Faced with the growing saturation of hospitals, the first transfers of patients between regions took place on Friday.

Eight patients left Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

At the North West hospital in Villefranche-sur-Saône, we are trying to provide the best possible care and to unclog the beds.

TESTIMONY

More and more hospitals are on the verge of saturation.

Thursday, the North West hospital in Villefranche-sur-Saône issued a press release "sounding the alarm" on its care capacities.

30 kilometers from Lyon, it suffers the full brunt of the second wave of coronavirus.

For its director, Marie Pierre Bongiovanni, any measure is good to take to limit the effects of saturation.

A saturated hospital and a weakened medical team

The conclusion is clear.

"We are 100% full. On our resuscitation it is continuous. We are also in a crisis situation on the medical beds, that is to say the beds to accommodate patients whether they are Covid or not Covid" , explains Marie-Pierre Bongiovanni.

The hospital has 146 beds occupied by Covid patients and nine beds occupied in intensive care due to the coronavirus.

This is 50% of the hospital's resuscitation capacity, the other half being occupied by other types of patients.

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According to the director, there are as many patients linked to the coronavirus as during the last week of March, at the height of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Added to this is the fact that "a lot of staff have the Covid, a lot more than the last time", which amputates the healthcare team.

In addition, nursing home patients, for which the hospital is responsible, are also more likely to be infected.

Look for all possible solutions

For now, the hospital is mainly transferring patients with coronavirus to Lyon, whose hospital has higher capacities.

A solution that does not solve everything, because for medicine beds "it is much more difficult because there are not necessarily transfer possibilities", explains Marie-Pierre Bongiovanni.

The hospital will now be able to count on the resumption of the first interregional patient transfers, since eight patients have already left Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes for New Aquitaine.

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The hospital is counting above all on the call for mobilization that it launched in order to obtain more support.

"Currently, we are looking for at least 60 caregivers, minimum. And it is very complicated because despite the calls that we have launched for interim or replacement missions, calls to private clinics, retired people, liberal professionals , we do not have enough candidates to fill all the positions ", deplores the director of the hospital.

"We are currently taking everything, even for a week or two weeks".