Hospitals in your region

[Llwyncelyn]

Hi from a wet and windy Normandie.

Very briefly we and for family reasons will remain here for the short-term.  However my wife suffers from Rheumatoid Arthritis and has done so for well over thirty years and self injects on a bi-weekly basis.

Yes it is wet and windy here and with the climate being a little improved upon the UK.

However whilst the weather patterns are changing the level of damp here is causing my wife severe problems.  So and as part of our continuing research (here in the Manche we failed to take into account location location location and live in an isolated area) we have been on holidays in the Languedoc Gers Lot y Garonne and the like.  Next spring we are down to the Rhone Valley and which I know well.  However what I do not know well is the availability of major centres of medical care in your area.  Here in the north we have the University Hospitals at Rennes and Caen and other major centres.

Please it would be helpful to learn of your views particularly from those who live in the region as against owning second homes there for obviously there are major differences.

I once went to Gigondas and Cairanne on a November day and with the mistral blowing down from Lyon.

However I once eat out in the square at Gigondas in June and it was wonderful.  Thus summer and winter have benefits and drawbacks.

 

[Gardian]

Llwyncelyn ............

If you're seeking a year-round damp-free climate, then you may not find it in France - certainly not down here at any rate.  This is our 3rd Autumn here and it's been the dampest so far.  Mild, but wet - I suspect much like the rest of France and much of the UK, except maybe a few degrees warmer.  Don't need to tell you about the Spring and Summer - well understood.

Re the "major centres of medical care", I can only speak of Montpellier and then only of one faculty, which is excellent.  Someone like Lori will perhaps know more about Avignon / Marseille.

Nobody should get too hung up about the Mistral thing - yes, it's a pain when it blows (usually for about a week), but it's been months since the last dose and I could do with a bit just now to dry out the leaves (too soggy to gather!)

I really don't know whether this is giving you what you want to know.  Seems to me that if you're seriously thinking of re-locating to the south, then a recce at this (worst) time of the year, accompanied by a visit to one of the major hospitals and an appointment with an RA specialist would be worthwhile. Your wife's current physician ought to be able to refer her.

[Wilko]

Hi

There is little I can add to to Ian's reply. Both Marseille and Montpelier come with big reputations, tho' we have no personal experience. The only thing that I would say is that although it is damp at the moment this type of weather is very rare here in the Vaucluse. It can be very cold in winter, Jan/feb 2006 minus 8-10 C every night for 6 weeks, add to this the Mistral and it can be unpleasant. However it must be said that it is a "dry cold" with fabulous blue skies and as i said earlier dampness is rarely an issue.

hope this helps

Rgds Wilko

[Mistral]

Marseilles has two major hospitals: Nord and La Timone. I don't know anything about Nord, but my son has been going to La Timone enfants for the last couple of years. The main thing I can say about it is that is very, very big. It is one of the most important hospitals outside of Paris. There are patients there who come from Nice.

As for weather; Personally, I find the summers unbearably hot. From about mid-June I feel uncomfortable and have difficulty sleeping. I'm never here in the hottest part of the summer as we tend to escape northwards. The pleasant side of that is that spring is warm and starts early (if you see what I mean) and autumn is usually mild too. It can still be hot up to the end of september. We usually don't put our heating on until the first week of november. This year we put it on last Saturday for the first time.

It can be wet. It doesn't usually rain for more than 2 days at a time (I used to live in scotland, where you could have 2 weeks) But it has rained or the air has been damp a lot this autumn. The mistral depends from year to year. The more mistral there is, the less rain. If you're not used to it, it's difficult to believe just how strong and cold it can be. Just one day of mistral can really bring the temperatures down. It is worse the nearer you are to the Rhone and as you go south.

[Llwyncelyn]

Thank everyone has been most helpful.  A very useful picture is emerging.

We love Normandie but please forgive us it is not necessarily these months of the year when it rains!

[5-element]

I can echo what some previous posters have mentioned: as far as hospitals go, the one I know very well is Centre Hospitalier Universitaire in Montpellier (i.e. La Peyronie). In some league tables it came first in France. By and large, it lives up to expectations - but it is huge. I also understand that it is overstretched, partly because Herault is a departement with a huge influx of newcomers, some of them very poor.

My OH has had to have very specialised medical and surgical care for some time and has been incredibly well looked after at La Peyronie. The follow-ups are good too. It lives up to its reputation.

