On Tuesday in Chaumont, Doctor Rossinot invited health professionals to become “allies” of family caregivers, who take care of a vulnerable loved one on a daily basis.
A specialist in the theme of caregivers, Dr Hélène Rossinot was a doctor in nursing homes. Suffice to say that she knows relationships with families, patients or residents well. An experience which was not useless for him to provide, on Tuesday November 5, some wise advice to professionals who come into contact with family caregivers, those relatives – parents, but not only – who take care of a vulnerable loved one on a daily basis. .
“You have a role vis-à-vis the caregiver of the supported person, that of making them an ally, insisted the Lorraine doctor. Because caregivers are damn useful: they repeat to their loved ones the instructions you have given, they make sure that medications are taken, appointments are honored. This alliance is necessary because it brings trust. »
The world of work reacts
As part of this awareness day offered Tuesday in Chaumont by the Respite Platform (daily jhm of October 28, 2024), day intended to present “ways to improve relationships between caregivers, those being cared for and professionals” according to the organizers, Virginie Benneka and Nathalie Fey, Dr Rossinot first recalled that caregivers represent, according to latest estimates, “25% of the French population”. The same proportion applies to French employees who will be caregivers within five years. “What makes the world of work react, and more quickly than the world of health”noted the specialist in a subject on which she has written several works.
Being a family caregiver is not an easy task. “The child I was died two days after my father’s accident”thus testified, in a poem read by Hélène Rossinot, a 14-year-old young person confronted, with his mother, with his father's disability. Whether they care for the elderly and/or disabled or the sick, caregivers may be faced with anxiety or sleep disorders. “Many people do not consider themselves caregivers, believing that it is normal, that it is a duty to help a loved one, and these are the ones who are the most difficult to support”estimated the doctor from Nancy, who cited numerous examples of people confronted with a feeling of guilt.
“Legitimate interlocutor”
For example, that of a woman whose last two years with her sick mother were very difficult because of her bouts of violence. “It took her four years for her to shed a tear over the death of her mother, for love to return”testified Dr. Rossinot, indicating that for this girl, “not to hold on would have been a failure, she would have considered herself to have failed.”
If Dr Rossinot wanted to address her sisters and colleagues, professionals in the field of disability, care of the elderly or medico-social, it is, she insists, because their role is more important than it seems. “Many conflicts would be better resolved if there was, from the start, real support for caregivers, if they are accepted as legitimate interlocutors”estimates the doctor.
And in conclusion of his remarks, Dr Rossinot clarified: “When you talk to a patient, have the reflex to look next to him. Go further than what you were taught, and you will change the lives of caregivers and the lives of entire families. We will all be helpers one day or another. »
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