Hélène Rossinot, public health specialist, welcomes the 6,000 “respite” places announced by the Minister of Solidarity Aurore Bergé, but displays her annoyance at a “cluster of small measures”.
“Let’s be honest, rather than a strategy, I find it more like a bunch of small measures”reacted Friday October 6 in the show “Hello doctor” on France Bleu Sud Lorraine, Doctor Hélène Rossinot, specialist in public health and social medicine, expert on the issue of caregivers, while the Minister of Solidarity Aurore Bergé announced the “Acting strategy for caregivers 2023-27” of the government.
The plan notably provides for the creation of “6,000 additional respite places” for the elderly and people with disabilities to give their caregivers a break.
Hélène Rossinot denounces an announcement which is, according to her, “a bunch of small measures that had to be released on October 6 because it’s national day and we had to say something rather than a thoughtful plan based on the field”.
The caregiver welcomes the 6,000 additional respite places announced by the government. “It’s always better than nothing”, recognizes Hélène Rossinot. But she would like “have something tangible that works”. The expert would like to point out that this “type of respite does not apply to everyone. It applies in particular to people who accompany a disabled person or an aging person”.
“You are not going to put your chronically ill spouse in an Ephad for the weekend to go and rest, it won’t work.”
Hélène Rossinot, expert on the issue of caregivers
But according to her, if the caregiver accompanies “someone who has a chronic illness, who is neither really disabled, or at least not disabled enough, nor aging, in any case who is not over 60 years old, there is nothing” for her. “You are not going to put your chronically ill spouse in an Ephad for the weekend to go and rest, it won’t work.” And if the person resides “deep in the countryside”There’s no “necessarily institutes or day care places, which will be available”. This government strategy “is a racket, which has even more holes than a tennis racket”quips Hélène Rossinot.
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The specialist in public health and social medicine still expresses her annoyance that things are not moving forward more quickly. “I’m a little tired of repeating the same thing every year.” She recalls that in 2019, “there was already a plan for caregivers, which had been thought through and which was honestly not bad at all”. But according to her, “A quarter of this plan has been followed. The rest is still waiting”.
“I receive messages every day, from people who are exhausted, who no longer know where to turn, who need to talk, who need to be supported, to be helped”insists Hélène Rossinot.
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