Seeing that the coronavirus invaded the residences of seniors and sowed death, Valerie Martin she told herself that this would not happen in the nursing home that she manages in France.
The measure she took to prevent the virus from infecting and killing the vulnerable elderly in her care was as drastic as it was effective: She and her employees locked themselves up in the institution along with its 106 residents.
For 47 days and nights, the staff and residents of the geriatric Vilanova on the outskirts of Lyon they weathered the storm together while the COVID-19 It killed tens of thousands of people in other nursing homes in Europe, including more than 9,000 in France.
“I said to myself, ‘no, not mine. My residents have a lot of life ahead of them, “Martin said in an interview. “I don’t want this virus to kill them after all they’ve endured.”
On Monday, Martin and 12 other employees who remained at the residence ended their quarantine amid hugs and chants, declaring themselves victorious: All checks done at the residence, on staff and residents, came back negative. The employees, who call themselves the “happy inmates”, set off in a caravan of vehicles, honking horns, ready for the reunion with their families, houses and pets.
“We did it,” said Martin. “Every day, expensive hour, was a triumph.”
COVID-19 killed dozens of people in other residences, but Martin said that in Vilanova there were only four deaths and that none of those deaths appears to have been related to the virus. The average age of residents is 87 and the deaths were not unexpected, he noted.
Since staff and residents were confined, it was not necessary to lock people in their rooms, as they did in other residences, to prevent residents from catching a virus that came from outside. This prevented residents from suffering the loneliness of others. In Vilanova, residents continued to see each other and go out to the patio to breathe fresh air.
The son of a 95-year-old resident said the staff is a “fantastic team” who saved his mother by protecting her from the virus and keeping her spirited, even organizing a celebration for her birthday on April 17. Gilles Barret said that daily news, photo and video posts on the residence’s Facebook page reassured us. ”
“They saved lives,” he said. “Perfect, perfect everything. I take off my hat ”.
Martin said he did not want its residents to feel “prisoners” and that it would not have felt good if she kept going in and out while depriving residents of their freedom during the quarantine, which has been in effect since March 17.
Residents were confined to their rooms the first two days while the staff did a thorough cleaning of the place. Those two days, Martin said, were “catastrophic.”
A nurse is photographed with two elderly women from a nursing home in Corbas, France. / AP –
“In just two days we perceived that there were people who did not want to eat, who did not want to get up, people who said,‘ why do they bathe me? This doesn’t make sense, ’” he said.
He decided that something had to be done. In all, 29 of the 50 employees volunteered to stay, and on March 18 they showed up with pillows, sleeping bags, and clothing for what they thought would be a three-week lockdown, but then decided to extend. Other staff continued to check in and out, but did not mix with residents, wear protective gear, and followed strict protocol.
The staff slept on mattresses on the floor. Martin did it in his office. One of the volunteers left her ten-month-old baby at home. The staff kept track of the days on a blackboard that said “Always together with the heart.”
“It was tough,” said nurse Vanessa Robert. But there were moments of “great happiness, when we met at night and had fun, throwing water pumps at us.”
Martin said his priority now is to comfort his cat, Fanta, who must miss her very much. He added that one of the most unusual moments of the entire odyssey was when he got into his car and listened to the same song on a CD – that of Limp Bizkit’s “Mission Impossible” – that he had been listening to when he got out of the car seven weeks before. .
“It was like coming to summer camp,” he said. “A confinement with 130 people can be very rewarding.”
It might interest you:
– .
