Two residents of the Eugène -Aujaleu retirement home in Nègrepelisse have died since Sunday, April 5. 23 other residents were found to be positive for coronavirus. At least four staff are also affected in what has become the 1st cluster of the epidemic in the department.
It is the first facility in Occitania to undergo widespread screening since the beginning of the week, both residents and staff. And for good reason, at the Ehpad (accommodation establishment for dependent elderly) Eugène-Aujaleu, in Nègrepelisse, the toll of the coronavirus epidemic continues to worsen. The first 79-year-old resident died of Covid-19 last Sunday, April 5, at the Montauban hospital center where he was transferred over the weekend. Two days later, Tuesday, a 94-year-old resident died in the retirement home.
The 76 elderly people living there were therefore screened on Tuesday. A mobile team delegated by the Regional Health Agency went to the site to take the samples. The results are now known: 23 residents of this retirement home managed by the CCAS (Communal Center for Social Action) in Nègrepelisse are declared positive at Covid-19. Among them, two residents were again rushed to the Montauban hospital center on Thursday evening.
All staff, caregivers and non-caregivers, have also been tested since Tuesday. The 80 employees of the Ehpad were not all checked yesterday, but in the current state of screening, four staff already knew that they were positive for coronavirus. According to the authorities, the Eugène-Aujaleu nursing home has indeed become the first cluster of the epidemic, the focus of positive cases, in the department.
As of Monday evening, the ARS was dispatched to this recent establishment, located in a green setting near the swimming pool and the media library of Nègrepelisse. It was then a matter of analyzing the situation and supporting the Ehpad team. A crisis management unit has been activated.
One of the first measures was to appoint a managerial reinforcement next to the director. A former director of the Tarn hospital, recently retired, arrived this week in Nègrepelisse. The Ehpad also mobilized the health reserve (four nursing assistants), as well as other staff from the Montauban hospital center as part of the Covid-elderly platform. Hygiene specialists from the Montauban hospital center also intervened “to optimize protection as much as possible.”
This week, the teams also informed the families, as a priority, of course, those of boarders with Covid-19. “This work is continuing. We are doing everything we can to contain the spread of the virus,” said David Billetorte, departmental director of ARS.
After closing its doors to the public on March 11, the establishment has confined its residents to their rooms ten days ago now. Faced with a virus that is now spreading inside, officials are working on the possible establishment of “two sealed areas.”
In the meantime, the Ehpad has gone into anguish. “Of course we are afraid when we arrive. But we have no choice,” explained the employee yesterday. In Nègrepelisse, the shock wave of deaths and contaminations is strongly felt. “The retirement home is not in its corner. It is part of this whole with the media library, the house of solidarity … It’s pretty terrible,” sighs a neighbor.
“The other Ehpad savings “
Asked about the situation in the other nursing homes in the department (29 establishments and 2,700 residents), the departmental director of the ARS explains that “there is no other case like Nègrepelisse. We had suspicions in some establishments, but they were all lifted after the tests. All Ehpad are strongly mobilized. We are in close contact with them. ”
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