6:00 p.m., April 10, 2021
It is a very old association, born in Paris more than ninety years ago, and which then inspired other movements in the region, in Lyon, Bordeaux… The School at the Ile-de Hospital -France, despite its long-standing presence in many hospitals in the Ile-de-France region, remains poorly known to the general public. “People confuse us with the teachers sent by the National Education to follow hospitalized children [ils sont au nombre de 800 pour toute la France pour près de 11.000 jeunes malades en moyenne chaque année], explains Caroline Grossi, the president of the structure, when in fact we rely on volunteer teachers who go to the bedside of young people from 5 to 25 years old wherever there is no action from the ministry. “
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These students are suffering, they are fighting against disease and they are also at risk of dropping out of school!
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In Ile-de-France, 450 teachers are part of L’Ecole à Hospital, most of them women and 70% of young retirees, who put their experience at the service of these children. “They invest themselves, in agreement with the hospital doctors, to avoid them a ‘double sentence’, adds Caroline Grossi. These students are suffering, they are fighting against the disease and they risk in addition to dropping out of school! We want to help them to not to repeat, or even to pass their patent or their bac in the hospital if necessary. ” The lessons are individual and adapted to each child. Made-to-measure. They often last only half an hour, so as not to tire young patients too much.
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This award will help us to make ourselves better known
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This 57-year-old mother of four children, a former engineer trained at Centrale Lyon and engaged in social action and volunteering for several years, has just received the third Solidarité Version Femina-le JDD prize for her action at the head from L’Ecole to the Ile-de-France hospital, in tandem with the director, Joséphine Piat. “This award will help us to make ourselves better known, in particular schools that can recommend us to parents with a child who is sick,” she hopes.
Children who demanded their teachers
In normal times, outside the Covid-19 epidemic, the 450 teachers of the association, referred by 20 coordinators, help nearly 4,000 children. But the first confinement of last year put a stop to the arrival of teachers in hospitals. “Like everyone else, we groped, says Caroline Grossi, we set up distance learning courses when possible, if the medical team agreed.” But only a hundred children were able to benefit from it.
In October 2020, things were different. “The hospital teams, especially in the psychiatric services, asked us to continue to come on site, because the children had suffered cruelly from the absence of their teachers during the first confinement, describes the president. Of course, we put in place a whole health safety protocol. Students and teachers are masked. “
And despite the Covid, young patients were able to continue learning, at their own pace. “We want to give these children stricken by the disease a chance so that, once healed, they can turn the page and return to class.”
Clean. : ecolealhopital-idf.org
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