I now really know why I chose this job," she says in a solemn tone that sticks to the current crisis situation.
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