Will residents of retirement homes be able to celebrate Christmas with their family?
When will the vaccination campaign start?
Who will be the first to be affected?
During a detailed videoconference this Tuesday morning, Florence Arnaiz-Maumé, general delegate of Synerpa, which brings together nursing homes in the private sector, gave all the information she has to try to answer the many questions posed by families.
On the health front, the 7,000 French nursing homes deplored 750 deaths the week of November 30, against 1,200 the previous weeks, and less than 500 expected this week.
Today, 30% of establishments report at least one case of Covid.
A watched but festive Christmas
"The balancing of security and freedom is our daily life but, after ten months of crisis, freedom must win," said Florence Arnaiz-Maumé with a smile.
“We are in favor of leaving residents with their families during the holidays.
The state must in the coming days make known the protocol that will be implemented for the holidays.
"We were asked for our recommendations on Friday and we had until yesterday (
Editor's note: Monday
) noon to send them", specifies the general delegate.
According to her, outings must be properly supervised.
"We suggest that residents who are going to spend the holidays with their families perform a test the day before departure and, if it is positive, give up finding their loved ones and confine themselves", specifies the general delegate of Synerpa who encourages "families to be tested also ”.
On their return, they would be confined for seven days and, at the end of this period, would undergo a new test.
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"We also have a lot of requests to know what events are possible in December", continues Florence Arnaiz-Maumé, who indicates that the relaxed protocol currently in force allows retirement homes to organize, for example, "a snack in a large room allowing a distance of several meters between the different participants to transform the moments of supervised visit into something festive ”.
The vaccination campaign is organized
This is obviously the subject which raises the most questions and on which the energetic general delegate of Synerpa spoke at length.
This Monday, the professional federations concerned participated in a meeting with the Minister for Autonomy, Brigitte Bourguignon.
“The vaccine will obey three principles, summarizes Florence Arnaiz-Maumé.
It will not be mandatory, it will be free and it will meet security requirements.
"
The date of January 4, put forward by Alain Fischer, the new "mister vaccine" appointed by the Ministry of Health, is in no way the day of the start of the vaccination campaign in nursing homes which will begin "mid or late January. ".
“The State is currently organizing the arrival of super-freezers at - 70 ° C on their storage sites, which we still do not know.
At the end of December, beginning of January, the Pfizer vaccine should obtain its authorization and the High Authority for Health (HAS) will give its opinion, specifies the patron of Synerpa.
At the end of December, we should receive official documents specifying the indications and contraindications: we know that Pfizer's vaccine prevents severe forms of the disease, but we do not know how it protects against contamination.
"
When they take them out of the super-freezer, the doses can be stored in a refrigerated cabinet at + 2 ° C to + 8 ° C for five days.
"They will be transported from their place of storage to pharmacies and nursing homes, which will therefore have five days to organize their vaccination campaign for residents and staff, knowing that a second injection must take place 21 days later" , details Florence Arnaiz-Maumé.
Which emphasizes that the issue of logistics must be anticipated but is not the biggest problem.
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"With the flu, we are used to vaccination in nursing homes", she specifies, even if, for the Covid, the question of whether nurses will be able to vaccinate patients or if only the doctor will be authorized. is not yet decided.
Each resident will be the subject before an appointment with his general practitioner or the coordinating doctor.
Consent, the sinews of war
This is the “ultra-neuralgic” point for the Synerpa.
It will appear at the top of the memo on vaccination that the union must send to the Ministry of Autonomy by Friday.
"We want an official collection of consent, that is to say a document signed by the resident or his referent", details the general delegate.
An extremely delicate problem, given the proportion of elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's and therefore unable to give informed consent.
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“In France, tutorship and curatorship, the legal mechanisms created to protect people who are no longer able to make decisions, have absolutely not been adapted to the aging of the population and the increase in the number of people. Alzheimer's victims.
This is one of the reasons that led to the establishment of a person of trust in the 2015 law on the adaptation of society to aging, ”recalls Florence Arnaiz-Maumé.
“For vaccination against Covid, you need a clear framework and know who is the person empowered to give consent.
This point could be the subject of a decree "to be taken urgently".
For retirement homes to take the lead
Rather than a date set by the State saying to such an Ehpad, “You will be delivered on January 19,” Synerpa asks that the retirement homes say: “Deliver to us on such and such a date.
»Each establishment must indeed obtain the consent of its residents, give them a medical examination and ascertain the number of employees wishing to be vaccinated, before setting the date of the first injection and, 21 days later, of the second.
In parallel, it will be necessary "to disseminate all the elements of information which we will have on the vaccine".
Because if reluctance vis-à-vis the vaccine emerges within the families of residents or nursing staff - the elderly are generally in favor of vaccination -, "we can only try to convince with reliable information" , concludes the general delegate of Synerpa.