Social. Home help: shadow workers

Help with the toilet, maintenance, shopping, meals, a few words exchanged here and there … More necessary than ever despite the pandemic, the personal assistance professions continued to work day after day with people who needed it most. “In the end, it didn’t change much. You should stay away as much as possible, do not shake hands, disinfect your hands often. We have strict instructions which have become automatic, ”summarizes Amandine Schweitzer, pragmatic. Her partner, Véronique Molteni, adds: “We quickly got used to it. And then, in the car, we have all the necessary equipment. ”

The first is a social worker, the second is a home help. Both travel the roads to come and take care of people calling on Amapa’s services every day. If these women seem to minimize the consequences of the health situation, it is because they have been applying barrier gestures since last spring.

–

Covid kits for interventions

Because the work has never stopped. For Amandine, it was unthinkable to “leave people in their diapers or without eating, without cleaning or even without being able to get out of bed. We are the arms and legs of these people ”, and this even if“ during the first confinement, people canceled at the last minute for fear of contamination, ”says Véronique.

“To interrupt the interventions was to add isolation for people who were already isolated. At the Amapa level, we were instructed not to cancel our interventions. We have adapted, remembers Gaëlle Bessin, head of the Thionville agency. And this even if legitimately, many have isolated themselves by pathology or fear, but nearly 50% of employees worked the entire time of the two confinements. “

Today, in each car, “covid kits” are available. Overcoat, charlotte, overshoes, FFP2 mask and a pair of glasses are all gathered in individual plastic bags. “These kits are used for every intervention. Once the mission is over, everything goes in the trash, ”explains the manager.

–

A sector in demand

It’s no secret that personal assistance is a sector that is difficult to recruit. “It does not make little girls dream,” comments Gaëlle Bessin. Several players in the sector have launched campaigns to alleviate staff shortages, whether at Amapa in Thionville, or at Maison et services Thionville, for example.

–