- Four hospitals in the Pays-de-la-Loire (Nantes, Angers, Le Mans, La Roche-sur-Yon) will receive patients from the Great East.
- They left this Thursday morning aboard a health TGV.
- The point on this somewhat special trip, presented as a national first.
It is a first in France. This Thursday morning at 11 am, a rather special TGV left from Strasbourg station. On board, twenty patients seriously affected by the coronavirus are en route to the Pays-de-la-Loire, which they will join in the course of the afternoon. These patients, supervised by a team of around fifty caregivers, will be transferred to four hospitals in the region (Nantes, Angers, Le Mans, La Roche-sur-Yon) for treatment. 20 Minutes takes stock.
How is the trip going?
The patients were installed in five cars, four per lower room, the upper ones being used for the circulation of materials and nursing staff. In each of them, a medical team made up of an anesthesiologist-resuscitator, an intern, a nurse anesthetist and three nurses is there. "The patients selected are not extremely serious," said Professor Alain Mercat, head of the intensive care unit at Angers hospital. These are those for whom transport does not constitute a risk. Under respiratory assistance, they are ventilated using small high-performance devices. The probes, the catheters, everything is three times more secure than usual. "
How will the finish go?
Scheduled in the afternoon, it is the most risky moment. The TGV will make a first stop in Angers, where ten patients will be disembarked. Six of them will be transported by ambulance to the Angers University Hospital, four others to Le Mans. The train will then run to Nantes: six patients will join the CHU, four others will complete the route by ambulance, to La Roche-sur-Yon. "There will be a lot of coordination work at the station," explains François Templier, head of the Samu 49. These are complicated transfers. A large security perimeter will be set up. When they get into the ambulance, a first patient health check will be carried out. Another will be done as soon as they reach their room. "We will then call the families to reassure them."
Why were the Pays-de-la-Loire chosen?
Expression of "national solidarity", this initiative is in fact at the origin of resuscitators in the Pays-de-la-Loire, region of metropolitan France for the moment least affected by the epidemic of Covid-19. "We had time here to prepare for the wave," said Alain Mercat. We had beds available and at the same time, we saw our colleagues and friends from the Grand Est in a delicate situation. Something had to be proposed. Currently, the authorities estimate that the number of places available in intensive care in the Pays-de-la-Loire is 500. About 80 of them were previously occupied.
Where does the mobilized staff come from?
The authorities hail the teams' “extraordinary collaboration”. Staff from Samu 44 and 49 went to the Grand Est to prepare for the operation. The Samu 75 and Ile-de-France also play a role in the organization. Civil protection rescuers are also present on this train, made available by the SNCF. The prefect of Maine-et-Loire has announced the mobilization of fifteen soldiers, in support of the many police forces who will be present to facilitate the transfer of patients to the station. "It is a technical and logistical feat," says Professor Antoine Magnan of the Nantes University Hospital.
Are there other operations of this type planned?
"We could perhaps welcome other patients from other regions in tension," replied Alain Mecat on Thursday. Even if such an operation could be difficult to carry out in eight days. According to projections, the epidemic wave in the Pays-de-la-Loire is planned for the first week of April. "It is estimated that 350 people will be in intensive care at most, so it should pass", judges the professor. "Modeling, however, depends on how people respect or not the containment measures," he recalls. Other patient transfers could be organized elsewhere in France, or even in Europe, as needed.
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