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Mexico City, 1985, intervention on an earthquake, Brazzaville, 1997, mission in the midst of civil war, Indonesia 2005, treating the victims of a tidal wave… To the list of 13 missions, ESCRIM will be able to add: Mayotte, 2021, Covid epidemic. Because the 35 men and women who make up the Element of the rapid civil security of medical intervention arrived in a disaster-stricken territory, but not by a natural disaster: among these missions, that of deploying “on a territory where the infrastructures are absent, destroyed or insufficient ”.
Usually, it is almost with a knife between their teeth that these specialists in surgery (DAC) from Nîmes, and in medical support (DAMHO) from Brignoles – the two units that make up the ESCRIM – land in a disaster area. “We set up the tents and set up the picot beds, but in Mayotte, we were treated to a brand new structure! », Exclaims Isabelle Arnaud, head doctor of the structure. Arrived last Thursday in the almost empty and freshly painted walls of the brand new Pamandzi hospital, they were almost operational 48 hours later, “from the start, we were able to save a little 2-year-old boy”, reports Lieutenant-Colonel Michel Cherbetian who leads the mission. He was chosen for his profile as Head of Operations and Planning in Nîmes, where he works with the ARS and interministerial.
The Covid epidemic and its patients who knocked on the overloaded emergency door at the Mamoudzou CHM will have made it possible to force the opening of the Pamandzi hospital, a structure whose foundation stone was laid in 2015 by the Prime Minister of Manuel Valls period. And to welcome this Monday, the prefect of Mayotte and the director of the ARS.
Oxygen for the SAMU
A structure that makes people happy among patients and nursing staff, but not only: Saïd Omar Oili, mayor of Dzaoudzi-Labattoir, and president of the intermunicipal association of Petite Terre was very moved to welcome the opening of the structure: ” When I was president of the general council, I had the deliberation voted for this hospital to be held in Pamandzi ”. We are talking about the years 2006 or 2007, “at the time, the Pamandzians were our enemies” believes it is good to add the mayor of Dzaoudzi. Difficult for Jean-François Colombet not to let go of one, “it has changed a lot! », Smirk. At the time in any case, the decision of the departmental councilor of Dzaoudzi had been experienced as a betrayal by the inhabitants of his canton, “they camped in front of my house for more than 2 weeks in protest, but I wanted to secure the land ”.
There, the hospital has no other destiny than to welcome the population of Petite Terre. If it was originally intended for care suites and rehabilitation, it was necessary to adapt to the crisis context and install emergencies on the ground floor, managed by ESCRIM. “This implementation has considerably lightened the burden on the SAMU, since we are no longer dependent on barges at night, the care at the Pamandzi hospital can be done 24 hours a day”, reports Christophe Caralp who heads the SAMU.
An ambulance boat for the hospital
However, it is not yet the large crowd at the doors of the hospital, “it will be known by word of mouth”, assures Michel Cherbetian.
The progression is indeed rapid, since the day after their arrival, Friday, 10 non-Covid people were received in the emergency room, Saturday it is 20 people, including 3 positive for the virus and Sunday 30, including 4 Covid +. “This morning, we received two Covid patients in acute respiratory distress, we were able to stabilize them, one was transferred by the SAMU to the CHM of Grande Terre. We can now keep them at night, while waiting for the barge service to resume, ”reports Isabelle Arnaud. This Monday evening, 3 people were kept in the emergency room on the ground floor, and upstairs, in medicine, 14 beds are occupied by the transfer of patients from the Pamandzi hospital. “We will have a capacity of 50 beds when we fully open the SSR, Care and Rehabilitation Service,” explains Dominique Voynet.
For the moment, and to adapt to the context, the service could equip itself with an additional R, an SSRR, since we have seen that cases of Resuscitation arise: “We did not foresee this scheme in the initial starting design. We therefore adapted by installing 50-liter oxygen rounds in the patient’s beds, and in the event of high consumption, we positioned the 17,000-liter tank here unloaded by the ‘Pourquoi pas?’ “
An undeniable comfort, and which calls for planning on after ESCRIM, as Dominique Voynet explains: “Their initial mission is one month, but it could be extended”. An arbitration between the Ministries of the Interior and of Health, to which the former minister is broken. Who made two announcements to the media present: “To improve the service, we are going to equip the hospital helicopter for night flights, and we are considering the purchase of an ambulance boat”. Currently, ambulances have to barge, providing space on board, which is not always easy.
When in the future of the hospital after this early opening, the date of its inauguration is not yet known: “We must integrate the phase of lifting reservations by touring all the facilities, it is incompressible and lasts 2 months, and we have to install the operating theater and its equipment, as well as the radiology. “A period of at least 6 months according to the director of ARS Mayotte, who mentioned other work to be carried out:” In any case, the need to unclog the CHM by building a second equilibrium hospital on the west coast is no longer to be proven ”.
Anne Perzo-Lafond
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