The date of March 15, 2020 will forever be engraved in the memory of all those who worked at the Dreux hospital center during this period. It is the day when the first Covid patient crossed the threshold of the temporary infectious disease unit (UTI) set up by the hospital team.
The next day, at the Samu 28 switchboard, the peak of calls reached peaks with 1,300 calls in a single day, on the eve of the start of the strict confinement decided by the Government.
With more than a thousand calls a day the Samu 28 is on the verge of explosion
But, it has been several weeks since the Dreux hospital has been on a war footing. Starting with Véronique Julié, the president of the Medical Supervisory Board, who also supervises the Samu 28, and remembers the first hours.
“We could see what was happening in China. Then we had the first news from Grand-Est and Beauvais. We knew we were going to take the wave head on. I quickly plunged back into the atmosphere of H1N1 flu, with the idea of anticipating “.
Véronique Julié (President of the CME)
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On March 17, the White Plan was launched. At Samu, an overflow room is already in place to deal with the surge of calls, the hospital is sanctuary. We choose the massive deprogramming of non-Covid interventions and care.
After the relative summer truce, everyone is expecting the new wave, the sick are starting to come back. It will have to last. Véronique Julié notes the changes in the atmosphere in the hospital.
“In one year, knowledge of the disease has improved a lot. Today, we keep patients for a shorter period. We have gone from 21 days of hospitalization to 10. We no longer systematically intubate them. Infectious Disease Unit, we have treatments that give better results “.
Véronique Julié
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“A red plan lasts 24-48 hours (…) But there, it’s been a year and the virus is still there”
The race for masks and gloves, tinkered and reused gowns, the shortage of medication, are just a bad memory. But, more slyly, it is the wear and tear that is felt.
“At the time of the first wave, the teams were very motivated. We went to the front as caregivers always know how to do in a crisis. A red plan lasts 24 hours, 48 hours, so we give everything. it’s been a year and the virus is still there “.
Véronique Julié
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To better resist Covid-19 and its assaults, the hospital has recourse to all weapons: staff vaccination, screening of patients and staff, equipment in FFP2 masks for all hospital staff . It relies on all possible cooperation with city doctors and especially with the clinic of La Maison-Blanche in Vernouillet, which makes beds available to relieve hospital services.
The hospital suffers but holds up
Today, the time has passed for deprogramming. The obligation of care for the chronically ill has become the leitmotif of Hugo Montamat, the director of the hospital. For her part, Véronique Julié keeps the plan honed in March and April 2020 up her sleeve.
To ward off lassitude, Hugo Montamat lets go of his confidence in the Dreux hospital with a sigh to continue to face and above all to avoid the deprogramming against which he struggles on a daily basis.
“There is in this hospital a sense of solidarity and initiative which saves us”.
Hugo Montamat (director of Dreux hospital)
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Valerie Beaudoin
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