“It’s old, but it’s clean and we have everything we need. Retirement homes where you pay astronomical prices are no better than here”. Lucette Camescasse, white hair cut short, discreet lipstick, will celebrate her 99th birthday in mid-February in the nursing home in Montfort-en-Chalosse, a small town in the Landes, where she was born. After having run the village bistro, she ended up entering the Cent Marches retirement home, where she found old school friends. “It’s still a bit of family”she assures.
Sitting for her dinner in the orange-walled dining room, she brags about the “dedicated staff” and the efforts of the cook: “For Christmas, we had foie gras four times, but real, not block. » She appreciates that the establishment is in the heart of the village, “when I go to the garden, the old customers [de son bar] who pass by car make a “tuuut” ». In unison with many Gascons, she wishes to salute the memory of“Henri Emmanuelli, an extraordinary man, from the people, who wanted everything to be public”. Before adding: “Anyway, I couldn’t have gone private, it was too expensive. »
Rich or poor, “the same conditions”
The former president of the National Assembly, who died in 2017, has always refused to authorize lucrative private nursing homes in the Landes department, which he chaired for more than three decades. A legacy now held up as a model by part of the political class, since the Orpea scandal highlighted the serious shortcomings of certain private for-profit nursing homes.
With the exception of a small establishment with 25 places, the Landes now only has public or private non-profit retirement homes, all eligible for social assistance. Result ? “Whether you are rich or poor, you will age in the same conditions, indicates Boris Vallaud, deputy (Socialist Party, PS) of the Landes. These are political choices. The Landes is a socialist department, which puts the social question at the heart of its practices. »
To Cent Marches, in a very rural area where small pensions are legion, 30% of residents benefit from social assistance. “Here, the tariff amounts to 1,878 euros per month for accommodation, so if a resident receives 1,000 euros in retirement, 878 euros are missing. We will see what part can be paid by the children, and the department will pay the restexplains the young director of the Ehpad, Mathieu Henry. In return, the county council has the right to look at our prices and ensure that they do not soar. » The 30-year-old, who did internships in a lucrative private establishment during his training, will not go in the future “not work anywhere other than in the public”. “What really makes the difference is the governance of the establishments, the autonomy left to me, he said. My board of directors is only made up of local elected officials, who never ask me how much urinary protection I have ordered, do not seek economic profitability, but inquire about the service rendered to the population. »
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