Véronique denounces an “aberration” on the Sart-Tilman site of the CHU de Liège by alerting us via the orange button Alert us. Her son, Julien, disabled since a serious accident, goes to this clinic every day for treatment. The hospital’s new car park now makes its fight all the harder: paying, it is also less accessible…
Almost three years ago, Julien was in intervention in Liège. Firefighter, this fire changed his life forever. While searching for victims inside the burning building, the roof collapsed: “I was stuck for 30 minutes in the flames“, he tells us. Julien was hospitalized for three months in the intensive care unit for major burns patients. He underwent 18 general anesthesias and numerous transplants. The doctors finally decided to amputate Julien’s arm. His leg, seriously burned, was narrowly saved, but the consequences of the accident remain a daily battle, a battle that is now more complicated, because of a car park issue…
After his discharge, the visits to the hospital do not stop: “He has sessions of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psy, …“, explains Véronique, her mother who accompanies her in her care. In the past, her visits to the clinic were much simpler. “He was going to the PMR car park, through the emergency room. There was no problem, he didn’t pay. It had a location, as always, wider for PRMs“, recalls his mother.
A brand new car park that has become payable
At the end of December 2022, Julien is surprised to see his disabled parking lot closed. He is now invited to park at P109, the brand new car park of the CHU de Liège. This is intended for patients and people with reduced mobility.
This is one of the three new car parks on the Sart-Tilman site. Formerly composed of 64 seats, and reserved for people with reduced mobility, the P109 now has five floors and 494 seats. Among them, 134 are dedicated to people with reduced mobility, i.e. levels 0 and +1. The P112, the other recently opened car park has a capacity of 1222 spaces. This is intended for patients, visitors and staff members. The third car park, the P101 should be completed in October 2023. 1105 vehicles will be able to park there on three floors.
It’s ten euros a week
Julien faces a first surprise on his way to P109: there is a charge. It costs €1.50, even for people with reduced mobility. “When I go there on Monday, I have 3 or 4 hours. I go there sometimes for other consultations. Basically, it’s about ten euros per week“, regrets Julien. “I did not ask for the accident that happened to me. I go there to get treatment, not to play a game of poker with my physios. Would be nice if it was free though“, he points out.
Poorly demarcated PMR spaces
Once in the car park, Julien looks for PMR spaces, but cannot find them. “All places are identical, whether you are disabled or otherwise! There are no larger pitches, while you have people who come in wheelchairs, who have all the paraphernalia and it’s complicated“, regrets Véronique.
It was only a few weeks later that the pitches for people with reduced mobility were delimited, but they revolted Julien: “It’s blue markings on the ground with a wheelchair, to say that these are handicapped places. But they left the white marking, so people are not sure how to park!“. On the places reserved for him, Julien sees several parked cars, ignoring the blue lines.
If I could park in a normal spot I would
Finding a place that suits his handicap is an additional mental burden for Julien. “I fight almost every day for this, for recognition“, confides the former firefighter to us. “Disabled spaces, everywhere, people park on them. If I could park in a normal spot, I would. Now I’m disabled, I have the right to park in these spaces“.
The new car park managed by a private company
The parking lot in which Julien used to park, located near the emergency department, was only temporary. This is where the PMR car park was moved, during the work on P109. This new, much larger car park is no longer managed by the CHU Liège. The land was entrusted to a private company, as Anne-Catherine Geurts, head of the patient logistics department, explains to us: “Building parking lots is very expensive. We preferred to keep our borrowing capacity to buy medical equipment rather than to park“, she justifies. This explains why the parking lot at the Sart-Tilman site has become chargeable.
A free alternative exists, although it does not suit Julien’s conditions: a relief car park at the Country Hall, located 2.5km from the CHU. The transfer to the entrance of the hospital is carried out free of charge by shuttles.
Some patients, from three different departments, can benefit from free parking: “For dialysis, oncology and radiotherapy, we do have a solution. We put them in another car park which remained under the aegis of the CHU and which we were able to leave free of charge“, says Anne-Catherine Geurts.
There therefore remains the question of PMR spaces, which did not exist until recently. Anne-Catherine Geurts explains to us that this is linked to the circumstances of the construction: “We have opened the P109 car park, initially, for staff“.
We did not, at first, have floors 0 and +1 marked for PRMs
Some staff members’ schedules did not allow them to park at Country Hall and take the shuttle to work. This only works during the day. “To maximize the number of places that I could make available to staff, we did not, at first, have floors 0 and +1 marked for people with reduced mobility, i.e. larger places“.
The P112 car park was later opened to staff members, but their markings on the ground remained. “Since I opened one on December 26 and the other on January 2, a period when the weather was not good and a period of construction leave, at first the parking lot was opened without having any real larger drawn locations“, justifies Anne-Catherine Geurts.
PMR locations on floors 0 and -1 are now drawn, but still temporarily, over the old markings. During the month of March, the PRM spaces at the regulation sizes will be permanently painted. It is necessary to wait until the temperatures make it possible to apply the special resin.