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Covid-19: at Argenteuil hospital, teams can finally breathe but remain on their guard

2021-06-20T17:48:08.185Z


At the peak of the third wave in March, we encountered caregivers who were breathless in the face of the influx of patients. We are back


The atmosphere has nothing to do with that of two months ago.

This is visible upon arrival at the Victor-Dupouy d'Argenteuil hospital (Val-d'Oise).

The facial features are less drawn, the break times are back, and the Covid is no longer the only topic of conversation ...

After eighteen exhausting months, the teams are thinking about their holidays… Undoubtedly, the third wave is moving away.

This Thursday, 26 Covid patients were hospitalized, including ten in intensive care, against 125, including 18 in sheaves, two months ago.

About forty people are followed at home, it is half less than in March.

464 patients died from Covid in this hospital between 2020 and April 2021.

Obviously, the drop in this pressure has repercussions on caregivers, at least for some.

In this hospital run by Bertrand Martin, where 1,850 caregivers work, including 350 doctors, "operations are weakened by staff fatigue and a fairly high rate of absenteeism linked to sick leave", concedes the director.

“A lot of teams are always on the verge of breaking up.

"

"The Covid will at least have allowed the hospital to develop agility"

No more crisis meetings every two days, they are now held once a week.

"It maintains communication, we report the problems, we discuss ... and we also argue", says Dr Catherine Le Gall, head of emergencies.

She has a smile this Thursday morning, makes jokes when we meet her a few minutes before her installation in a meeting room where she must train seven nurses in the suture.

"Here we are

train people, we resume a normal life!

"

In the middle of the third wave, that would have been impossible.

"The Covid will at least have allowed the hospital to develop agility and therefore to set up projects more quickly", welcomes the one who keeps an eye on vaccination in the country and reveals the creation of mobile teams who vaccinate patients at the foot of their bed, in addition to the injections offered during all consultations.

"The administration has put itself into a start-up configuration", she rejoices.

Argenteuil (Val-d'Oise), June 10, 2021. At the hospital, the pressure on the emergency department is decreasing with the decline of the Covid epidemic.

Philippe de Poulpiquet

The clock displays 9:30 am Several groups of caregivers discuss, while at the reception where "we review various pathologies, bobology", note several caregivers, it is still calm. "How was the night? No sheave? No Covid? »Asks Dr Catherine Le Gall to the doctors on call. "No, just a weird file," replies one of them. After verification, the chef recommends "surveillance". The pace has changed. "Yes, but the Emergencies are the emergencies, and there is always a lot of traffic", relativizes a doctor.

In the 11 service boxes, the “Covid +” posters stuck two months ago on most of the doors have disappeared.

That morning, only one patient, the one in box 8, was suspected of having the virus.

Clara, 22, nurse, freshly graduated, wearing a high ponytail and eyelashes highlighted by mascara, called in as reinforcement during successive waves of the coronavirus, savoring the atmosphere.

" It's good to morale.

Before, when we arrived in the morning, four boxes were already Covid.

All PCR tests came back positive.

Today, they are negative, even when we are convinced to the contrary.

We are wrong and we are happy with that!

she blurted out, behind her blue mask.

We get used to working on different pathologies.

"

We are already thinking about holidays ...

Behind her, Fred, pink sneakers on his feet, stretcher bearer for seventeen years, talks with a colleague.

“If you see me here it's because it's calm.

Normally I am in the basements and corridors transporting people, ”insists the one who is already planning his future vacation.

Vacation.

At the utterance of this word, the face of 23-year-old Candice, whom we met when we came in March, lights up.

“The drop in Covid cases is a relief.

I breathe and I find motivation to come to work, she explains.

I am in a better state of mind, less tired, ”slips the one who has never thought of resigning despite“ very tiring ”moments.

Like many people, she was on edge, but now prefers to look to the post-Covid era.

At least for the moment.

In Umedo, a referral medicine unit, created in October 2018 to relieve emergency congestion, transformed during the pandemic into a 100% Covid service, there is a certain effervescence, like rediscovered joy.

This Thursday, there are 18 patients including 5 Covid, against 28 at the height of the third wave.

"Three weeks ago, all of a sudden we had a drop in cases," notes Emmanuelle Boitrou, the executive.

And then there was a slight upturn, so we were afraid, but it calmed down afterwards, ”she blurted out while pointing out all the same“ that the teams were running out of steam ”.

"The support is less heavy"

The noises of the machines which animated the service and forced the caregivers to be on the alert, hardly heard any more.

Unlike our previous visit, there is no need to systematically equip yourself with a charlotte, an overcoat or an FFP2 mask to enter each room.

“The care is less heavy, requires less protocol, rejoices Marie-Ange, 24-year-old nurse, with a piercing gaze.

We have time to tidy up but also to laugh with the team, to eat together ”.

During our report, on June 10, the Victor-Dupouy hospital had 26 patients hospitalized for Covid.

A figure much lower than what we observed a few months ago.

A real relief for the teams.

LP / PDP

On the team's WhatsApp group, "we are talking about other things than the Covid", smiles Marie-Ange.

She still remembers those too many times when you had to choose who was going to live.

“When we spoke of a patient we said: resuscitable or not resuscitable, it was very hard.

"

She stops talking, turns to her colleague Aurore, nurse from night to day.

He had to.

“The crisis marked me.

One evening, I broke down.

I fell into my colleague's arms, crying.

She wondered when a patient walked in "who was going to be next to die?"

Who should you put in a white cover?

»Terrible moments that inhabit him.

“Today,” she enthuses, “I come to work without a lump in my stomach.

"

The specter of a fourth wave in the minds

In intensive care, the atmosphere is quite different. Here, the breath of oxygen devices is still present and the footsteps of caregivers always rapid. Here, we take a slap and the shadow of a fourth flat wave. Of course, of the 18 open beds, three have closed. “But it is for lack of personnel, warns Séverine Duperray, the executive. We can feel the decline in the Covid but it is still there. »Ten cases in total.

"The phew of relief, I do not push it yet", concedes Inès, 30, nurse.

"The work is always heavy whether it is with Covid patients or not," resumes Sandrine, nurse for fourteen years, eight of which in sheaves.

It's very hard and we are understaffed [6 sick leaves], she slips while bringing equipment to two colleagues in full care on an intubated Covid patient, installed on the stomach.

We feel very lonely ”.

"We are afraid that it will be like last summer," blows his colleague Lea.

Read also Covid-19: why a fourth wave is likely in the fall, and why it will be different

This potential fourth wave is on everyone's mind. "The crisis is not completely behind us," warns Bertrand Martin. In the emergency room, Chloe, a nurse, is "happy that life is starting again" but she fears going back to school. "There is no reason that it does not come back, agrees Lila, stationed in Umedo. With the summer, barrier gestures will be less respected, ”she fears.

In her slightly broken voice, and with that gentleness that characterizes her, Mériemme, a caregiver already met in March, invokes like a prayer: "Make the fourth wave arrive gently, let it gently!" "She is silent for a moment and resumes:" The faces of all those who have left, I have not forgotten them. I would ask some of them to hang on, to promise to fight, but when I returned they were no longer there. There was no question of stopping, even if she had thought of resigning for a while. “I have to stay for all these people, but after all this, we'll have to fix it, I don't know how. "

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2021-06-20

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