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Like every Thursday, the columnist Valérie Heurtel reports the good ideas and initiatives of the French. Direction Abbeville in the Somme where a retirement home has found a way to make its residents smile again. Two months ago, a bistro was opened in the heart of the EHPAD.
“Our idea for France is a bistro within our EHPAD to bring happiness to their residents, their families, and the staff”. The bistro changed everything and make everyone smile. The most loyal customer of the bistro in Abbeville (Somme) is Gérald. The beer is alcohol-free, but it’s sharing a glass that counts, but also getting out of isolation. “You meet a lot of people you didn’t know before.“, specifies a resident. The idea of this bar is that of a cahealth doctor, Laurent Douchin. “We made it a place to live“, he underlines. The bar is managed by an association of caregivers. THE bar is also a tooltherapeutic when the approach is difficult. Thanks to the bistro, some say they live again in their EHPAD.
Coffee, a place of socialization
Bistro and café owners are the heart of small villages. Head to the Ardennes at Brieulles-sur-Bar, town of 225 inhabitants. The bistro is a century old, and is the only cafe within 10 kilometers. The boss is 62 years old, and “customers are scared that he is retiring”explains Valerie Hurtel. The record is held by René Morvan in Lorient (Morbihan), where at 85, he still runs his bar. But the next generation is also coming for the cafeslike those who take their truck to bring coffee to small villages.
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