There’s a doctor at DDU. But that’s not enough.
In good health
We’re in good shape to go to Antarctica. We’ve passed physical and psychological tests. In theory, there are no allergies on the base. But as winterers live for a year in living conditions quite different from those in metropolitan France, we need to be monitored. And accidents can happen.
Hospital and Medics
During my wintering, there were accidents, stupid injuries (because there’s no smart way to hurt yourself), wear and tear and deficiencies. Sophie (the doctor) used to classify the winterers as “those with back pain and those with knee pain”. I had a bad back.
Yes, there’s a hospital in DDU. A rudimentary operating bloc, a dental surgery, an examination room, a pharmacy and an office in building 42. The doctor used to be a public hospital emergency doctor. She had received additional training in first aid, dentistry and so on. But she can’t do everything on her own.
First of all, she’s not isolated from metropolitan France. If in doubt, she can ask her TAAF colleagues for advice. And then there’s tele-medicin… That’s a running gag : every year, connection tests fail. In any case, you can’t operate alone.
That’s why Sophie has trained overwinterers to assist her in the surgery bloc. These are the “medics”. But we also need people with first aid training to extract and transport potentially injured people to hospital, and firefighters to extract people from potential burning buildings.
First aid
I used to be a first aid worker. Up until now, I’d had SST (Sauveteur, Secouriste du Travail) training and work-at-height training to keep myself safe at altitude. But “rescue” is another level of complexity.
We’ve had a lot of training in harnessing to extract people without tiring ourselves out (too much), and in the A B C D E method for quickly drawing up a general assessment of the situation (to be passed on to the doctor) and identifying the problem areas to be treated as a priority.
Firefighters
The historic Port Martin base burned down in 1952. The survivors moved to DDU. Fire is a major concern at Dumont d’Urville. On the base, buildings are spaced far apart to prevent fire spreading, whereas other countries have built compact bases to avoid energy loss (e.g. Neumayer).
We’re all trained to handle a fire extinguisher, and six people are trained to enter a burning building and extract someone. I was one of the people who helped them get dressed.
Throughout the winter, I took part in drills and training courses. Once a fortnight, we had rescue training with Sophie, and once a month we had a fire drill with Ugo. It was a big commitment for some of us. We always need a medic and firefighters on base. This meant that the firefighters on call couldn’t leave the base to go out and do manip or go for a walk as they pleased.
Personally, I really enjoyed the training and exercises. They’re always useful.