Former minister Michèle Delaunay, during his last council in Bordeaux, March 2, 2020. -

Mickaël Bosredon / 20 Minutes

  • The former Minister for the Elderly Michèle Delaunay "observes every day the incredible sense of responsibility of people over 75 years old who force themselves to self-confine".

  • The Socialist would have liked “the President of the Republic to speak, support them and underline their considerable effort.

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  • It also alarms on the mortality rate in nursing homes, which should lead society to analyze what the risk factors are.

Should the elderly self-confine?

Members of the scientific council, which guides the French government, believe that it is no longer necessary to chain confinements to combat Covid-19 but to opt for a “social contract” between generations where the oldest and most vulnerable would agree to self-help. isolate.

In a point of view published Thursday by the medical journal

The Lancet Public Health

, they explain that “the younger generations would accept the constraint of preventive measures (such as masks, physical distance), on condition that the most the elderly and the most vulnerable adopt not only these measures but also others, more specific (such as self-isolation according to a criterion of fragility), in order to reduce their risk of infection ”.

20 Minutes

interviewed the former Minister for the Elderly Michèle Delaunay, who is also president of the gerontopole of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

The scientific council calls for a "self-isolation" of the oldest people, to fight against the Covid-19 epidemic.

Do you agree ?

I myself have offered it several times.

But every day I see the incredible sense of responsibility of people over 75 who force themselves to self-confine, that is to say not to commit any imprudence and to only do what is really necessary.

So you agree with this recommendation of the scientific council?

Yes even if in terms of form, we have the impression that we are telling the elderly that all this, basically, is not much their fault ... We tell them: “Come on, confine yourself more severely.

What the scientific council should say above all is that they must be vaccinated as soon as possible.

Because once vaccinated, everything will not be won, but we will have taken a huge step forward.

We could have a word for the elderly, because we have never paid tribute to the elderly during this crisis.

I would have liked the President of the Republic to speak, support them and underline their considerable effort.

Michèle Delaunay underlines the high mortality in nursing homes.

- Twitter / Michèle Delaunay

You also find that the mortality figures in nursing homes (nursing homes for dependent elderly people) are not highlighted enough, why?

I'm not saying that we hide them, because we can find them, but we do not make them the subject of reflection that we must have.

50% of Covid-19 mortality during the first wave, and 40% today, comes from nursing home residents, while they represent only 1% of the population.

It's a slap!

We must ask ourselves, we must analyze what were the factors of mortality in nursing homes: is it the number of residents, the architecture of the nursing home, the type of management?

There are three types of nursing home: commercial, associative or public.

The first figures we have are quite worrying, and show that mortality is much higher in commercial nursing homes.

You have to know why.

Let us get along well: I am not putting the commercial nursing homes on trial, and I have no opposition to this or that mode of management.

But I want to know.

It is time to think about a new model for nursing homes, is that it?

Exactly.

We all agree that the nursing home model must be reviewed, but it must be done on criteria, not on feelings.

I want to know what we can do to ensure that the place and role of these elderly people are better taken into account.

Since the beginning of this crisis, there have been several unpleasant media outlets against the elderly, whom you regularly denounce.

Do you believe that old age is abused in our country?

No because there is the minimum old age, and overall state support.

But it is badly perceived.

It is clear that a kind of new ageism is emerging now, as the population ages overall, which will create tensions.

And there are those fools who said, basically, "Why spend money on people who only have a few months or years to live?"

»Does this mean that with less than three years of life expectancy, we no longer treat?

As an oncologist, I can tell you that if we only treated people who are known to have several years of life expectancy, half the medicine would be useless.

On the contrary, we must take care of these people in the most intense way so that they can enjoy these months, so that they can still live and not only be in suffering.

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Society

Coronavirus: Elderly people ask to reduce the health protocol in nursing homes

  • Aquitaine

  • Covid 19

  • Ehpad

  • Society

  • Coronavirus

  • Bordeaux

  • The elderly