According to the latest figures from the Center-Val de Loire Regional Health Agency, six sources of contamination are currently being investigated in accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) in Eure-et-Loir, or 13% of structures.
Ehpad facing the challenge of transparency
“There are still a few clusters in Ehpad, but fewer than two weeks or three weeks ago. The number of residents who test positive varies from one situation to another. This can go, at the moment, up to fourteen infected elderly people in the same establishment, ”explains Denis Gelez, regional delegate of the ARS in Eure-et-Loir.
Resumption of “normal life” in the nursing homes of Eure-et-Loir: how it will go
As soon as a case in nursing home appears, the staff, like the residents, are systematically tested.
“We have learned the lessons of the first wave. What helps us are the tests. For professionals, we use antigenic tests, which make it possible to obtain results very quickly ”
Denis Freeze (regional delegate of the ARS in Eure-et-Loir)
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For example, at the beginning of November, six workers from the Gallardon nursing home tested positive during preventive screening. “These professionals were asymptomatic at the time of the sample. They were removed from the facility for seven days, and visits to the elderly were suspended. The residents’ tests were all negative, ”explains Yvon Le Tilly, deputy director of the nursing home and deputy director of the Hospitals of Chartres.
“A lack of staff”
In this establishment in the Eure valley, no resident has died of Covid-19 since March, according to the deputy director. But other structures were affected, especially in Chartres. “In the majority of cases, the elderly who died had risk factors for complications from Covid-19,” said Yvon Le Tilly.
As for the unions, Arnauld Pionnier, departmental secretary FO Health of Eure-et-Loir, points to “a lack of staff in nursing homes” of the department. A situation that he has denounced for several years, and has become, according to him, “even more problematic with this health crisis”.
The unionist also calls for more equipment to allow residents to exchange with their relatives by videoconference.
Containment: Ehpad and retirement homes organize videoconferences in Eure-et-Loir
To avoid isolation, visits are authorized in retirement homes, since the start of this second confinement, except when a cluster appears. “The whole challenge is to reconcile the social life of residents and health protection,” admits Yvon Le Tilly.
Helen Bonnet
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