Marie-Anne Montchamp: "We must support the front of home help"

3/25/2020, 6:48:22 PM

INTERVIEW - The president of the Board of the National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy mounts “quick responses” to support the carers who assist the elderly cloistered at home in the face of the coronavirus.

Former minister of Jacques Chirac then Nicolas Sarkozy, Marie-Anne Montchamp is president of the Board of the National Fund for Solidarity for Autonomy (CNSA).

LE FIGARO. - The situation is contrasted in the Ehpad. Who are the best at controlling the epidemic?

Marie-Anne MONTCHAMP. - The virus affects all establishments, whether public, private, or associative. It is enough that a caregiver from outside, carrying the virus, enters, so that everyone is reached, even in the Rolls Royce of Ehpad. A retirement home works like a cluster because it is now a closed place, where many people live, with many interpersonal contacts, the circulation of linen and certain common areas: trays, magazines, etc. This is all the more sensitive as the residents are very old - on average 85 years old - and already often fragile. This is why the ban on visits and outings, which are sometimes poorly accepted by families, is essential.