Christophe Dechavanne is committed to hospitals: “I help to my modest measure”: Femme Actuelle Le MAG

0

It all started from a discussion with the one he considers his heroine, the one with whom he shares his life but whom he has not seen since the start of confinement, Tuesday, March 17, 2020: his partner, doctor by profession and in front line of the battle against coronavirus. "What are you missing there now?"asked Christophe Dechavanne. Many things are missing in the field. But the animator learns that what is wasting considerable time for the nursing staff is above all the lack of saturometers and blood pressure monitors. Encouraged by a surfer, he challenges via Twitter Lidl, which manufactures them. The machine starts up. In a few days, nearly 4,000 devices are collected, distributed and sent to hospitals in France. The host has agreed to speak with Current wife to tell about this incredible surge of solidarity.

Current Woman: How are you?
Christophe Dechavanne: I am a priori in good health, even if I was a little hot in the buttocks with a little bit of fatigue. But right now, can a guy like me complain? I'm lucky.

Why did you call for blood pressure monitors and saturometers?
C.D.: I learned that hospitals lack saturometers. This is the thing you put on your finger that measures the level of oxygen in your blood and pulse. The arm blood pressure monitor is used to measure blood pressure. I realized that nurses spent thousands of hours disinfecting everything, so I made a call on Twitter and a guy gave me the great idea of ​​contacting Lidl. Besides, I thank him. So I contacted the management of Lidl France, which had a stock of 4,000 devices. They make them themselves, they don't just sell tools and apples!

How did you know that the nursing staff were in dire need of saturometers and blood pressure monitors?
C.D.: In your opinion (He laughs, his partner is in charge of a hundred Covid-19 beds, editor's note.). I asked a question: what are you missing there now? Answer: saturometers and blood pressure monitors. I tried to help my modest measure, it's been twenty years that we make three million condoms per year for "Go out covered." I have always cared for others. It is my pleasure to help these women and men who suffer from a lack of means, especially technical. My hypochondria means that I also have a lot of buddy doctors and I recently learned that in intensive care, there was a lack of qualified personnel. It's crazy. We lack beds, we lack everything. They are even opening gymnasiums! We live in a science fiction film.

How did the collaboration with Lidl go?
C.D.: I came across a guy with whom it worked right away! On Lidl’s side, they’re upset and they’re really doing everything they can. I am physically useless, but I try to use my rotten telephone network where I am. So we distributed the devices with the help of a head of a hospital clinic in Paris. We sent some to Pitié-Salpêtrière, to Bichat, to Cochin, to Seine-Saint-Denis, to Lariboisière, to Foch hospital, to Saint-Antoine, Saint-Joseph, Ambroise-Paré, Saint-Louis, Henri Mondor, Antoine-Béclère and also in the south of the Paris region. We delivered 300 over there, 34 over there, 100 over here, 90 over there, 50 over there … We sent hundreds, if not thousands, of devices. Nearly 2,000 in Paris and the 2,000 who remained in French hospitals. I’ve even received photos of the staff posing with them. It’s hot, they’re so happy, their eyes sparkle and mine gets wet! We save them precious time, especially in disinfection and just-in-time, and we manage to monitor patients better. There is a reflection that is being made on the possibility of connecting saturometers to a tablet to monitor them remotely. Bravo to Lidl for his help and involvement. Besides, Lidl Spain immediately followed suit. Michel Biero, Executive Director of Purchasing and Marketing at Lidl France, has generated a whole dynamic with his teams. I would like to reassure his employees: if they do not yet have a mask, it is not their fault but it will not be long. I also moved so that the masks ordered abroad arrived safely. The other day, I went shopping at another store and the cashier was only protected by a roll of cellophane … It's incredible and it pains me.

Do you have plans to do other such actions?
C.D.: Listen to me, as soon as I hear of a possibility of making myself useful to motivate people or to help hospital staff … I will be there. Many people are mobilizing, you have to remember the good things. It gives me great pleasure to feel useful at the moment. It’s a pleasure to be of service. When I see all the caregivers do, all they give … It's cool to please these people who are not always treated well, including internally. I have always had a deep respect for nurses in general. The resuscitation staff are also extraordinary! I did what I could. From what I understand, it already helps a lot and I am overjoyed.

How do you react to messages from people asking their neighbors working in the hospital environment to move?
C.D.: What do you want me to answer to such a horror? It must be in the genes, because not too long ago, some people in this country had bad habits. Now, because they're caregivers, people get kicked out of their house by lousy owners. Some of these owners also asked the gendarmes if there was a bonus for denouncing confined gatherings. What would these scales do if the individual is: caregiver, Jewish, black, gay, Arab, and gathered? There are sniffers that get lost. Unfortunately, humanity is made this way. It is dotted with cockroaches. And then there are such flaws in the general organization. Everyone was surprised. Me, I pity the police who work and are beaten up on purpose, voluntarily or not, but I am also very shocked to see that there are still aggressive excesses during the controls. Now is not the time to argue, we will do the accounts afterwards.