As for the climate, living in the hills about an hour away from Montpellier, I do find it extremely dry most of the time -except when it decides to rain - then it pours - but it was so dry that when I first moved here from N.W. England, I had to stop wearing my contact lenses as my eyes got so dry. The only time when I don't like the climate is during the hottest months, the canicule is unbearable I find. Then you really need to live in an old stone house with huge walls and with a cellar, and/or have some form of air conditioning so that you can sleep at night. This summer I found that I spent at least one month inside the house with all windows and shutters closed, like living in a cave... but having said that, it can be the same in many other regions, such as the North East and Burgundy and around Lyon - at least here, we have quite a lot of rivers too and so you can cool down.

There is no doubt that R.A. (and even ordinary arthritis) is much worse in damp conditions, but for some R.A. sufferers, heat can be bad too. However I have several friends who had bad asthma in the UK, and who are much, much better here - in fact one of them left Derbyshire for that very reason, and she is practically asthma-free here.

If you could live here, and be away (maybe in Normandy, or the UK!) for July and August, you would have the best of both worlds climate-wise I reckon!

[Lori]

Llwyncelyn:  I have only dealt with the hospital in Carpentras.  Daughter has had surgery there twice, one involving a Chirurgien Orthopedique and the other a Stomatologue.  Both experiences were very good.  I did see a Rhumatologue section, but I know nothing about it.  Luckily for us, we are pretty health folks, so only need to see the doctor when something goes wrong.  Have seen an Osteopathe here too, whom I like, but then that is not the same thing. 

I agree with the other poster who suggested contacting a local Rhumatologue down here and asking him/her the question.  I'm sure they would be pleased to help.

You can take a look at this comprehensive website on hospitals/cliniques in France.  Just pick the region and the hospitals will come up.  Most with websites where you can then see the annuaire of all the doctors and specialists in that particular hospital.  Not sure if it will help, but it is an interesting website none the less.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

http://www.chu-rouen.fr/ssf/hopfr.html#provence

[Llwyncelyn]

thanks Lori been up for over an hour.  The weather here is dismal and storms like you could never imagine

 

rdgs

[Llwyncelyn]

Hi 5-element, you are absolutely correct as to heat and damp.  To date the best climate has been Miami in November but imagine their summers?

All of the information from you good folks down there has been very helpful.  This morning woken by severe storms and gusty rain.  We live on a hill and whilst water runs down it tends at times like this to run into the house for the rear ground is obviously at a higher level than the house.

 

That is why we have been up for about an hour mopping up

It really is miserable but seemingly all of europe is getting a hammering.

rdgs and thanks again

[opas]

Except the part of it I live in, for now anyway. We have had a couple of spots of rain over the past few days and the first snow on Canigou.......very late.

I too will vouch for the services at Monpellier Hospitals, went on wednesday for one appointment , back there this afternoon to see another specialist and also given an appointment for January to see a team of them .

[Lori]

Its been cloudy with light rain here for days, but the temps have been in double digits so nothing bad.  No snow on the Ventoux yet. 

In this part of Provence, we get four distinct seasons.  I am just at the foot of Mt. Ventoux, so we can be colder than other areas.  We are at 400 meters elevation, not too high up.  Winters seem to vary quite a bit.  Last winter was the coldest (and longest) in my five years here.  Many people seem to be quite surprised when I tell them that we get regular -15c nights here.  Spring is gorgeous, Fall too.  There are always around 5 VERY hot weeks of summer.  If you have air conditioning and the benefit of a pool, you survive just fine.  We don't have air cond. so parts of summer can be pretty darn HOT, tho it is a dry heat.  In fact, round here, pretty much everything is dead - lawns, etc. by end of July or before and we are under strict water regulations.

Wind in winter can be horrendous, but you just get used to it.  I think Marseille can be more temperate.  It also offers you the excellent hospitals.

You can always choose to be round Aix or perhaps a smaller town near Marseille.

 

 

[PossumGirl]

[quote user="Llwyncelyn"]

Hi 5-element, you are absolutely correct as to heat and damp.  To date the best climate has been Miami in November but imagine their summers?

[/quote]

If humidity is a problelm for you, Florida is to be avoided at all costs!  Miserable humidity there most of the time.  Arizona, however, is very dry; although now that so many people have moved there who want "lawns," they're starting to have a problem there as well!

PG

[Blanche Neige]

".........seemingly all of europe is getting a hammering"

 

yes indeed.[:(]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/08122006/140/residents-shock-tornado-blitz.html

have posted link above just in case it's not been on French news.

[Jc]

Montpellier hospitals should be excellent;it is,after all,one of the oldest medical schools in Europe.Having spent time in the hospital in Sete,I can only report that it was much better than UK equivalents.

