They chose the headquarters of the Orpea group, which has become a symbol of the scandal of abuse inflicted on the elderly in nursing homes to express their anger.
This Tuesday, around 10 a.m., there were several dozen employees of retirement homes to denounce the lack of means and personnel under the windows of the group.
Among them, Reine, a nursing assistant at Korian where other cases of ill-treatment of residents have recently been revealed in the press.
“We are here to make things happen.
Because despite the publication of the book “Les Fossoyeurs”, nothing has changed.
We are still understaffed, our residents are still suffering from a lack of resources, ”she breathes.
"And it's been going on for years," continues one of her colleagues, Jacqueline.
Most of the time, we find ourselves with two caregivers for 30 or 40 residents.
It is untenable.
In these conditions of assembly line work, we cannot take good care of our elders”.
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Jacqueline also recounts all those times when she had to make residents wait who needed to go to the toilet, for lack of time and arms.
"It's abuse, it's inhuman.
We need more staff!
“, she relaunches.
Rationing on meals, denounced in Victor Castanet's book, is also still relevant.
Witness one of the cooks of the Orpea residence in Suresnes (92), Claude, who has been on strike for almost ten days.
“It's not acceptable to serve such small plates.
Everything is weighed, to the nearest gram,” he protests.
On Maddy's t-shirt, also an employee in the same establishment, a photo of a typical meal given to residents in the evening.
We see a piece of cheese and a small portion of fondant.
“We serve them this with a simple soup.
You see, there is not much”.
For its part, the government has just announced a “vast control plan” for the 7,500 nursing homes in France, over a period of two years.
The wave of inspections of all accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people, private, associative and public, comes at the end of a consultation launched by the Minister Delegate for Autonomy Brigitte Bourguignon, after the publication of the book-investigation of Victor Castanet on “the Orpea system”, the giant of private retirement homes.
These checks will concern “the prevention of the effects of mistreatment”, the “quality of support” and are accompanied by “increased financial control” by the regional chamber of accounts.