"I haven't seen the woman in my life for almost three weeks"

What do you do with your days?
C.D.: Well, I thought I was going to have time to do a thousand things that I don't usually do … But no. I do a little cleaning, a little laundry, a lot of phone calls. I wanted to make little beauties to my car but I didn't even have time! There, I went to buy something to make a family barbecue for tomorrow. We cook a lot, we divide up the things to do. Basically, it's Telework, Family, Pasta-Rice.

Does this extra time make you want to work on new TV projects?
C.D.: This especially confirms to me that I miss it terribly! I’m made to talk to people, some of whom like to talk to me. But it's hard to work on new TV projects today. For the moment, with Coyote (his production box, editor's note), we're tightening the buttocks because we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow … or the day after tomorrow.

What is most difficult during this confinement?
C.D.: I haven't seen the woman in my life for almost three weeks. It’s a terrible lack, we live it very badly … My wife, this hero. She and her colleagues are of abnegation and extraordinary courage, even beyond. I have a real embarrassment with this story: these soldiers go volunteering for "war" … insufficiently armed, and I'm not talking about psychology. This, too, will have to change. It's hard, we don't know how long it will last. Nobody knows it. But yes, it is true, in these times, the most difficult for me is really the lack of the woman I love. When we’re not together, we’re sad. So shaking myself up to do something humanitarian for the nursing staff is my way of being connected to what they are doing even if for thirty years I have been fighting for the prevention of AIDS. I regret not having a white blouse to be fully at his side. Everything I read is stressful, so I can't seem to be relaxed or sleep well. Everything I hear scares me. I admit to lifting my foot on the news and the various reports on social networks that I find rather anxiety-provoking, and that is a mild understatement. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but it’s crazy what a situation like this reveals. There is a kind of political solidarity and at the same time, I read things from all sides extremely surly. This does not seem to me to be the right time, even if we know that it has been decades of scratching sorrel on the back of public services, including, unfortunately, the hospital, and it is a disaster . We laughed at Roselyne Bachelot with her vaccines bought en masse at the time … And there, we were surprised. But the whole planet was not ready for what fell on it.

And what makes you balm in your heart?
C.D.: I am fortunate to have been able to take my family to the countryside and see the nature that is opening up. I am extremely privileged. I think of those of four in small apartments. It’s also new to be all at home. I have a broken down family (laughs), well, no, broken down. There is the boy of my sweetheart, who is 13 years old, my son-in-law, who is an airline pilot and with whom I get along very well, my two daughters… It is a new family experience which is going rather well and as my daughter is pregnant, we are happy to be with her. Her daughter, my granddaughter, Jeanne, is so cute and adorable. I have the opportunity to take care of it a little more, I who am not necessarily a spoiled grandfather. We have a little space, we're very lucky. Really.

"What pisses me off is all this anti-Macron and anti-government aggressiveness"

Do you have another message to pass on?
C.D.: I think about battered women, abused children … I was sure it would happen, because the guys who usually drink drink even more. Whether those who are violent in the morning or in the evening are there all day. And that permanent overcrowding inevitably generates tensions. This period is overwhelming in every sense of the term and will bring about changes from all sides: socially, politically economically, ecologically … We will never be the same. To relax a bit and try to relax the others, I regularly do live, on Instagram and in the second half of the evening (laughs) where I talk with people … and a lot of young people, even! It amazed me. This allows me to do my job a little in front of a few hundred people, and we go up every day. I have internet concerns, but I do everything I can while keeping my cool (laughs). Many of us do this kind of thing. Regarding your question, I think of the bastards who make denouncement, or who reject their "society" caregivers as plague victims … Would they hear the voice of someone who asks them to no longer be these individuals- the ? Unfortunately, I’m not sure at all. Because that is in the genes, but they are genes that I don't like. More than ever, we need solidarity, to put an end, if we can, to the incessant polemics which are daily renewed and which are useless and useful to no one. We must not mobilize crowds to get out of aggression and anger, but rather calm and solidarity. We are fortunate not to have a Trump at the head of the country. Even if some of our policies make us laugh or cry when we change our minds and shirts from week to week. What the hell is all this anti-Macron and anti-government rage. The first round of the municipal elections, they were all for it, after they all found it shameful. Containment was useless, then it's "we did it too late", now it's "when do we deconfine" … and they are the same ones who speak! Like I said, it is better to laugh than to cry but from time to time, I admit, I hear myself out loud saying "but shut your mouth!"

One last word ?
C.D.: Do not go out, even covered. Stay home ! Let's be solid and welded.

Read also : Coronavirus epidemic peak: what is it and when will it take place in France?