"The affair" had deeply shaken the Emile-Gérard Ehpad by Livry-Gargan. In mid-April, in the columns of the "Parisien", agents of the breathless structure deplored their working conditions, in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis.
This Monday, two agents, including Anissa Amini, the union representative South who questioned the management of the crisis by her management, were received by the director of the structure. The latter announced the opening of an "administrative inquiry" to shed light on the progress of the crisis in its establishment.
In the morning, shortly before their interview, between fifty and one hundred people demonstrated under the windows of the nursing home, in support of the two nursing assistants. Among them: Anne-Sophie Pelletier, LFI MEP. In a leaflet, the southern union describes its colleague as a "whistleblower" and regrets an interview in the form of "threat of sanction".
Contacted just after her interview, Anissa Amini takes nothing away from her sad observation about the management of the Covid-19 by the management of the Ehpad. "We were in lack of constant equipment, we should have tested all the staff and the caregivers, which was not done at the beginning," she recalls. Above all, it evokes a figure of 20 deaths of patients linked to Covid-19 - which had provoked the ire of his hierarchy.
7 patients who died from the virus and "13 others linked" according to a trade unionist
“I remain on what I said: 7 patients died directly from the virus, and 13 others in a related way, because, for example, of aggravated pathologies, of the sliding syndrome (Editor's note: the act of abandoning the life following a traumatic event) ", she explains, recalling that" the lack of staff, absences requires, forced less attention. "
Other agents had mentioned "chain patient toilets at 7:30 am", lack of staff, "tensions with stressed families", and no respite to "discuss" with patients.
According to Anissa Amini, because of this diagnosis on the establishment which employs it, made public through the media, she would now have "a sword of Damocles over her head" and could be subject to sanctions.
"A confrontation of different experiences"
None of that, says the hierarchy. Prisca Ombala, director of the structure, hammers him: no threat of disciplinary action, but the desire to learn more. Because the owner of the Ehpad was "on maternity leave" between February and June, during the bulk of the health crisis.
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“At this stage, there was never any question of summoning the two officials to dismiss them! In this case, I would have convened a disciplinary council, explains Prisca Ombala. In reality, and this is what I said this morning (Editor's note: this Monday) to the people who came to support the two agents just before the interviews: these hearings are linked to an administrative investigation which I decided to launch , aimed at shedding light on what happened during the Covid-19 crisis. "
Thus, it would be a question of knowing what worked in the management of the patients, and what worked less, and what, concretely, brought certain agents to speeches so desperate in the press.
“It seemed to us that after this unprecedented and difficult period for all, a confrontation of different experiences was necessary in order to allow each party to express themselves […]. We exchanged for 3 hours with one of the agents during these interviews, “further specifies the director of Ehpad Emile-Gérard. Who also says that "all the agents of the structure present during the peak of the epidemic" will be received as part of this administrative investigation.
A screening and monitoring policy put in place
In a press release published shortly after the publication of our article, the Ehpad also assured that the necessary arrangements had been made during the peak of the epidemic. Indicating in particular that the number of deaths due to Covid-19 was 7, also specifying, in particular, that they "set up a screening and monitoring policy for residents and staff, and created, within the establishment, a Covid unit dedicated to people tested positive and requiring extensive medical follow-up ”.
The Ehpad management also claimed to have "implemented all the necessary means and procedures, in permanent compliance with the numerous recommendations issued by the Ministry of Solidarity and Health […]".
