the delicate mission of caregivers in the Native American village of Trois Manétuviers

Françoise, Stéphanie, Jean-Daniel : they are nurses and doctors in intensive care. Everyone boards a canoe towards the village of Trois Palétuviers, an hour's sail from Saint-Georges.

Since January 20, a team of caregivers from the Cayenne Hospital Center has been on a mission in eastern Guyana to raise awareness about organ donation, in an area where access to care is difficult and where cultural barriers exist.

Arriving in this Native American village of nearly 200 inhabitants, they presented themselves to the traditional leaders. They are accompanied by the vice-president of the Grand Customary Council of Guyana. “It is important to come and provide this information on site, because these populations are far from Cayennerecognizes Catherine Yapara. When we talk about organ donation, we talk about death and it’s not easy because we have certain beliefs.”

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Under the village carbet, around ten residents gather to listen to the caregivers. The subject is a bit confusing.

This is the first time I've heard all this. If it can save one person, maybe I could do it, but it's complicated.

Martin Robert, first deputy to the customary chief at Trois Palétuviers

“Here, it has never happened to donate a kidney or another organ, we only see it on TV”continues Davidson Martin. From his exchange with the caregivers, this thirty-year-old from Trois Manétuviers notes that this “is not forced”. “We can agree to give or not”, he insists.

Would he agree to donate one of his organs one day? The young man admits to having never asked the question until now. “It depends, if it can save the life of another person in our family or in the village, perhaps, we have to think, but it is also sharing something that is inside us,” he explains.

Beyond the subject of organ donation, Davidson is satisfied with his exchange with the nurses and doctors at the hospital. “Thank you to them for coming to educate us on these subjects, I learned for example that we can live with only one kidney and even live a long time!”he exclaims.

Among the Palikour, the word organ does not exist. “We name them, we talk about the heart, the liver, the lungs, the kidneys, we explain the role of each organ”describes Francoise Rourosse, nurse from the Coordination of Organ and Tissue Harvesting.

We use simple terms. We also talk about kidney diseases, the consequences for people on dialysis and we tell them that offering an organ after death can save lives and even two lives for the kidney.

Francoise Rourosse, nurse at the Coordination of Organ and Tissue Harvesting

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In Guyana, only kidney donation is possible. It is the only organ capable of remaining viable for more than 24 hours and of being transported to the Guadeloupe University Hospital where organ transplants take place for the Antilles-Guyana zone.

For this team of caregivers, accompanied by the general director of the Cayenne hospital center, Christophe Bouriat, there is no question of forcing anyone. Being a donor is everyone's choice and according to them, the main thing is to talk about it. They all work in intensive care and have observed that families are often unaware of their loved one's decisions, because the subject was not discussed during the patient's lifetime.

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Organ donation awareness

“We are at their side in these moments to ask questions and try to understand what the patient's wishes would have been, explains Jean-Daniel Monsabert, nurse at the Hospital Coordination of Organ and Tissue Harvesting. But it’s much easier to talk about it while you’re alive.”

Watch his interview on Guyane La 1ère:

Interview with Jean-Daniel Monsabert Nurse of the Hospital Coordination of Organ and Tissue Harvesting

In France, everyone is considered a potential donor. Anyone who refuses can register at the age of 13 in the national organ donation refusal register. This is why caregivers from the Cayenne hospital center also went to the Saint-Georges school campus at the start of the week to meet 4 year old students.^th old enough to decide to be donors. In a fun way, they made them aware of the subject. In a little over a month, hospital teams intervened in seven colleges out of the 35 in Guyana.

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By speaking to young people, doctors and nurses hope that they will then convey the message to their families. These health professionals are also sowing seeds for the future. “We are working for 10 or 20 years, so that these adults of tomorrow know what organ donation is, to perhaps one day consider it,” entrust Stéphanie Houcke, intensive care doctor.

Watch his interview on Guyane La 1ère:

Organ donation awareness: live from Saint-Georges

At the beginning of February, caregivers will raise awareness among the residents of Maroni. Last year, four people donated their kidneys in Guyana. There were seven in 2023.