“You have to do things little by little, you have to accept it“says Véronique, who came to see her 72-year-old mother who lives in the Clos de l’Île Macé nursing home in Rezé, near Nantes. As of this Friday, the”chat rooms“, these spaces set up with Plexiglas plates to allow families to see their elders, will disappear.”But physical distance and barrier gestures are of course maintained“explains Guillaume Pavageau, the director of this establishment of 96 residents.”Children will be able to come, he continues, provided they wear masks, but visits are always organized by appointment, including in the garden“.
The look, the touch, the hugs
No case of Covid was identified in this Ehpad, and the confinement was strict. Véronique was only able to see her mother, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, by telephone or videoconference. When she was able to visit him after confinement, she was “very moved“to see her again. This Thursday, she visited her mother with her cousin, Sophie.”Contact is missing, she says. Like my aunt with Alzheimer’s, she no longer speaks, she only answers with yes or no. So we went a lot through the look, the contact, the hands, the hugs. And I missed this contact a lot. There I come back, and the first thing my aunt did was to reach out to touch me, but we can’t “, says Sophie. “I can’t wait to come back and touch it!“
“We must wait, even if we are impatient”
“You have to be patient, says Véronique. But the steps still go relatively quickly. Of course when we can see each other more closely, even if we have to keep our masks, it won’t be complicated. We have been doing this since January-February when there was the flu. We must not go too fast, we must do what there is to be able to come back when we want“, without an appointment. “I came three nights a week to help mom eat for example“. And for a return to normal in good conditions,”we must wait, even if we are impatient“.
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