INTERVIEW
During the Covid-19 epidemic, personal assistance services were particularly mobilized. This is what recalls on Europe 1, Thierry D'Aboville secretary general of Home Help in Rural Areas (ADMR), the leading associative network of personal services in France. He regrets that this sector is "invisible" during this crisis when "hundreds of thousands of employees work at home" of the most fragile.
Without them, "the situation would have been catastrophic"
According to Thierry D'Aboville, employees of personal assistance services are the forgotten ones of the coronavirus epidemic. "The home help sector is an invisible sector and yet it works with five million elderly people and people living with disabilities. It is huge," he said. "There are hundreds of thousands of employees who work in the homes of these fragile people. If they had not been there, the situation would have been catastrophic."
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Like many professions, these home helpers and carers had to adapt during the crisis. "We have refocused on essential acts: getting up, going to the bathroom, eating and going to bed," says Thierry D'Aboville. He also congratulates these employees for their professionalism and persistence. "We have continued to work with people who are very isolated. All the work has been done and it is to the credit of all these home helpers and life support workers," he said, adding that these employees earn "on average around 900 euros net per month".
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However, according to Thierry D'Aboville, it was, at the beginning of the crisis, uncertain for these employees to carry out all these missions. "We had to fight constantly for carers and home helpers: so that they can keep their children in class or in crèche, for travel permits and for masks," he laments. .
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