After a few months of respite, the inter-municipal retirement home of Fontenay-sous-Bois is preparing for a new wave of Covid-19. Staff members who have so far shown no symptoms have tested positive for the coronavirus.
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In the reception hall of the Hector Malot residence in Fontenay-sous-Bois this Wednesday morning, two elderly people are chatting while a lady has moved her wheelchair near a patio to take advantage of the fine breeze. The day before, Magali Rineau, deputy director of the inter-municipal retirement home (MRI) and site manager, took the decision, in consultation with her teams and the ARS (Regional Health Agency), to prohibit family visits to a minimum duration of 7 days. “All the criteria are met for this to restart. We recommended that staff returning from vacation who have had risky contacts test themselves. Two agents were diagnosed positive. They were asymptomatic and worked in contact with residents. So far, no one has shown any symptoms, but we have started screening. While waiting for the results, we are trying to isolate the rooms where there are doubts ”, explains the deputy director. The doctors and nurses of the residence carry out the tests on the residents then entrust them for analysis to a neighboring laboratory. They get skip-the-line to get results faster.
80 residents died in the spring
The MRI which brings together four establishments (the Malot and Dame Blanche residences in Fontenay-sous-Bois, the Murs à Pêche residence in Montreuil and the Seigneurie residence in Saint-Mandé), and is part of the Groupement des Ehpad publics du Val- de-Marne, does not want to relive the epidemic peak of last spring. Of the 486 residents hosted in these structures, 40% were infected, and 80 died. Especially since considerable efforts have been made to ensure that seniors do not decompensate after this critical period. “It’s very difficult with an audience affected by dementia to know how they are feeling. We have taken care of the evolution of their weight, of their morale. This approach has worked well since we have not observed any excess mortality since April ”, continues the manager.
In the context of concern around a second wave of coronavirus in nursing homes, Magali Rineau calls on the government to reform their economic model, deploring a lack of chronic means, aggravated by the epidemic peak. “We finance ourselves through fee-for-service pricing, so maintaining a sufficient occupancy rate is key to balancing our budget. However, the excess mortality this spring resulted in a loss of revenue that was not compensated by the ARS. This has a stroke of accompanying old age! Is society ready to lose its parents, its grandparents? Over the past decades, life expectancy has increased, so have dependency and health care needs, but the means have declined. It is time to reopen this debate and to act! ”
“Cash advances have been requested from the Val-de-Marne Departmental Council to be able to continue operating, but other establishments have not had this possibility and have had to declare themselves in default of payment. The system has reached its limits and must be completely redesigned ”, adds Jean-Philippe Gautrais (FG), mayor of Fontenay-sous-Bois who came to visit the residence.
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