Sarreguemines. Support for palliative care patients: “Life is beautiful, we hope death is too”

Volunteers from the Chemin de Vie association support palliative care patients . They offer their time, a listening ear, "and above all, a presence, which can very well be expressed through silence," says François Fogel, the president.

Jessica Quint, from Farébersviller, is preparing to support her first patients. She is one of sixteen new volunteers joining the core group of five. "We could no longer keep up with demand," recalls the president. "It was important that we recruit."

The radio call had the desired effect. Out of around thirty applications, around fifteen were selected, "ensuring the diversity of profiles, ages, personalities... This is what makes an association rich and sustainable."

The 16 new volunteers will soon be operational. They have just completed their training program, which began in February. "We're not asking for knowledge, but for a few human qualities: empathy, kindness, and an awareness that death is a part of life. It shouldn't be a taboo subject."

During the training, the recruits covered the evolution of the Claeys-Leonetti law, types of pain, death in society, mourning, etc. "We tried to develop knowledge, particularly on palliative care, the stages of dying, the psychology of the patient at the end of life," explains François Fogel . "But also to develop know-how and interpersonal skills through role-playing and difficult situations, when you enter a room and the patient doesn't want to see you or their family doesn't."

Jessica Quint felt empowered during the training. "I knew it was something for me. I can't wait to get started," says the 44-year-old volunteer.

The association supports patients monitored by the mobile palliative care team at Robert-Pax Hospital , to which it is attached. "But we also work at the CHS, the Bitche Hospital," in nursing homes, and perhaps soon at the Sarralbe Hospital. "We had plenty of pending projects that we'll be able to relaunch, including home hospitalization," announces François Fogel.

Support involves personalizing the relationship, "through the personality of the volunteer and that of the patient. Sometimes it matches, sometimes it doesn't. It's important to have a broad panel of volunteers."

François Fogel reassures. "We are ordinary people, there is nothing morbid about us. We find life beautiful, which is why we want death to be beautiful too." In the midst of the debate on the two bills on the end of life , he insists. "What we really want is for palliative care to develop in France . It is unacceptable that in Moselle-Est there is no dedicated unit, with real beds and not identified beds ."