Since the announcement of the closure, in November 2024, the atmosphere has been ” heavy “at the Coulon life center. “We try to be in a good mood and not worry the residents, but they know us by heart”testifies Francine Rousselin, educational and social support (AES) in the establishment, which welcomes twenty-five adults with disabilities.
“There are friendships and couples that were born here”
For the Vendéenne, the decision of the Department of Deux-Sèvres to close the place where she has worked for twenty-four years does not pass. “There are friendships and even couples that were born here, and we are going to separate them? she exclaims, with emotion. You can't imagine how long it took to stabilize them and gain their confidence. » “And then they are integrated locally, plussilk one of his colleagues. At the Super U in Magné, I think all the cashiers know our residents! »
Deux-Sèvres has eleven residential centers, three of which are public. Each of them supports twenty to thirty people with disabilities. Closing one is “inconceivable given the needs of the territory”estimates the departmental secretary of Force Ouvrière Jocelyne Baussant. Specializing in health and medico-social guidance, the ViaTrajectoire site lists 1,665 people with disabilities awaiting support in Deux-Sèvres, including 176 “in a critical or complex situation”.
Like ten other establishments in Deux-Sèvres, the Coulon life center supports adults with disabilities, twenty-five in total.
© (Photo cor. NR, Didier Torossian)
Hence the concern of staff, who fear that the “reorientation” of residents of the Coulon nursing home are less in specialized establishments than in nursing homes or at the homes of their guardians. “This is already the case for young people leaving medical-educational institutes, illustrates Hélène Raisoir, caregiver. If they do not find a place in a nursing home after the age of 25, they return to their family, who do not always have the time or the skills to support them. »
Additional information will be provided by the Department following the board meeting on Wednesday January 8, 2025.
The departmental community of Deux-Sèvres, through its communications department
In a letter dated December 10, 2024, the president of the Department Coralie Dénoues justified the closure by the fact that “the buildings no longer meet the reception conditions and needs of the population for which they were created”. Estimated “between 6 and 8 million euros”the restructuring work could not have been carried out “without hindering other projects impacting the future of Deux-Sévriens”.
At the call of the trade union organization Force Ouvrière, a demonstration against the closure of the nursing home will take place on January 8, 2025 in front of Coulon town hall.
© (Photo NR, Camille Montagnon)
Answers on January 8
One month later, on January 6, 2025, the Department “takes note of the concerns of residents, their families and employees” and said to foresee “to act responsibly [et] in the interest of residents, who will be reoriented in Deux-Sèvres ». When? And what alternatives will be offered to the thirty-nine staff members? Through her communications department, Coralie Dénoues makes it known that “additional information will be provided by the Department following the board meeting on Wednesday, January 8, 2025”.
“The future of the Coulon living center” is in fact on the agenda of this meeting. The same day, at 2 p.m., staff, residents' families and the Force Ouvrière union called for a rally in front of Coulon town hall, to reaffirm their opposition to the closure. Francine Rousselin has already planned to respond. “I don’t want to get into politics, I have no resentment against the Department, but I hate injustice”justifies the one who wants to believe that another outcome is possible. Recently, in his native Vendée, a similar mobilization made it possible to avoid the closure of a nursing home.