[Teamedup]

Montpellier Hospitals? hmmmm in the past we have not always had glowing comments about at least one of the hospitals there. And it concerned treatment of a child if I remember correctly.

[Gardian]

I suppose that there will always be one of us who has a good or a bad experience at just about any hospital in France, or for that matter the UK. The reality is that it's the luck of the draw, or perhaps more objectively, the particular physician / surgeon you happen to have dealings with. A good one in your particular area of need, doesn't necessarily indicate a good hospital and vice versa.

Returning to the OP's thread, he (they) have to settle on an area which climatically suits her condition and then research the detail of support for her illness.  

 

[LanguedocGal]

The Western Herault (Beziers Region) has a good reputation for hospital and home care of the senior population mainly because it has a higher percentage of  retired than the Montpellier region (Eastern Herault), which is generally known around here as a ‘student town’.  It has an enormous hospital which is quite new.

Re the quality of care in the Beziers region for the retired, I get this from reliable sources but posters with specific experience, please feel free to put me right. I have in the past read national surveys saying it’s the area (Beziers) that offers about the best care for the senior population in France. Will post the data, if I can find them, as they were all part of my research re location location location, as the availability and easy access to all facilities from Transport, Cultural, Health and a zillion other things were important criteria governing my choice. 

Weather wise, I agree with the general comments about Languedoc but note that even among departments, the amount of rain, damp and wind seem to me to vary quite a bit.  In my experience, there is less rain and flooding in the Herault compared to the Gard that seems to suffer quite a bit from flooding.  I remember the flood zone reports I got from govt websites a few years back showed that a lot of areas in the Gard are regularly affected during heavy rainfalls. But those who live there are obviously the best judge.

Dampness is not something I associate too much with the Beziers Region, but even there, there are flood zones to be avoided if buying and the last major flood, I believe, was in 2003. This area also seems to suffer less from windy conditions than the neighbouring Aude and even Montpellier, 70km away, where it can really blow even in the old town.   However, it has the hot summers already mentioned but  being close to the sea, the sea breeze can make it more tolerable. Last summer I spent cooler days in Beziers old town than in Montpellier.

Please note that in my location research, damp was also a small factor, hence though I loved the Gard, it was eliminated from my list on the flood and wind basis.  The Vaucluse and Var because too dry and windy, the Aude too windy and the Pyrennees Oriental too windy and too far from Montpellier. All regions north of Cevennes, eliminated for lack of sun. No one can accuse me of not doing my research [:)].

Ok, you could call me a fuss pot but I figured that I was buying my home for short and long term comfort (to include services and environment) so had to consider everything in minute detail. Perhaps my pseudo should be  HeraultGal.

I should also point out that the Beziers region is poorer than the Montpellier region and so I don’t really know how that affects specialist healthcare.  I can confirm that it has an excellent medical sports monitoring service available to residents of the region for free.

 

[Teamedup]

Now that was interesting to say that they have the best care of the old in the Bezier area, as I remember reading that that area had the fittest old folks in France. I wish I could remember where I read it, some Santé magasine I think and it was probably a while ago.

 

 

[5-element]

LanguedocGal, I am very interested by your post, especially about the good reputation of senior healthcare in the Beziers area - which I have not heard about.  If you could find the original article,  I would love to follow it up.

All I know about Beziers and hospitals is what I have heard in the Montpellier hospital, where a top specialist consultant who looks after my OH,  was rather disparaging about the standard of medical care in Beziers, as compared to Montpellier. A French friend of mine with breast cancer was not overjoyed with the quality of medical aftercare she got there, yet I also know of others (British) who are full of praise for Beziers hospital.

As for the climate, your research is pretty impressive. Again, I would not have thought that Beziers old town could be cooler than Montpellier (which is rather oppressive, to say the least, in a heat wave!). Although where I live is closer to Beziers than Montpellier, I have tended to go to Montpellier for everything, since Beziers is still very run-down, with a Mayor who doesn't care much for the town, and with definite problem areas. But I am still trying to love Beziers, and as medical care go, although I have no personal experience of the hospital, I do know several excellent specialists there! Also, it seems to me that they are less busy than in Montpellier, and have more time for patients. So maybe you are onto something there....

[LanguedocGal]

[quote user="Teamedup"]

Now that was interesting to say that they have the best care of the old in the Bezier area, as I remember reading that that area had the fittest old folks in France. I wish I could remember where I read it, some Santé magasine I think and it was probably a while ago.

