Istres (AFP)
On the tarmac at the Istres base, the Air Force's Airbus A330 Phoenix is preparing to take off for a 5th Morphée mission. Objective of the day: evacuate six patients from Covid-19 from Grand Est to Germany.
Developed after the Karachi attack in 2002, this airborne medical evacuation device transforming a device into a flying hospital was designed for victims of terrorism or wounded soldiers in external operations: "There, our front is the fight against the coronavirus ", explains colonel Pierre Gaudillière, commander of base 125 of the air force, in Bouches-du-Rhône.
Tuesday morning, 8:00 am: the mechanics are busy around the aircraft. Take-off is scheduled for 12 noon to evacuate six patients from Mulhouse and Colmar (Haut-Rhin) to Hamburg, in the north of Germany.
An hour later, the medical team of the Armed Forces Health Service climbed into the cabin. Resuscitators, nurse anesthetists, nurse-air conveyors: 13 in total, under the direction of the main doctor Mathieu, medical director of the operation.
A resuscitator at the Percy military hospital in Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine), he was one of the four previous missions. Like Major Yannick, nurse-conveyor on the base of Istres, always "intoxicated" by these missions which are out of the ordinary.
For everyone else, this is a first Morphée operation. "Covid-19 patients, I'm used to it now," explains lead doctor Violaine, anesthesiologist at Percy: "What will be new is the environment, the noise!"
- "Red zone" -
"It's stimulating, we are participating in a national solidarity mission", smiles the main doctor Julia, stationed on the base of Istres, finishing her checklist, on one of the six resuscitation stations installed on board . One per patient to come.
In the cockpit, Captain Charles gives an update on the flight conditions. Expected arrival at Basel-Mulhouse airport: 1:15 p.m.
Like his co-pilot and the four flight crew members, the captain of the aircraft was far from his usual missions - refueling in flight in support of the French force Barkhane over the Sahel or sky police over the hexagon. But the opponent may be even more difficult to track down.
At the time of landing in Mulhouse, the aircraft is still "clean": the space is considered to be a "green zone", free from the virus.
But before boarding the first patient, the cockpit must be isolated from the rest of the aircraft. A pink vinyl curtain is meticulously fixed with adhesive, to prevent the virus from infiltrating towards the pilot and the co-pilot. Maneuvering: Chief Warrant Officer Bruno.
Posted at the Cazaux base in Gironde, he is one of three NRBC (nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical) safety experts on board. They are the ones who will ensure, until the end of the day, strict compliance with security measures against the virus, with their three comrades from the Biomedical Research Institute of the Armies of Brétigny-sur-Orge (Essonne).
Because with the arrival of the first patient on board, around 1:30 p.m., in Mulhouse, the medical part of the device became "red zone", potentially contaminated.
For all, doctors, nurses or biological risk experts, the khaki mesh has been replaced by a white outfit evoking that of a astronaut, over a medical pajamas: full polyethylene suit, apron, charlotte, overboots, glasses protection, FFP2 mask, and double pair of gloves.
"All the gestures are more complicated, it is warmer, but that is the rule of the game," explains the main doctor Violaine.
To get out of this "red zone", the procedure is very strict. Impossible to go to rest or eat, in the "green zone" at the back of the device, without going through the "orange zone", an airlock where you have to completely get rid of your protective gear, in a trash can individual immediately hermetically closed. Then, on your return, you have to put on a new outfit.
- Eight hours of disinfection -
2:40 pm: the plane leaves Basel-Mulhouse, with its six new passengers: "The patients that are transferred are intubated, placed in an artificial coma, but they are stable patients, who do not need to be placed in position ventral to be ventilated ", explains to AFP doctor Laure Gerstl, of the Louis Pasteur hospital in Colmar, who has just helped them boarding.
Direction Hamburg therefore, from where they will be transferred to the German hospitals of Kiel and Lübeck.
"Thank you to our caregivers, our soldiers and Germany," tweeted the Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, to welcome the cooperation between the two countries. Around 6:30 p.m., the last of the Alsatian patients was landed at the airport in the Hanseatic city.
For the A330 Phoenix, the time is back to Istres. A goal reached at 8:30 p.m. For the 25 crew members of the day, the mission is over.
"For an anesthesiologist-resuscitator, an operation like that is what we dream of doing", smiles the main doctor Raphaël, of the military hospital Laveran, in Marseille, "with a sense of the accomplished duty".
But the ballet will still last all night, in the device, with the intervention of NRBC personnel, for a meticulous disinfection operation of almost eight hours. History of eliminating the slightest potential trace of the virus. Around 5:00 a.m., he will be ready to take off again.
© 2020 AFP