The most difficult for seniors
is the absence of others
The nurse Dominique Gendron worked this weekend with patients suffering from the new coronavirus .
The surgical wing of the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital in Sherbrooke was transformed for them.
Gendron counted 14 patients on Saturday and 22 on Sunday. Only elderly people, some quite in bad shape, others almost without symptoms, but all isolated, secluded, cut off from the world, without even access to the media for entertainment or information.
"There are no more TV connections, and I understand the private company that stopped this service," says Mr. Gendron. There is no wi-fi either in the specialized wing. You cannot provide a radio to patients. They have no visitors, and we ourselves must avoid entering their room for too long. It is very sad to see these people looking at the ceiling all day. They don't even have access to information about them. They cannot watch the Prime Minister's daily conference. "
Mr. Gendron also wrote a letter to François Legault to suggest that he give free access to television and information in hospitals "during this difficult period". The letter was posted on social media and on the Facebook page Les Infirmières Ma Nurse in particular.
The hard times
The pandemic is forcing the containment of billions of people and the almost complete isolation of older people in particular. For everyone, and especially for them, human relationships become dangerous, toxic, lethal. Hell is other people in these hard, very hard times.
But hell is also the absence of others. The global catastrophe amplifies loneliness, and even more that of the elderly
who are too often isolated, neglected, neglected.
Nicole Fleurent, 83, lives in the Le Patrimoine residence in Laval. She is diabetic and suffers from hypertension. The virus therefore threatens it threefold. "I have never experienced anything like this in my life," says Ms. Fleurent, who was born in the interwar period.
She is starting her 18th day of confinement in her apartment today. Its building imposes Spartan rules: only one person at a time in the elevator; strolling prohibited in the corridors; one visit to the counter per week for mail, etc.
She places an order at the grocery store on Thursday and receives it the following Wednesday. His bridge club is closed.
She plays online. She knits. "I'm used to being alone," she says.
Ageism too, she knows, like all the oldest in this society, which did not wait for the health crisis to neglect or infantilize them. "Obviously, seniors are more at risk of getting the virus," says Ms. Fleurent, who had a career at Bell. But we are no more at risk of giving it than the others.
Mr. Trudeau's wife was infected and she is still young. "
We must not put all non-young people in the same galley either. Lise Cossette-Turpin, 73, lives with her partner in an apartment in Laval.
They left their Abitibi home 7 years ago to get closer to Liv, their granddaughter, whom they can no longer see now.
"We don't go looking for her at school anymore," says Ms. Cossette-Turpin. We don't keep it anymore on weekends. We stay at home.
We take the sun on the gallery. I repeat my songs because I am a member of a choir. Our situation is not that difficult after all. "
After the crisis
Times are more or less hard and could harden for many. The pandemic crisis will swell physical and psychological disorders, stimulate over-medication and accentuate ageism, warns Philippe Voyer, full professor of the Faculty of Nursing at Laval University, specialist in geriatric care.
"We are so afraid, and with good reason, that we lock everyone up," he says. This isolation creates a danger of under stimulation. In CHSLDs, 80% of residents have cognitive problems. The situation of isolation will accelerate their cognitive loss and their loss of autonomy. They are also at risk of suffering from depressive symptoms. In short, their condition can deteriorate and,
to reverse this trend, it will be necessary to redouble stimulation efforts. "
Quebec has just awarded $ 133 million to seniors' institutions. This emergency aid must make it possible
to add resources to CHSLDs and private residences.
"Boredom and isolation can be sources of agitation in people with Alzheimer's disease," says the professor. There is a risk of an upsurge in psychotropic drugs. Considerable efforts have been made over the past two years to reduce the misuse of these molecules.
There, we are no longer able to give care with such vigor. We are entering a vicious circle. It is not easy. "
At the same time, Philippe Voyer hopes that this deep crisis will become an opportunity
to renew the lifestyle of the third and fourth age in Quebec.
"There was resistance to change in all sectors, even for the Houses of the Elders promised during the electoral campaign, residences for ten or fifteen people, a model extremely well studied scientifically, with clear benefits, he says. The long corridor with thirty rooms,
without recreation room, without lounges has a limit for the quality of life. "
Similarly, he believes that the crisis will help to rethink the use of health technologies.
“The environment is very refractory, while clinical records are not computerized and communication with pharmacies is still done by fax. Everything is archaic. Websites fall. Our computerized system must improve. Teleconsultation with doctors or nurses must be generalized. There is an opportune time to question all things and improve them. "
The surgical wing of the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital in Sherbrooke was transformed for them.
