At La Rouquette, in western Aveyron, Marie-Noëlle Gachet receives for the second time in animal mediation people with Alzheimer’s disease.
At the Saint-Gauzy horse farm, there is a more subdued atmosphere than usual. Today, it’s not children who require all the attention, but adults… In the lean-to next to the stable, Marlène, an alert little woman, massages the pony Monday in gentle circular motions. A little further on, Jacques also handles the currycomb with care, with a measured gesture. “Now we are going to change the instrument” indicates Marie-No, host of the place. “You have to take a soft brush for short hairs.” The instructions are simplified to the extreme so as not to cause confusion. Marlène and Jacques follow the advice to the letter, without anticipating the next step. Both have Alzheimer’s disease and participate in the animal mediation session organized by France Alzheimer Aveyron. Marie-No’s ponies, they met them for the first time 15 days before, but it’s as if they were already regulars there.
“It’s incredible, Jacques opened the fence on his own and grabbed the tools spontaneously!” enthuses the facilitator. However, he has never practiced horse riding… “I was a fitter at Bomap, which became Blanc Aéro, then today Lisi and I retired at 60. But I served in the army in Germany!” specifies the pensioner in a moment of great lucidity. “Now I’m going to sit down to take a breather,” he adds wearily. While on her way, Marlène actively untangles the pony’s hair before carefully applying a liniment to the rear. To see it so applied, we guess the safe gesture of the caregiver. “She was a neonatology childcare worker, then a nurse in the hospitals of Paris as well as in Nouméa before retiring in Bozouls” confirms her husband with a tender air. His forehead wrinkles sadly as he contemplates the slender figure. “She is very independent when it comes to clothing, she irons and peels the vegetables. But as for taking on the sequence of a culinary recipe, she is no longer capable of it. Yet she was an excellent cook…” When we asks her age, Marlene raises her hands to her forehead as a sign of deep thought. She wants to speak but the words don’t come. By way of explanation, two nimble fingers trace an incessant furrow from the top of the head to the ears… No, no matter how hard she searches, she doesn’t remember.
“Animal mediation to soften Alzheimer’s disease is a first in Aveyron. For this experiment, we can rely on the recognized skills of Marie-Noëlle Gachet who has been practicing for many years in the field of disability” comments Jean-Paul Delon, President of the France Alzheimer Association for the department. He knows this disease for two reasons: general practitioner and retired geriatrician, he still officiates at the Sainte-Claire nursing home in Villefranche. But he also experienced this drama from the inside: “My mother was struck by this disease, and my father suffered from cognitive disorders. I know how difficult this decline is for the sick and for their loved ones. is a veritable tsunami!”
France Alzheimer is a national association which is divided into 101 departmental entities. In Aveyron, it was Georges Lambert, geriatrician at the nursing home in Rulhe (Villefranche) who took the initiative for its creation in 1987. The association organizes training for carers, followed by the establishment of support groups. speech. All actions are carried out jointly by a paid professional and a trained volunteer. On the program of activities for patients and their companions: convivial and cultural outings, art therapy, sophrology sessions for caregivers and workshops exclusively for patients at the very beginning of their illness “so that people can talk about their problems independently.” With a fight led as a corollary so that the cognitive handicap is finally recognized.