They are neither doctors nor nurses and are not the subject of applause provided by the French every evening at 8 p.m. In "second line" in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic, these cooks, hospital service agents (ASH), nursing assistants in Ehpad do not deserve this much and continue, for many, to go every day to their workplace in contact with patients. Their concern is no less palpable.
“Imagine soldiers going to battle on an empty stomach. What would they be used for? Questions, not without irony, Christophe Dassonville, the CEO of Restalliance, collective catering company which employs 3200 employees working in France on 1000 sites providing care (clinics, nursing homes, specialized structures for the disabled public…). This boss sounds the alarm. “We are an essential link in the care chain today in France and no one is talking about us, we are the ones left behind! », He thunders.
They swap a blouse for two masks
“Our activity is still continuing, at a faster pace and in a degraded environment, and we are not even part of the nomenclature put in place by the State to obtain protective masks. We are sometimes reduced to bartering with the caregivers to obtain, against a charlotte or a work coat, one or two protective masks, it is not tolerable! "He is indignant.
At the head of a company which currently has between 30 and 40% absenteeism, depending on the site, he calls on the workforce to get through this difficult stage, but also asks the State for more consideration. and means.
"We also need hotel rooms for our replacements, places in crèches for the children of our employees, access to the Reinforcement-Covid-19 mobilization platforms," says the boss, who is setting up this week an online psychological unit for its employees, who are often anxious about these new working conditions.
"We feel totally despised"
"In hospitals, the bio- cleaning service (Editor's note: specific cleaning in the hospital intended to prevent nosocomial infections) , in particular, has been privatized a lot in recent years and it is up to companies to provide protective equipment, but they don't have enough, notes Julie Ferrua, delegate for South Health and Social Services in Haute-Garonne. On the sites, there is a lot of turnover in the teams and there is even a problem of communication with the employees, ”she explains. “In the sick rooms, many women from immigrant backgrounds come in who have a poor command of French and sometimes do not understand that they have to protect themselves from the virus. It is therefore often the caregivers to explain to them, to train them, ”she says.
“We fight daily to find a mask, while some caregivers spoil the equipment and use two or three a day. We feel totally despised compared to the rest of the hospital, "deplores Sylvie (the first name has been changed), hospital service agent (ASH) for 13 years at Rangueil hospital in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne ). “I am assigned a different service to clean every day. When I arrive, I must check with my supervisor that the hospital can provide me with a mask, ”explains the young woman, employed on a permanent contract in the bio-cleaning of the rooms.
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Impossible, at her post - a job for which she earns a monthly salary of 1400 euros - to be autonomous and to be able to draw from a stock of masks. "It has happened before that there is no protection for me. In this case, I have to go and ask the hospital service next door that they will give me one ”. Fortunately, at Rangueil hospital, where two cases of Covid-19 have already been deplored among ASH, solidarity plays in favor of Sylvie who has always been able to manage to find protective equipment.
"Our job is essential"
Nevertheless, this burdensome situation tends to annoy him. “Non-compliance, however, we are used to. We are considered to be housekeepers, so completely at the bottom of the ladder, ”she says bitterly. “A hospital, however, is not just doctors and nurses. It is also laundry, kitchens, lingerie. All trades are important and ours is essential, she recalls. If, for example, I stopped working and stopped cleaning the rooms today, the virus would spread much more easily. ”
Exasperated, she also evokes this manager who said to her one morning that she "had nothing to fear". "I replied: Ah well? So why do you wear a mask, you who spend your days locked up in your office when we, ours, spend 1.50 m of infected people ? "
Access to strategic state stocks…
In nursing homes, too, anger is mounting among cleaning agents and nursing assistants who sometimes assert their rights of withdrawal. “These agents feel that they have been forgotten by the system, and yet they care about this work and brace themselves for these precious hours of part-time work. They also currently feel particularly useful, assures Loïc Escaich, nursing assistant in Ehpad and South health delegate in Tarn. Everyone today is trying to stay the course, hoping that the peak of the epidemic, expected for the next few days, will not cause them to waver.
“For the moment, we manage to serve meals every day to the sick by coping with paper masks but what will happen in the coming days if we do not have access to the strategic stocks of the 'State? No one can yet answer this question, ”warns Sylvain, chef at the Saint-Joseph hospital in Lyon.
