Darcy Christen, spokesman of the University Hospital of the Canton of
Vaud (CHUV) (Richard Juilliart/ Getty)
“It won’t be days. It could be for the long-haul,” he said.
On Tuesday a source close to the family said that they were in a “more
positive mood” and remained confident his condition would improve.
“It was a big step mentally for the family to move from Grenoble Hospital,”
the source said.
“The transfer doesn’t mean that his condition improved markedly in the last
few weeks. But he no longer needed to be in intensive care and a programme
of rehabilitation is now under way.
“He is still going in and out of consciousness but he is having more moments
of consciousness more regularly than in April.
“He certainly can’t talk but there is some degree of communication.
“His doctors and family speak to him but he gets tired very quickly and needs
a lot of rest. So this is kept to a minimum.”
Germany’s Bild newsaper reported that Schumacher is now able to respond to the
sound of his wife Corinna’s voice.
There was no sign of his family at University Hospital Lausanne on Tuesday.
But Ms Kehm, looking pale and tired, was spotted talking to someone near the
hospital entrance.
It is not known whether Schumacher is breathing spontaneously but it is
believed that he will continue to be fed intravenously for some time to
come.
The hospital’s Service of Neurology has a special unit dedicated to treating
patients who have been comatose.
The Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, in Lausanne, Switzerland
(Harold Cunningham/ Getty)
It is considered to be a global leader in neuroscience research.
The department is directed by Professor Frackowiak, an internationally
recognised pioneer of cerebral imaging and a former dean of London’s
Institute of Neurology, one of the world’s most renowned neurology research
centres.
The unit includes nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech
therapists and neuropsychologists.
The whole team works together from the start of the rehabilitation program.
To restore a patient’s faculties, the unit uses a sensor-neural approach that
stimulates all five senses.
It was University Hospital Lausanne which found that the late Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat was likely poisoned, after tests on his remains,
belongings and burial soil revealed high levels of toxic polonium-210.
The hospital is well equipped to care for celebrity patients. Due to the large
number of famous people living in the area, it has developed measures to
ensure security and privacy in such cases.
Mr Christen said: “In this area of Switzerland there are many personalities
and so we do receive patients who are very well-known.
“We therefore have “Regime VIP” in place for such people.
“Their privacy, like all patients’ privacy, needs to be respected and they may
need heightened security.
“In this particular case we have implemented special measures but I cannot
elaborate on this.”
The hospital is just 20 miles from the home of the seven-time F1 champion.
He lives in a £50 million mansion on the shores of Lake Geneva with his wife
Corinna and their children Mick, 14, and Gina Marie, 17.
Mr Christen said: “He’s a little bit at home here. There is a private area for
him and his family. And the family feels at home in Lausanne, they know the
area.”