Evacuations of patients on artificial respirators are continuing in an attempt to unclog the intensive care units in the Grand-Est, overwhelmed by the wave of the coronavirus epidemic. Two medical TGVs leave the region on Sunday morning to reach hospitals in New Aquitaine.
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Patients lying in stretchers
The first must leave Mulhouse, direction Poitiers, with 12 patients on board. They will be distributed on arrival among several hospitals in the area. The second train, carrying 24 patients, will reach Bordeaux then Bayonne from Nancy. All in serious condition, patients will travel lying in stretchers installed above the passenger seats, with their respirators placed on the luggage racks.
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"In each TGV car, at the level of the lower part, the resuscitation rooms are installed. Four patients are installed there, with eight caregivers who take care of them. It is like a hospital unit, except that it is travels at 300 km / h ", describes Professor Calry, chief of the Samu de Paris, who designed this sanitary train with the SNCF.
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A hundred people mobilized
At the bedside of the sick, Samu teams, medical and paramedical staff: in all, a hundred people are mobilized to allow the intensive care unit in the Grand-Est to breathe. Patients are expected in their temporary establishments at the end of the day on Sunday and should stay there for 15 days to three weeks.