an “extreme level of violence” which “sends shivers down your spine”, deplores the hospital director

The establishment is closed until Monday after two men physically attacked caregivers, several of whom were injured. The Minister of Health, Yannick Neuder, denounces an “intolerable” attack.

“We have never experienced this extreme level of violence against establishment staff”deplored Thursday January 9 on “ici Pays de Savoie” Marie Chablin, deputy director of the Private Hospital of Pays de Savoie (HPPS) in Annemasse (Haute-Savoie), closed until Monday morning after the attack on her personnel by two men Wednesday January 8. “The caregivers are not there for that, (this attack) for no reason, it sends shivers down our spine, we really want to support the team in this incomprehensible context of violence”adds the director of the hospital, which has 250 beds and whose emergency rooms record around a hundred consultations daily.

The attack occurred after the two suspects, a patient waiting on a stretcher for suspected head trauma and his companion, both aged in their thirties, complained of having waited too long. . The companion enters the department and begins to attack a nurse, “verbally then physically”After “fifteen minutes” waiting, reports “ici Pays de Savoie”. The man pushes her and drags her by the hair, joined by the person on the stretcher. Alerted, the other health professionals intervened to help their colleague, receiving blows from the two men who then fled by car.

The Minister of Health, Yannick Neuder, denounces an attack “intolerable”. He will visit the teams at the Pays de Savoie Private Hospital (HPPS) on Saturday, he announced on Friday at franceinfo, during a trip to the Cochin hospital in Paris. The Minister of Health promises “criminal measures to completely condemn these acts”.

In total, seven caregivers out of the 14 involved in the attack were injured. “There are seven paramedical staff, nurses and caregivers who have physical injuries, including myself, with multiple contusions of the face and all over the body, with a fracture”specifies emergency manager Alexandre De Oliveira.

“My colleagues are very, very psychologically impacted. Apart from the physical damage, it is mainly the mental and psychological damage that I will remember. They are very impacted by this situation”he continues. Managing stress, aggressiveness in emergencies is an integral part of our job (…) these are things for which we are trained, which we know how to manage very well, in 90% of cases it goes well, we rarely have resort to physical violence, unfortunately here it was not enough.”