"It will not be a slaughter in the Ehpad"

• 3,523 people died of Covid-19 in French hospitals, 500 more in one day. Two medical TGVs, with 36 coronavirus patients on board, left Paris for Brittany.
• The General Directorate of Health should soon include in its daily statement the number of cases recorded in the establishments for the elderly.
• Pascal Champvert, president of the association of directors serving the elderly, gives his analysis of the situation.

Her phone keeps ringing. He is looking for masks. Reassure its staff. And continues to keep the pressure on the health authorities. Pascal Champvert, Director of a hospital establishment for dependent elderly people (Ehpad), is also the President of the Association of Directors of Services for the Elderly. A post which allows him to have an overview of the situation of the elderly, the main ones threatened by the coronavirus epidemic. He agreed to answer questions from 20 Minutes …

Health authorities should include coronavirus deaths in nursing homes in their daily count. Should we expect a massacre?

There are deaths in institutions for the aged. But it is not a scoop. We have known this from the start. This virus is extremely contaminating. And it is extremely dangerous for people over the age of 70. Pape Diouf [he was 68 years old], Manu Dibongo, Patrick Devedjian… So obviously, there will be deaths in the Ehpad.

But no it will not be a slaughter! We talked about establishments where we deplore ten or fifteen dead for example. It's dramatic. But this only concerns ten establishments out of the 10,000 in France. So it's dramatic for the elderly, for families, for staff. But it is very little. We must not speak of a slaughter in retirement homes.

A tenth death in ten days in an Ardèche nursing home https://t.co/P7ghJdl4W1

Do you give the feeling of being angry about this subject?

No, this virus is serious and contaminating. But there is something even more contaminating, it is fear! We must all be responsible. How? 'Or' What ? We apply barrier gestures, we confine ourselves. And then, we do what a lot of French people do: we applaud the caregivers, we make songs, we exchange jokes, we exchange words of love, we volunteer.

Troop morale during wartime is crucial. This does not mean that morale will replace the respirators. But it will allow us to get better. The Director General of Health must tell us the number of deaths every night. Because there is nothing to hide from us. And it must be said that the crisis is serious ... But it must not be said that we are all going to die in terrible suffering.

Why are statistics in nursing homes so slow to be communicated?

They should be this Wednesday evening or tomorrow at the latest, I think. It turns out that data from 10,000 establishments and 10,000 home care services have to be reported. We started early last week. We had to create a process. At first, some had not filled in the right boxes. Things had to be reviewed. But I think we're almost there now.

The people who die in retirement homes all have death certificates. There is always the cause of death. This is why these certificates are signed by doctors. When there is suspicion of coronavirus, it will be marked "suspected of coronavirus". When there is a proven positive test, it will be marked "coronavirus".

Our file on the coronavirus

Do Ehpad all have masks to protect themselves from the epidemic?

We vigorously alerted the minister about ten days ago. Since then, they have arrived. In addition, certain departments or certain companies have also ordered or brought some.

The problem is that there are still supply difficulties in some places. Especially in people who take care of home care. And there we sound the alarm. Each employee must have two masks per day. We wrote because we are waiting. We are waiting. And if that lasts, we will make public the names of the departments where the regional health agencies do not do their job.

Masks and gloves stolen from an ambulance, a Toulousain arrested https://t.co/kDhrES0F9w

What do you think of the teams that decide to confine themselves with the residents?

It is part of solidarity initiatives. Of course, we can only congratulate the employees. Well done, but be careful. Take care of yourself too. This crisis is long. It will not go away in a week. Be careful not to exhaust yourself beyond reason.

The second thing. The unanimous teams must do this. If everyone is, why not? But I would advise against doing it over time. Be careful, friends. Must last long ...

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• Coronavirus
• Video
• Society
• Health
• Containment
• Covid 19
• Ehpad
• The elderly