They are working on the front lines of the pandemic and all agree: this is unlike anything they had known before. They have seen around 900 Covid patients at the Centre Hospitalier during this year, 95 of which were in intensive care. The hospital has recorded 127 deaths linked to the Coronavirus.
This daily presence of death is not easy to deal with, even for the most experienced among the medical staff. Add to that the constant fear of catching the virus themselves, or of passing it on, and the extensive precautions this entails: protective clothes, gloves, masks, visors, constant disinfection.
A team from RTL was allowed to follow the personnel from Unit 20 at the CHL, which belongs to the “National Service for Infectious Diseases”, which cares for Covid patients.
How do these everyday heroes deal with the constant battle against the virus? A carer and the head psychologist tell us of the impact the virus has on their daily lives.
There is little time to recover and really deal with the experience, as the virus spares no one. They are putting a lot of their hopes in the ongoing vaccination campaign. Until then, they have to hold out. How much longer will that be? No one knows.
Until the virus is beaten and life can return to normal, the hospital offers a variety of services to help its staff cope with the stress, such as relaxation sessions.
