“We must ease the situation” in retirement homes, claims Saturday January 1 on franceinfo the president of the Association of Directors in the Service of the Elderly (AD-PA), Pascal Champvert. “In the most secure places in France, we should have the most flexible rules”, notes the one who is also director of residences in Saint-Maur des Fossés.
franceinfo: What do you think of the health measures implemented in nursing homes?
Pascal Champvert: As everywhere in France, we see that the new variant is extremely contagious, but the situation must be relaxed. The measures currently in place are excessive. Institutions for the elderly are today the most secure places in France, since they are the only places where you have 100% of professionals who are vaccinated and more than 95% of people received. In the most secure places in France, we should have the most flexible rules. We are simply asking for the same rules as everywhere else. There are people who have been vaccinated three times, who do not have the Covid, and who are nevertheless confined and cannot receive visits. This is the case as soon as there are three cases of Covid in an establishment. It’s not acceptable.
What is the speech of the Ministry of Health?
The official discourse is that we must protect without isolating. But the unofficial discourse, through a circular and oral or written recommendations from regional health agencies, is that we must protect and too bad if we isolate. This is the root of the problem. We must stop this game of fools where the State makes believe that it is for the opening whereas at bottom, it is in a hyper-security model. This model must be changed. We must have open retirement homes with elderly people who are recognized as full citizens. Like, moreover, the frail elderly who live at home. What is needed is that the oldest enjoy the same citizenship as all French people.
Are you worried about the obligation of a vaccination pass?
We at AD-PA have always said that we are clearly in favor of vaccination. We understand that a certain number of French people choose not to be vaccinated, but there is a limit to this freedom of choice. It is the freedom of the elderly, professionals and all French people who are vaccinated. So, the crest line, it is to be found there, to respect the choice of the unvaccinated but this choice must not entail losses of freedom for the vaccinated French.