A medical team from the Cayenne Hospital Center is currently in Saint-Georges de l'Oyapock to carry out an operation to raise awareness about organ donation. Monday January 20, she went to the college to speak to 4th grade students. This Tuesday, she goes to the village of Trois Manétuviers.
“Where is your heart? », “What are the lungs for? » Thanks to questions and quizzes, in a fun and participatory way, caregivers from the Cayenne hospital center manage to address the delicate subject of organ donation.
Since Monday, January 20, nurses, intensive care doctors and even the director of the Cayenne hospital have been leading an organ donation awareness campaign in Eastern Guyana. Yesterday, they were facing 4th grade students from Saint-Georges college.
“We speak to them with simple words, removing the taboo of death,” explains Jean-Daniel Monsabert, nurse at the Hospital Coordination for Organ and Tissue Harvesting. We use colloquial language, we use few scientific words and we popularize as much as possible so that they can understand”.
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©Laura Philippon
Jean-Daniel Monsabert takes on the role of host. Students are divided into several groups with a bell to activate to answer first.
These middle school students are all at least 13 years old and most of them have never heard of organ donation. “ When I spoke to my 4th grade classes about this project on raising awareness about organ donation, I quickly understood that almost no students knew what it was, so it's great that the hospital is coming to inform them »underlines, Zoé Viellard, professor of plastic arts at the Saint-Georges college.
However, all these young people are already old enough to decide what they want to do with their organs. “The law says that we are all organ donors, recalls Jean-Daniel Monsabert, nurse from the Hospital Coordination of Organ and Tissue Harvesting. But from the age of 13, you can decide to be against it by registering on the national register of refusal of organ donation.. “The essential message that we want to convey is above all to talk about our position on organ donation, whether we are for or against,” he adds.
These college students were all unaware that they were already old enough to decide. At the end of the animation, they wonder. “It’s important to donate organs to people who need them or to members of our family”reacts Noam Martin, 4th grade student. “At the moment I'm a little young, but I think maybe later I would donate my organs to members of my family if they need them, maybe my kidneys”he concludes.
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©Laura Philippon
In a little over a month, teams from Cayenne hospital intervened in seven colleges out of the 35 in Guyana.
Members of the organ and tissue harvesting coordination also lead the organ donation canoe to reach the most remote villages. Places where access to care is difficult. This Tuesday, they will go to Trois Manétuviers.
“We will talk to them about organ donation, but we will also answer all their health questions,” explains Stéphanie Houcke, intensive care doctor. But we don't go alone, we are always accompanied by traditional leaders because we know that the subject is often taboo and difficult to discuss. We don’t want to shock anyone, we take everyone’s cultures into account.”
In this approach, there is no question for the team of forcing anyone. These caregivers work above all for the future, for future generations. “Talking about organ donation today, maybe in 10 or 20 years, people in these villages will know what organ donation is and will be in favor of it.”hopes Doctor Stéphanie Houcke, intensive care doctor.
In Guyana, however, organ donations are limited. Only kidneys can be removed, because they remain viable for more than 24 hours. This period of time allows medical teams to transport them to Guadeloupe, where the University Hospital is authorized to carry out organ transplants.
Last year, three patients donated their kidneys in Guyana.
