Garches (Hôpital Raymond-Poincaré)

A public healthcare hospital (1932) / Visit to the paediatric ward of the Raymond Poincaré hospital and a Foundation donation to build a sensorial awakening room for patients with disabilities and reduced mobility, a projection room for children and families, and DVDs, PCs and screens for bedrooms (December 2009). The sensorial awakening room inaugurated (15 December 2010)

The “essential-superfluous”, as Raymond-Poincaré Hospital’s paediatric director Brigitte Estournet puts it, encompasses everything that can make children’s lives easier or better in her ward. It can be Easter eggs from the bakery across the street or a TV set… “Without them, paralysed children lie there staring at the ceiling. On Sundays, they have nothing to do before and after their families come around to visit, there are no educational experts here.” Raymond-Poincaré hospital was built from 1932 to 1936 and spent several years focusing on treating patients with poliomyelitis after-effects. Then it stretched to treat head and backbone trauma, neuromuscular diseases, multiple disabilities, and other disorders. Professor’ Estournet’s paediatric ward specialises in respiratory, orthopaedic and neurological disorders. “These problems intertwine and compound. That’s why medical and paramedical staff here in Garches specialise in several fields (neurology, ventilation, rehabilitation, etc.)” It is France’s only paediatric hospital that provides intensive care and rehabilitation under the same roof, and can therefore take care of the most fragile patients. Patient care, here, can last a lifetime. But “the public healthcare system hasn’t got much money. Our budget for the ward barely pays for the medical supplies we need. We can’t even change the beds. The conditions these kids have to cope with in hospital are disastrous. We can’t buy them new beds, tables or television sets. We have always kept going on private donations,” this doctor remembers. Carla Bruni-Sarkozy inaugurated the sensorial awakening room with Foundation executive committee member Michèle Barzach on 15 December 2010, after handing out Christmas presents to the children in the hospital. The projection room and bedrooms have been fitted with systems bought using Foundation funds.