In Guiclan, a cooperative medical house to bring the doctors back to the village

The front door opens and closes every five minutes. Marlène and her son Léo, 6, wait in the sober waiting room of the Guiclan medical house. “We very often come to see the doctor or nurses,” recognizes the resident of this Finistère village located halfway between Landivisiau (11 km) and Morlaix (14 km). “I remember, however, that we stayed three months without a doctor a few years ago. To observe the ten plaques bearing the names of health professionals at the entrance to the building in white plaster, difficult to imagine this past not so distant during which the locality of 2,500 inhabitants almost said goodbye to the presence of any general practitioner. “In 2016, the pharmacy had closed, the restaurant too, and our only doctor retired,” recalls the mayor, Robert Bodiguel. It was not good for walking in the town. Guiclan was not classified as a medical desert and could therefore not benefit from any help. Because if Brittany is one of the rare French regions not to lose doctors each year, nearly a third of the municipalities no longer have any*. The municipality did not want to be part of it. So, after questions about the approach to adopt and its funding, the town hall team focused on a cooperative society of collective interest (SCIC). The goal? Associate the population with a medical center project in order to bring together several professionals in a collegial managed location and whose practitioners are tenants.

Collective funding

“When the town hall proposed this idea, I immediately joined, because it seemed essential for the town,” recalls Jean-Pierre Abhervé-Guéguen, the current president of SCIC Guiclan Health. The 71 -year -old retired farmer “in the long mutualist” past “, like 240 other people, took a share in the company during the launch of the project, in December 2016. Its cost: between 50 and 1,000 euros maximum, giving the right to A voice for each decision to adopt. “We were expecting 25,000 euros in participation on the part of the inhabitants, we finally collected 80,000,” proudly underlines Robert Bodiguel. The municipality added an equivalent sum and the SCIC borrowed the rest at the expense in order to finance the construction of the 200 m2 buildings. The company also benefited from 50,000 euros in European aid and a subsidy from the community of communes.

Two general practitioners (soon three), a psychologist, a speech therapist, a midwife, two psychomotorians … Health professionals – 17 today – have gradually flocked within the structure that opened in 2018. “Which ‘I liked, it is the dynamism of the population and therefore the activity that we could develop here, ”explains John Chassagneux in his pharmacy located opposite the medical house. This former 48 -year -old medication wholesaler came straight from the north of France to take over the village pharmacy in 2020. His brand new building was funded by SCIC Guiclan Health. “And we are already planning an extension,” he enthuses.

The house is growing

On the other side of the street, in the waiting room of the medical house, David is waiting for his appointment. The administrative agent lives in the neighboring town of Taule. “I was looking for a speech therapist for a long time. One of them has just settled here, so I jumped at the opportunity, ”explains this regular patient who goes to Guiclan once a week. A few steps away and the arms loaded, Élisabeth Kerriou returns from her morning tour. The nurse and her four colleagues immediately subscribed to the collective project, they who exercised in a dilapidated room in Guiclan. “When you work in the same place, everything becomes easier, appreciates the one who also joined SCIC on a personal basis and is one of the representatives of health professionals within the structure. This is why people have invested in this model apart. So much so that an additional 100 square meters will be added in the spring to welcome new practitioners. “He will only miss dentists,” smiles the mayor. A land is already planned to host them.

* Source: DREES, 2021.