A multidisciplinary health center is under construction in the heart of the Saint-Simon district in Toulouse. Two doctors and around twenty healthcare professionals are involved in this project.
At the foot of the building under construction, in the heart of the Toulouse district of Saint-Simon, Valérie Boyer Jmel and Céline Calandri do not hide their impatience. The doctor and the pharmacist are already planning for the beginning of the year 2024, the date on which the Multidisciplinary Health Center (MSP) should welcome its first patients.
Dr Valérie Boyer Jmel, who has been working as a general practitioner for 21 years in the district, embarked on the project in 2019. “I liked the idea of teamwork and we were already doing a lot of things related with other health professionals, but in an informal way and without remuneration or dedicated time. The MSP will make it possible to have this time for meetings, organization and prevention with public health actions”, she explains in hoping to attract other physicians to practice alongside him with Dr. Catherine Bilba.
Physicians, nurses, midwives, psychologists
The 600 m2 premises are designed to accommodate up to five doctors, but recruitment is still difficult in a context of unfavorable medical demographics. The MSP has already recorded the hiring of two physiotherapists, two midwives, three psychologists, a dietician, two podiatrists and nurses from two practices. The two pharmacies of Saint-Simon and Tibaous are also involved in this project, “because they are the first link for patients with care and we must strengthen our relations”, underlines Dr. Valérie Boyer Jmel.
The inhabitants of the district have already expressed their enthusiasm for the project. “There are so many patients without a doctor and without a solution”, underlines Céline Calandri, the pharmacist. “This district is changing rapidly with nearly 10,000 inhabitants concerned. It was a small village with inhabitants who had settled there for a long time, today there are more young people, social housing, families with several children and in more precarious situations. The challenge is also to be able to reach out to these populations, by giving the right health messages”, adds Dr Boyer Jmel.
Like the merchants in the heart of the district, the future members of the MSP are concerned about the project launched by the Town Hall of Toulouse, which provides for the removal of parking spaces in front of the church, a stone’s throw from their premises. “We will only have 20 parking spaces which will also be used by MSP professionals, trainees and the many patients who cannot come by bike or on foot”. A meeting was held earlier this week with the neighborhood mayor, Nina Ochoa.