The medical marijuana specialist and his fellow civil protection colleagues are now helping Switzerland cope with the sick and dying.
"We prepared ourselves, we tried to look at the pictures in advance. Clearly we were worried because I have never worked in a morgue, or even seen one, but to see several patients every day, helping the morgue staff with the influx...," he said.
The civil defence service has set up teams of psychologists to help colleagues handle the emotional burden. One was waiting this week outside a testing centre at La Tour hospital.
"Sometimes they see or experience very difficult situations and the fact that they can share their emotional or psychological distress with us, well, we are quite satisfied because when we talk we see they feel better, more relaxed," said psychologist Cindy Becerra, 26
"There is some recognition and it feels good. To see we can help people, there are no words for this," said Karim Melliti, 35, an unemployed banker.
"As soon as I finish, I'm going for a run to clear my mind because the days are quite hard. We see things that are difficult. People are sick, there are deaths."