While the Prime Minister announced on Monday a new health protocol for the school and that teachers are planning a strike against these directives this Thursday which promises to be very followed, children are still forced to be tested three times if they are contact cases. Even if the self-tests are now sufficient, the city of Marseille decided to open a screening center specially dedicated to the youngest on Wednesday. Its objective is to unclog laboratories and pharmacies, and to help parents. Europe 1 went there.
“Cries, tears”
The center is located in Parc Chanot, in the same hall as the vaccination unit co-managed between the city and the firefighters. The activity begins slowly. Only one of the two boxes is occupied at the time of our passage. Inside, a little girl struggles with all her might at the approach of the swab, despite all the gentleness and patience of the nurse.
His dad regrets it, these tests are painful moments for everyone. “Since the start of the Covid, we’ve tested it seven times and each time it’s screaming and crying … It’s war,” he breathes. And he concedes it, managing this kind of moment alone with a self-test at home is very complicated. Better to leave the hand to those who know how to do it.
Nurses trained in the pediatric approach
This unit is precisely designed to make the approach with the child as flexible as possible. The nurses are trained in pediatric approach techniques and a childish decoration is being developed, as explained by David, chief medical officer of the firefighters. “There is a whole way of approaching the child at the moment of this gesture and of playing with him in such a way that it is the least unpleasant possible by having him practice the test himself on a doll, before this it’s his turn,” he explains.
The deputy mayor of Marseille for health, Michèle Rubirola, has decided to maintain this project despite the new school protocol of Jean Castex. “We will first wait to see whether or not this protocol is maintained. And in any case, we have to ask ourselves the question of the sufficient number of self-tests available. There are also parents who do not want not do these self-tests, children who are afraid, so this device is maintained”, she assures. Up to 250 children can be tested here every day.