Caregivers who throw in the towel, helpless families waiting for a call, a "newsletter" with the dreaded record…. In one of the most affected nursing homes in Paris, belonging to the Rothschild foundation, the coronavirus ravages behind closed doors. In the Gila wing, one of the four buildings of this vast private institution which accommodates 500 people, the telephone has been ringing for days. "Healthcare team with four cell numbers, it doesn't answer." Medical secretary, it doesn't answer. Psychological cell, it does not respond, "sums up Clarisse Marquez. Her mother, 85, entered the facility a few days before confinement on March 17.
Between two sentences said by her mother with difficulty on the phone, Clarisse Marquez understands that "something was put in her nose". It will take her several days to successfully reach a caregiver: a covid-19 test was performed on her mother; she has been "sick for several days", says the caregiver before cutting the conversation short. Since then, Clarisse Marquez claims to have received no other information, except that the test was positive. "
Coffins delivery
Since March 12, the retirement home of the Rothschild foundation has been confined to prevent the virus from affecting its occupants, who are particularly at risk. From the portal on rue Picpus, in the 12th arrondissement, only the nursing staff enter and leave. A few days ago, a company delivered coffins. During one week, no new assessment in the establishment was communicated. At the end of March, a team from the Regional Health Agency (ARS) visited the establishment to ensure that protective measures were implemented.
In a letter to families a few weeks earlier, the director of the establishment, Hélène Valentin, assured that "the personnel working on a resident carrying the virus are fully equipped with overcoats, masks, glasses, and protective gloves". For cases or suspicions, "groupings are organized on certain floors to avoid the spread," she added. However, according to consistent sources, the establishment faces a shortage of caregivers, themselves contaminated or who have exercised their right of withdrawal. The management informed the families that they were "recruiting" and even asked them, asking them to refer health professionals they knew to them.
"I felt that they had instructions"
Marguerite Derrida, 87, wife of the famous French philosopher Jacques Derrida, joined the establishment a year ago, recommended to her two sons. One of them, Jean, managed to see her one last time before the national ban on visits issued on March 11. "The ladies-in-waiting were there, the staff, as usual seemed a little overwhelmed, but nothing more," he recalls. Quickly, a suspicion of contamination hovers over her. A doctor says to Jean "not to be optimistic". And on a Saturday morning, a short call announces the news: it's over. Her mother will be buried alongside her husband, only her two sons will be present. Faced with questions about his mother's last hours, the nurse shortened: "I felt that they had instructions," he says.
Friday, after a week marked by a rise in the epidemic in France, the establishment decided to send a new letter to families. Latest assessment: 117 contaminated residents, one in four in three weeks, 34 dead. The previous week, there were 19 dead. On receiving this letter, Clarisse Marquez resumed her vain call round. "I'm afraid we will just coldly learn that it's over," she says. According to the latest news, her mother has been placed on respiratory assistance.
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