“The situation is unprecedented”
shares Annabelle Vêques, the president of the National Federation of Associations of Directors of Establishments and Services for the Elderly (Fnadepa).
While occupancy rates were still very high and waiting lists are storming, many accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) are no longer crumbling under demands.
A development that raises concerns.
Read also: Vaccinated but still not released: anger is mounting in the families of elderly people in nursing homes
The Korian group, leader in the sector with nearly 500 establishments in France, has known since the start of the health crisis
"a 5 point drop in the occupancy rate"
of its establishments, shares the group. According to Korian, this decrease is due to the combined effect of several factors, linked to the pandemic. First, the health protocols, which are numerous and very restrictive. “
When there are cases of Covid
,
the protocols of the ARS and the Ministry of Health do not allow the arrival of new residents,
” he explains. Understandable health measures, but which hamper the proper functioning of nursing homes. For Annabelle Vêques these protocols - “
more than 50 since the start of the pandemic
"- have delayed many admissions:"
people said to themselves that they were going to postpone, wait for the crisis to pass, they did not want to see their loved one until every two weeks
".
Even if exemptions are granted for "
urgent situations
", admissions were thus almost frozen during the first confinement.
For the director of Fnadepa, this situation is worrying, because if the health of residents is of course the priority of the directors of establishments
,
the latter cannot however dismiss the economic question.
“The economic model of nursing homes is viable only if the occupancy rate is very high,” she
explains.
These concerns are not, however, shared by all school directors: "
There is a strong disparity between regions
" specifies Jean Marc Plantade. For the director of Fnadepa, "
it would take a national state investigation to see a little more clearly
" and better understand the extent of these transformations.
What do the vaccination campaigns portend? "
With the vaccine it starts again, but we have not found the pre-crisis levels
" notes Jean-Marc Plantade. Despite everything, the president of Fnadepa remains confident: “
residents are now 99% vaccinated for the first time, people in our retirement homes will therefore be
the safest
places in France. The community which was previously a risk now creates a health bubble
”.
Information that should reassure dependent people and their families, all the more so as growing mistrust of these establishments has developed with the crisis. A dozen nursing homes are in fact the subject of complaints, these establishments are accused of having neglected residents during the health crisis. More and more scandals which do not help to restore the already negative image of nursing homes.
This reputation even drives some people to find other solutions. "
With my brothers and sisters, we were planning last year to place our mother in nursing homes,
" says Louise *, in her sixties and whose mother - recently dependent - suffers from several pathologies. Despite "
strong pressure from the medical profession
" Louise and her family finally opted for an alternative solution to the nursing home: home support with accommodation for a student and "
the use of all financially accessible means of assistance.
»Such as home help, walk-in shower, etc. These alternatives would have been very successful thanks to the health crisis as stated by Aurélie Besançon, marketing director of Ouihelp, a home help agency with around twenty branches in France: “
We had to recruit more for meet demand
”. The young director notes among the "
caregivers
", the relatives of dependent people, a "
fear of nursing home
". “
Beyond the morale of their loved ones
,
people are now worried about their health,
” explains the director. In the future, the use of home help for people on the threshold of dependence may be more systematic.
* The first name has been changed