VIDEO. In Auvergne, Opti’soins provides medical follow-up to isolated pregnant women

In Buxieres-les-Mines, in Auvergne, the hospitals are more than 30 minutes away by car. But when you are a pregnant woman and the medical appointments multiply, it can be complicated. Opti’soins would like to change that. “The initial project was born on a map of Auvergne. It has been shown that in these 4 departments, there were areas that were in medical deserts where there were really municipalities, and therefore patients who were potentially more than 30 minutes from any medical professional who could monitor their pregnancy.”, explains Julie Duclos, sonographer midwife. To help these pregnant women, the Opti’soins project was created. It is a truck transformed into a consultation room, which can be moved to carry out medical examinations.

“Patients have a gynecological follow-up which is much more disjointed”

Isabelle Raimbault is also a midwife, and the head of the Opti’soins project. “We have about thirty patients included. It’s more like twenty villages where we had to go for the moment. The Opti’soins project was also initiated because this population, which is geographically isolated, has a slightly worse state of health than in the general population and we realize that the patients have a gynecological follow-up which is much more disjointed, I think, than in urban populations and it’s not by choice, it’s not for lack of interest, it’s really because they don’t find any.”

Mélany lives in Buxieres-les-Mines. She is the only pregnant woman in her village. “I saw that there was the truck passing through the villages that lived far from the maternities and so suddenly, well, I took advantage of it. It saves me from running, from driving an hour. For the first pregnancy, every month, we had appointments. Should have gone to Montluçon”, she recalls.