Gendron counted 14 patients on Saturday and 22 on Sunday. Only elderly people, some quite in bad shape, others almost without symptoms, but all isolated, secluded, cut off from the world, without even access to the media for entertainment or information.
"There are no more TV connections, and I understand the private company that stopped this service," says Mr. Gendron. There is no wi-fi either in the specialized wing. You cannot provide a radio to patients. They have no visitors, and we ourselves must avoid entering their room for too long. It is very sad to see these people looking at the ceiling all day. They don't even have access to information about them. They cannot watch the Prime Minister's daily conference. "
Mr. Gendron also wrote a letter to François Legault to suggest that he give free access to television and information in hospitals "during this difficult period". The letter was posted on social media and on the Facebook page Les Infirmières Ma Nurse in particular.
The hard times
The pandemic is forcing the containment of billions of people and the almost complete isolation of older people in particular. For everyone, and especially for them, human relationships become dangerous, toxic, lethal. Hell is other people in these hard, very hard times.
But hell is also the absence of others. The global catastrophe amplifies loneliness, and even more that of the elderly
who are too often isolated, neglected, neglected.
Nicole Fleurent, 83, lives in the Le Patrimoine residence in Laval. She is diabetic and suffers from hypertension. The virus therefore threatens it threefold. "I have never experienced anything like this in my life," says Ms. Fleurent, who was born in the interwar period.
She is starting her 18th day of confinement in her apartment today. Its building imposes Spartan rules: only one person at a time in the elevator; strolling prohibited in the corridors; one visit to the counter per week for mail, etc.
She places an order at the grocery store on Thursday and receives it the following Wednesday. His bridge club is closed.
She plays online. She knits. "I'm used to being alone," she says.
Ageism too, she knows, like all the oldest in this society, which did not wait for the health crisis to neglect or infantilize them. "Obviously, seniors are more at risk of getting the virus," says Ms. Fleurent, who had a career at Bell. But we are no more at risk of giving it than the others.
Mr. Trudeau's wife was infected and she is still young. "
We must not put all non-young people in the same galley either. Lise Cossette-Turpin, 73, lives with her partner in an apartment in Laval.
They left their Abitibi home 7 years ago to get closer to Liv, their granddaughter, whom they can no longer see now.
"We don't go looking for her at school anymore," says Ms. Cossette-Turpin. We don't keep it anymore on weekends. We stay at home.
We take the sun on the gallery. I repeat my songs because I am a member of a choir. Our situation is not that difficult after all. "
After the crisis
Times are more or less hard and could harden for many. The pandemic crisis will swell physical and psychological disorders, stimulate over-medication and accentuate ageism, warns Philippe Voyer, full professor of the Faculty of Nursing at Laval University, specialist in geriatric care.
"We are so afraid, and with good reason, that we lock everyone up," he says. This isolation creates a danger of under stimulation. In CHSLDs, 80% of residents have cognitive problems. The situation of isolation will accelerate their cognitive loss and their loss of autonomy. They are also at risk of suffering from depressive symptoms. In short, their condition can deteriorate and,
to reverse this trend, it will be necessary to redouble stimulation efforts. "
Quebec has just awarded $ 133 million to seniors' institutions. This emergency aid must make it possible
to add resources to CHSLDs and private residences.
"Boredom and isolation can be sources of agitation in people with Alzheimer's disease," says the professor. There is a risk of an upsurge in psychotropic drugs. Considerable efforts have been made over the past two years to reduce the misuse of these molecules.
There, we are no longer able to give care with such vigor. We are entering a vicious circle. It is not easy. "
At the same time, Philippe Voyer hopes that this deep crisis will become an opportunity
to renew the lifestyle of the third and fourth age in Quebec.
"There was resistance to change in all sectors, even for the Houses of the Elders promised during the electoral campaign, residences for ten or fifteen people, a model extremely well studied scientifically, with clear benefits, he says. The long corridor with thirty rooms,
without recreation room, without lounges has a limit for the quality of life. "
Similarly, he believes that the crisis will help to rethink the use of health technologies.
“The environment is very refractory, while clinical records are not computerized and communication with pharmacies is still done by fax. Everything is archaic. Websites fall. Our computerized system must improve. Teleconsultation with doctors or nurses must be generalized. There is an opportune time to question all things and improve them. "
