The nurse attacked with a knife on Monday inside the Reims University Hospital did not survive her injuries. Beyond the sadness after the tragedy, caregivers believe that their daily safety must be improved.
“Frankly, we are in shock”, confides Nathalie on Tuesday, after the death of the nurse attacked with a knife by a 59-year-old man, in the enclosure of the CHU of Reims, Monday, May 22. Nathalie is a medical secretary, like the second woman injured, whose life is no longer in danger. “The block woke me up last night to tell me the bad news”she explains.
>> Attack at the Reims University Hospital: what we know about the attack that cost the life of a nurse
It was his service that took care of the two victims.“We worked all night, she says. It’s very heavy. We are in the process of setting up support cells for all staff and we will try to do what we can. But it’s complicated. We never thought we would live this one day, it’s awful”.
The whole CHU stopped for a minute
Usually a hospital never stops. But Tuesday, the day after the attack, at 1:30 p.m., in the main courtyard of the CHU, everything stopped. Arms crossed over white coats, eyes lowered, bouquets of flowers were laid and general manager Laetitia Micaelli-Flender stepped forward in front of several hundred caregivers: “It is with deep sadness that we learned of the death last night of Mezino hull, despite the first aid carried out very quickly and the exemplary mobilization of all. We will now proceed to a minute of silence in tribute to Mézino hull, who has spent his life serving others.”
“We are very bad. All the staff are bad.”
Valérie, caregiverat franceinfo
Difficult to return to work after this minute of silence, but as a hospital never stops, it is first a team of the Samu which splits the crowd while running. They go on an operation. Then little by little the caregivers disperse. Valérie returns to her emergency department. “It’s sadblows this caregiver. We can say that it could be us. Now we will be even more vigilant. We’re going to be very careful.”
The security of the hospital in question
Beyond the sadness, there is also the anger of some of the employees. Their day-to-day safety needs to be improved urgently, according to Mélodie, a caregiver: “We are all shocked by what happened. We had already reported that we did not necessarily feel safe in the hospital.
“We had already said that there were malfunctions and there, it comes once again, unfortunately, to show that there is really a big security problem at the level of the CHU.
Mélodie, caregiverat franceinfo
According to the nursing assistant, it is the filtering of patients and visitors that poses a problem. “Anyone can come in anytimeshe laments. We have already had people in the night who managed to get into the hospital and that is not normal, it should not happen.She also claims to have been assaulted several times in the hospital. “Insults, violence, it is our daily lot”she concludes.
So that this does not happen again, all the caregivers interviewed are calling for new security measures as soon as possible.
The emotion of the staff of the CHU de Reims after the death of a nurse, attacked with a knife. Report by Boris Loumagne