“Chocolate is our enemy. But to flee from the enemy is cowardly”. By writing, not without humor, this sentence of the day on their whiteboard, the staff on duty in the emergency department of Sainte-Musse hospital probably did not think that Philippe Mahé and Josée Massi, respectively prefect of Var and mayor of Toulon, would challenge them the same evening.
Exhausted staff
This Tuesday at the end of the afternoon, during the traditional tour of operational security and emergency services, the State representative and the councilor were indeed quite generous towards the caregivers at the Toulon hospital. Although these chocolate treats were accepted wholeheartedly, they did not prevent staff from expressing their weariness.
“Are you aware of the health situation in France? Of what caregivers and patients experience on a daily basis? I have just returned from a few months of leave. I was happy with the idea of returning to my work, and I am finding a exhausted, demoralized team”testified – in a calm tone – a nurse on duty. Highlighting “the 200 million euros which will be invested for the next five years” in the Var health services, the Var prefect affirmed that he was unaware of the difficulties faced by caregivers.
Those in the Toulon emergency room were in any case preparing to spend a rather intense New Year's Eve night. Especially since, “due to a lack of sufficient staff, the emergency rooms at Sainte-Anne and Brignoles hospitals are operating, but in degraded mode”according to Doctor Catherine Velly, the head of the emergency medicine center in Sainte-Musse.
Pediatric emergencies under pressure
This Tuesday at the end of the day, activity was already brisk. Particularly in pediatric emergencies where, since the start of the Christmas holidays, the simultaneous circulation of influenza and bronchiolitis viruses has put the service in question under pressure.
“We had a peak of 130 young patients last week. It has fallen back a bit, but with around a hundred children treated on average each day, we are well above 80 in normal times”slips Yann Le Bras, the director of the Toulon – La Seyne intercommunal hospital center.
During this pre-New Year's Eve tour, the prefect of Var and the mayor of Toulon also visited the Integrated Reception and Orientation Service, the urban supervision center of the municipal police of Toulon, as well as the firefighters from the Port Marchand barracks.
