The first forum for caregivers was organized in Ariège. This Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at the Olivier Carol cultural center in Foix, visitors were able to have the answers to their questions about keeping a loved one at home.
It was a great first in Ariège. This Wednesday, May 2023, 31 was organized the first edition of the caregiver forum. From 1:30 p.m., at the back of the Olivier Carol cultural center in Foix, the stands are prepared and the members of the associations ready to respond to visitors. At the back of the room, chairs are lined up in several rows, facing a screen, so that visitors are comfortably installed to follow a conference on the prevention of the health condition of the caregiver.
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Before that, the twenty members of the partners of the PFR (support and respite platform), at the origin of this first employment forum, are seated, ready to give advice and to explain the reasons for their presence. here. “For us, it is important to enrich our entrepreneurial network but also to correlate our actions with those of each other so that we are as complementary as possible”, declares Caroline Bouville, member of the association Bulle d ‘Air, which offers to take over from carers for a period ranging from 3 hours to several days so that the carer can resume a social life, rest, go on weekends, on vacation or even so that he can get treatment. “This forum makes it possible to encompass the entire course of the carer and to have all the information available in one and the same place.”
Remove the caregiver taboo
In this place, the PFR, Bulle d’Air, France Alzheimer Ariège, the Maison des Adolescents de l’Ariège, Clic (local information and coordination center) and Moov’Apa offered each person coming to this forum a help, explanations and advice to anticipate and prevent possible needs. “We are here to raise awareness and have this notion of prevention towards all people who have taken the step of moving”, says Priscilla Daniel, coordinator of the support and respite platform.
Above all, during this first forum, everyone wanted to convey the same idea: there is no taboo to ask for help. “It’s good that caregivers can come and be warned of the risk of exhaustion,” says Caroline Bouville. His colleague, Priscilla Daniel completes: “We must lift this taboo that we help them to have the impression of abandoning a loved one.”
In this desire to come to their support, the professionals present want to change the mentality and especially that people in pain ask for help before it is already too late. This is what Caroline Bouville explains: “Often, they minimize the workload that this represents. When caregivers call us, it’s in an emergency. It’s a shame because asking for help earlier would be a way to keep people at home longer.
During this forum, the first dedicated entirely to carers, the social aspect, health and physical activity were represented so that visitors could be put in touch with the three main poles of the well-being of the person being cared for. Priscilla Daniel concludes: “It was noted that the families did not have all the information. There, they had the most precise information gathered in the same place.”