This is a file that has been dragging on for months but whose epilogue is coming soon. The Belledonne clinic, a private health establishment located in Saint-Martin-d’Hères and belonging to the Elsan group, will be able to benefit from a temporary helipad from mid-March. The General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) issued a favorable opinion to this effect on January 16 and an order was issued by the prefect of Isère on February 1.
The challenge is major: the creation of this helipad will allow continuity in the management of cardiological emergencies for patients in the territory and neighboring departments which, in fact, will no longer be done, as is currently the case, by land or transfer to other health facilities.
University land
The fault of a helipad (on the roof of the establishment) which “is no longer up to standard” – but having been the subject of a derogation – which requires “the filing of another building permit within the framework of an establishment project to come”, according to Thierry Pernet, director of the Belledonne clinic. It is also the fault of the so-called local sites where, on the former Euromaster site next to the health establishment, cranes prevent any rotation nearby.
It is on the green space at the Weil entrance to the university domain – where the Traveler community has become accustomed to settling several times a year – that the new facility will take shape. A place, chosen in connection with the University of Grenoble Alpes and the City of Saint-Martin-d’Hères, which is not very surprising: the land is “near” the clinic and is part of “the take-off and landing standards.
On the other hand, some arbitrations are still on the table for the transfer of patients from the helipad to the clinic. “Several scenarios are being studied but we should go, at least initially, to an ambulance service provider. Unless the solution happens internally, ”argues the director.
The work, which began on February 20, is not pharaonic: it mainly consists of the installation of weighted floor slabs (but without foundations), a fence and photovoltaic lighting devices. They are expected to last until mid-March, when the helipad will be in operation.
The authorization from the prefecture is nevertheless subject to two essential parameters: the number of flights is limited to “200 rotations per year” and on a defined time slot: “8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Traffic “close to what the clinic was doing before”. The temporary nature of the installation is also notified: the helipad is in place while the new heliport is commissioned, scheduled for the end of 2024/beginning of 2025.
Cardiologists: “It was time! »
Last November, in our columns, several cardiologists practicing at the Belledonne clinic denounced a “wobbly situation” or even “dangerous” and demanded that a quick solution, in the absence of a standard heliport, be found. “The heliport is an essential element in the management of cardiological emergencies, and in particular coronary emergencies, on the territory. This equipment, born with the clinic 40 years ago, the only one to exist with that of the CHU Grenoble Alpes, has rendered countless services and has even saved lives, “explained in particular a health professional, weary of successive changes within of the management of the private Martinérois establishment who “do not help in the follow-up of files”.
The announcement of the creation of a temporary helipad was in fact rather well received. “It was time! This is a very good thing for the care of patients (whose time factor is known to matter) and it is also good news for maintaining activity. It will be less easy than touching an elevator button from the roof of the clinic, but that’s it,” he says.
As for local residents living near the future temporary helipad, they are not too worried either. “We know that there will be no rotations at night and then it’s better than traveling people we are told. Exchanges between the Union de quartier, the management of the Belledonne clinic and the City took place to “reassure” the population. A public meeting is even planned for the next few days for the residents concerned.