 

 

[/quote]

If my friend's neighbour is anything to go by, I'd say the article was right.  I first met her when she was 91 and we had to be convinced she was even in her 70s. She is now 93 and still amazing though has become a little frail due to illness over the past year. She gets home help from a nurse a few days a week plus a weekly visit from the doctor. I think she's probably part of the fit and well cared for category.

[LanguedocGal]

5- Element, Great minds think alike. I think our posts virtually crossed.  I'll do my best to unearth the article though won't promise miracles as it goes back a couple of years. It may be on my hard disk somewhere.

Apart from the Sports Medical centre at the Caserne St Jacques, my personal experience is limited re the medical service but I have to say that I've heard and read excellent things about it. No doubt, people will also have bad experience too.  I also know that there are quite a few retirement homes so it may be a little like the Bournemouth of Languedoc.

Re my comments about the cooler summer; I think the cooler feel is due to the fact that Beziers old town is perched high up and often gets a good breeze from the sea when the wind is in the right direction.   I know both Mtp and Beziers very well so can make some comparison but it's all a matter of opinion.

I would also take the comments at the MTP hospital with a little pinch of salt as I know a few researchers in the town. There is great rivalry between the two towns with poor Beziers always drawing the short straw because of Freche's preference for 'his' town and complete disregard for most other towns in the region.  Freche and the Mayor of Beziers are always at loggerheads as you will no doubt know if you read the local press.

Agree with you on the grotty exterior which they seem to be working on but knowing quite a few locals now, I can tell you that many of those grotty facades conceal hidden gems and my friends super appt is one of them. 

As they say, never judge a book by it's cover.

(For readers not from Languedoc, George Freche is the Regional Leader and the former mayor of Montpellier. He was the one that recently made the comments about the black footballers in the national team. He is a colourful figure who is usually in trouble but seems to get away with everything.)

[LanguedocGal]

 

Just another thought, probably strayed too far from the  original topic (sorry OP) 

 5-element.

Another possible reason why Beziers city centre may seem cooler to me (my opinion only) is the fact that it is actually quite green compared to Montpellier centre, which has very little green space. Beziers centre has a lovely park running from the station to the main Allees, which is also tree-lined up to the theatre, as well as other parks such as the Plantade beside the Orb River.  Furthermore, it’s minutes from the river Orb and the Canal du Midi as well as from the open countryside as is clear when you look from the Cathedrale. 

 Montpellier centre is woefully lacking in green spaces and trees to protect the pedestrian from the summer sun. If Freche wills it, money would be found to plant thousands of trees in his beloved city overnight, even if the region's coffers are empty, so perhaps this should be pointed out to him[;-)]

[St Bernard]

Well, it's been another dry autumn in the Ariege.......................

As far as hospitals are concerned, you may want to look at the issue of Le Point which came out on thursday (07/12) as they did there annual survey of hospitals.

Jan Laury

[Llwyncelyn]

Hi LanguedocGal

Very impressed by your research I wish I had done that when we first bought in Normandie.  Normally I do my research but was seduced by a lovely property on a hill in wonderful August weather.

We have made positive steps to move and once the spring comes it is out with the paint and get to grips with the garden after the winter and then prepare.

As part of the exercise we are on the point of booking a house for early summer in 2007 and will then do our homework.  The house we have seen is on what we are told is the outskirts of a small village called Paraza. The choice of house is obviously down to us but please does anyone know anything about the village.  We are told that it is somewhat near Narbonne and as we once stayed in Boutenac I am presuming it is in the same neck of the woods.

Again based on my understanding Sete and Coulliere (is that how you spell it) is further down the coast?

Once more thanks to everyone for their input it has helped.  If you could please look at the question of Paraza................................? I would be grateful.

 

 

[5-element]

Hello Llwyncellyn

 Paraza is  north of Boutenac, and also north of  Luc-sur-Orbieu which has had terrible floods. When we moved to Languedoc I didn't look too hard in the Narbonne/Perpignan area, because of the wind: Narbonne is supposed to be one of the windiest towns in France! Worse than the Mistral-swept areas apparently. But if you already know the area, maybe you don't mind. But it is also very dry, which might be good for Mrs. L.

Collioure is way further south, close to the Spanish border.

Sete is on the opposite side, from Narbonne you go west  and it is close to Beziers (wonderful fish and seafood restaurants in Sete)

Altogether, Languedoc is a wonderful area - and although I have had fantasies about swapping houses in July/August with someone in Brittany or in Normandy, I would not want to live anywhere else! Especially in the winter, we have many good days (it can get very cold, down to minus 10) but the brightness and the luminosity are absolute magic. Best wishes for you to find the area you both need.