Ehpad are preparing for the “gradual return to normal”

The Ehpad are preparing to take a new step in the deconfinement of their residents. On June 16, the Ministry of Solidarity and Health announced in a communicated that the establishments “who no longer report any possible or confirmed cases of Covid-19” must establish by Monday, June 22 “later” from “plans to gradually return to ‘normal'”.

These plans are to be drawn up in consultation with the healthcare teams and will be submitted “compulsorily” the Social Life Council (CVS), a body elected by the residents of nursing homes and their families. “A framework document for this approach will be posted online on June 16, 2020indicates the Ministry of Solidarity and Health. This document will cancel and replace the protocol relating to protective measures in residential establishments for the elderly, in force since April 20, 2020 and updated to June 6, 2020..

The resumption of visits without an appointment “as soon as possible”

Each Ehpad will therefore have to present plans adapted to its situation. They aim to ensure “priority, as soon as possible”, the resumption of visits by relatives without an appointment. It is also a question of moving gradually towards the end of confinement in the room, as well as towards the resumption of individual and collective outings, paramedical interventions and admissions to permanent accommodation, as well as day care.

“These are important announcements, because we must allow the elderly to have more freedomsassures Romain Gizolme, director of AD-PA (the association of directors serving the elderly), interviewed by AFP, including 20 minutes echoed in particular. Facilitating visits goes in that direction”. An opinion shared by Imad Sfeir, the medical director of the Mutualité Française Bourguignonne, which manages 18 nursing homes in the region.

“These announcements were welcome”

“It was starting to be difficult for residents and their families; these announcements were welcome”, he believes. Faced with the improvement in the health situation in the country, the doctor and his teams had anticipated the reduction of the health protocol in force in the establishments. “The presidential announcements of June 14 prepared the ground for a gradual deconfinement, but it had already been a few days since visits to nursing homes without an appointment were authorized, both outside and inside. accelerated last Monday”reports Imad Sfeir.

The establishments managed by the Mutualité française Bourguignonne no longer limit the number of people authorized in a resident’s room, nor the entry of minors into nursing homes. “Nevertheless, we do not forget the barrier gestures so as not to risk contamination. We make sure that visitors wash their hands before entering our premises, that they wear a mask and that they keep a safe distance from other residents”continues the doctor, specifying that this last precaution does not apply to relations with relatives.

“Confident, but vigilant”

“We therefore try to secure the common areas as much as possible so that visitors meet as few people as possible. Even if the situation has improved a lot, we are not immune to the virus”continues Imad Sfeir, who says to himself “confident, but vigilant”. The “continuous vigilance” is the watchword of the Ministry of Solidarity and Health, which calls for the establishment of “immediate responses in the event of suspicion of a new case of Covid-19 within the establishment”.

“We leave ourselves the possibility of a red button, that is to say to go back at the slightest case of Covid detected”, confirms Florence Arnaiz-Maumé, the general delegate of SYNERPA (National union of establishments and private residences for the elderly), with AFP. As a reminder, after being banned from March 11, visits to nursing homes were gradually authorized from April 20. 1^er June, the Ministry of Health announced that nearly 45% of nursing homes declared “at least one more case of Covid-19”.