Nabil shows off on his smartphone the long list of VTC races carried out during confinement. The file spans multiple pages. "There are over 200 of them and all free," said the 54-year-old driver proudly. With his wife Anna, Italian, this Tunisian proved that we could live in France for only five years while putting ourselves at the service of others. During this unprecedented health crisis, the couple from Wissous (Essonne) offered to transport healthcare workers free of charge from their home to their place of work.
Everything started with Emmanuel Macron's speech on March 12, announcing the start of confinement in France. "The President said that we had to put ourselves at the service of the State, and that marked us," says the father. Our two daughters still live in Milan and the images of Italy hit by the Covid-19 scared us. From a distance, we wanted to make ourselves useful, at our small level ... ”
"For a month, they helped me to hold out morally"
The couple contacted the town halls of the sector and offered their services to the two private hospitals of Antony (Hauts-de-Seine) and Jacques-Cartier de Massy (Essonne). Day or night, it worked with a simple phone call within the limit of a 25 km run. "For a month, they helped me to hold out morally," says Lara, a 34-year-old nurse in cardiology surgery in Massy and domiciled in Antony. I am car free and they saved me incredible time. Honestly, I never thought that strangers would have such devotion to others. Well done to them. "
Morgane benefited from 33 free races from her home in Orly to Massy hospital between March 19 and April 30. “The approach of Nabil and Anna was super generous, specifies the youngest (20 years old) of the resuscitation department of Jacques-Cartier. With 21 Covid-19 beds, we had an enormous number of deaths and I appreciated being able to go home with them. The journey time served me as a decompression airlock, I could empty my bag. "
Nabil and Anna initially thought of committing for two weeks maximum, but were quickly caught up by the success of their initiative. “After fifteen days, we didn't see ourselves abandoning them. My phone kept receiving requests, so we continued. "
Without ulterior motives, despite the daily shortfall for the couple whose income fell by 60% during the crisis. "We did not calculate," sums up Anna, who was nevertheless forced to stop three days "by exhaustion". "But she didn't have Covid-19 symptoms," said the husband. Some caregivers had contracted them and we still accepted them on board. We have always been careful to protect ourselves. The two hybrid hybrid couple vehicles were notably fitted with Plexiglas walls between the front and rear seats.
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In the end, the couple is delighted to have been able to make their "very modest contribution" to caregivers in these times of fierce struggle against the Covid-19. He also appreciates that other VTCs have followed suit, as in Val-d'Oise, where two friends Nouredine and Youssef brought 73 volunteer drivers into the loop. And beyond certain insults from dissatisfied colleagues on social networks, Nabil and Anna only want to remember the many smiles and thank-you messages from their confinement "clients".