CEDEP team create sense of community at hospital home from home

Pétanque isn’t just a game. It symbolises community in French life and the underlying notion is accessibility.

So, when a team with CEDEP created a pétanque court for the patients and residents at the Centre Hospitalier du Sud Seine et Marne, Nemours, north central France, it had poignancy.

The centre provides 360 degrees of care for people in the community, particularly those with profound mental health issues, and, in addition to building the pétanque court, the team of 20 senior business executives created two zones with tables, benches and planters as well as a children’s area featuring two wonky playhouses with benches.

Splash Projects Project Manager Tommy Trindall, said: “The team understood the mechanics of the project very quickly and were really excited to be there; some wanted to leave earlier than 8am to get started.

“The whole purpose of pétanque is accessibility, there’s a pitch in every village in France, so to have one at the hospital, an extension of their home, was very significant.

“The wonky houses were symbolic of a human’s mental health – that sometimes it may be a bit strange and imperfect, but it doesn’t make you any less loveable.”