While visits have been suspended for more than a week now in retirement homes and outings strictly prohibited because of the Covid-19 epidemic, Pascal Champvert, president of the Association of Directors of Seniors Services ( ADPA), launched this Thursday, March 19, a call to show our solidarity with our seniors and the staff by their side.
How do the elderly experience confinement in institutions?
PASCAL CHAMPVERT. In the structures that I manage, when I ask them the question, I have the right to a very interesting answer: "You know I lived in wartime, so ..." It's true, many have known bombs , deprivations. The exodus for them was not the urbanites who went to second homes to live this period in comfortable conditions. It is a war against a virus, not against the Nazis.
What do they fear then?
They are curiously more worried for the employees than for themselves: "You have kids and you come anyway, do you take the transport? "
What about not seeing their family anymore?
It is difficult and they bear witness to it. There's the phone, of course, but not all of them are comfortable with WhatsApp. However, the staff do not have much time to help them on this point. We have somewhat lost the habit of writing letters, it would be, why not, the time to get back to it. Residents would like to go out a bit too. In Ehpad (accommodation establishment for dependent elderly people), the prohibition of exit is strict while you, you can go to ventilate for a short time around your home. There should be some accommodation on it. They should be let out, for those who can, in turn ...
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How do families react?
Some have tried to circumvent the ban on seeing their loved ones and I have received a lot of messages from dissatisfied people. They highlight the fact that in the authorized reasons for travel, we have the right to go to see a fragile person at home. So why not in an establishment? However, for the moment, this prohibition must be maintained.
How can we show our solidarity with the elderly?
I noticed that at 8 p.m., people got out on the balcony to applaud the nursing staff. It would be a great initiative to organize a similar meeting for the elderly. And yet another to applaud the staff of Ehpad and those who help at home. We must not forget them.