Yasmina Kattou, edited by Ugo Pascolo 06:20, April 28, 2022
De-dramatize radiotherapy for children with cancer.
This is the goal of the "Hospital of my Doudou" created by the PharmaVie association at the European Institute for the Fight against Cancer Gustave Roussy.
A mini-hospital for sick children to pretend to pass radiotherapy exams to their cuddly toy.
"You have to put the helmet on him so that it is not too tight."
In the waiting room, Louise is playing doctor on her brown teddy bear.
The 9-year-old girl suffers from a tumor in her head.
At each visit to the Gustave Roussy Institute in Villejuif, Louise takes care of her teddy bear.
Because the young girl is located in "my Doudou's hospital".
A mini-hospital for sick children to pretend to pass radiotherapy exams to their cuddly toy.
A way for the little ones with cancer to play down radiotherapy.
"I can make him do what I do"
"The machine can go! It sends rays, it revolves around you... and it's over!" Louise explains to her teddy bear.
A way for her to feel better, while she is in the middle of a pediatric oncology unit.
"I can make him do what I do, so I tell myself that it's not just me who does that", she explains at the microphone of Europe 1. "It allows him to to be calm, not to be afraid", confides for her part Marie, Louise's mother.
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Make the exam clear and reduce children's stress
A benefit also noticed by Stéphanie Bolle, oncologist and radiotherapist at the Gustave Roussy Institute.
"Radiotherapy can't be seen, it can't be heard, it can't be felt, so having a cuddly toy to whom you can do the treatment makes it possible to better illustrate the treatment and to do it more easily understand to the children how the sessions are going."
A study has shown that thanks to the mon doudou hospital, the anxiety of children during an examination decreases from 7 to 2 on a scale of 10.