For years, Anne Géneau, 60, has been concerned about old age. She began her career in IT, followed a medico-social training and turned to home help and then the management of retirement homes within the association Monsieur Vincent, created by the Compagnie des Filles de la Charité. of Saint Vincent de Paul.
At the same time, she joined the Little Brothers of the Poor in 1989 as a volunteer, and in 2019 became project manager there to develop alternative forms of housing. But the Covid stops its mission in its tracks. During the health crisis, Anne Géneau resumes her role as director and performs replacements. For six months, she has been supporting nursing homes in setting up IT tools.
La Croix-L’Hebdo : What makes you get up in the morning?
Anne Geneau: I like what I do ! Being at the end of my career, I particularly appreciate today transmitting everything I have learned. I work indirectly for the comfort of the elderly, since I am not a caregiver, but I feel useful by supporting teams to create a life of residence.
This is what fulfills me in the work of school director or in that of administration. I can’t bear to hear: “In room 103, there is a problem with the flush. » Who is in this room? I know the people, not the room numbers!
At work, how is it going?
A. G. : The sector is fragile, under tension, and the health crisis or the Orpea scandal (1) have not helped. Not all positions are filled, the economic balance is also complicated for non-profit establishments, the constraints and requirements are increasingly important… Places of listening and reflection, that’s good, but at a given moment it is necessary to grant means!
The sector of the elderly is a choice of society. The problem is not the nursing home itself – home care can also become abusive – but to recognize that the loss of autonomy and then dependence require aid for daily activities, care , and therefore means.
In France, initiatives in entertainment or accommodation are hampered by the institutional framework and regulations. Fortunately, I have my commitment to the Little Brothers of the Poor (photo), where we have the freedom and the means to imagine projects.
Who do you trust?
A. G. : I tend to trust and I have already felt disappointed or betrayed. But overall, we quickly spot trusted people, those with whom we share the same values. One thing is certain, it is not at all a question of profession or hierarchy.
Living together provides an opportunity to get to know people and recognize their qualities. I am also thinking of the families of the elderly; the relationship is not always simple, and the Covid has sometimes complicated it. But fortunately there are families who trust us.
Tell us about a scene that has marked you recently…
A. G. : This summer, I experienced day vacations with the Little Brothers of the Poor of Lille. A short day with isolated people who would not have gone out otherwise. It was a simple, friendly and fraternal moment! The weather was nice, we had lunch in the garden then an employee took his guitar, we played scrabble, belote, we did plastic arts workshops…
There were about twenty people accompanied and about ten employees and volunteers, we no longer knew who was accompanied or volunteered! It was for me a moment in total contrast to the war in Ukraine, which moves me and upsets me but for which I feel totally powerless…
Right now, what would change your life?
A. G. : Have time for the relationship! Give us the means to do things well for these elderly people who often suffer from loneliness, in nursing homes or at home. Make nursing homes real places of life and not just places of care, restrictions and constraints, even if collective life and dependency create this environment.
Today, everyone is covering up, families are becoming litigious, there is a lack of staff… With the Little Brothers of the Poor, we escape all that: if we want to race in wheelchairs, we can! In Ehpad, we write – and we rewrite it constantly – an individualized project for each person, it reassures everyone, but it’s hypocritical because you still have to read it, apply it and live it in the relationship.
I sometimes tell the volunteers of the Little Brothers of the Poor how lucky we are to arrive in an Ehpad to sit down and simply chat when the staff toil all day.
And for tomorrow, an idea to change the world?
A. G. : We have to learn to respect each other, to accept each other’s opinions, by ceasing to make hasty judgments. We have never talked so much about benevolence: let it translate into action! We pit the young against the old, the rural against the urban… instead of opening up to others. And we forget about living together, fraternity.
At the Little Brothers of the Poor, no one has the same ideas but we are united around a common project. And of the elderly person who tells us his story, his stories, and who has so much to pass on to us.