“We regularly meet people who hold on to furniture for lack of walkers or who step over their bathtubs because the shower seats are not covered (by Social Security)”, says Elisabeth Carré Bouzet, nurse in a care structure. at home in Entre-deux-mers, in Gironde, which takes care almost exclusively of the elderly. At the same time, this caregiver describes patients’ rooms often cluttered with medical devices that they no longer use. The partnership established with the integration company Desire Autonomy (16 agencies at the national level) which collects, repairs and delivers medical devices at half price, allows progress on both counts.
Sort, repair and clean
On the Ambarès-et-Lagrave site alone, in Gironde, 3,000 technical aids were collected in eighteen months and the margins for improvement are still considered significant. The company repairs only 20% of what is collected but gets its hands on a lot of spare parts, crucial for repairs.
From the pre-emption clamp to the wheelchair via the walker and the medical bed, it sorts all the medical devices adapted to home care and motor disabilities. Some are discarded in connection with the competent eco-organizations because they are obsolete or non-compliant. For example, all items that do not comply with European standards (products purchased on the Internet) go to the dumpster, medical safety obliges.
Working in the Ambarès workshop, three back-to-work employees under the leadership of a workshop foreman replace defective or worn parts and carry out a thorough cleaning, before hygienization using a washing machine. steam. “The equipment is delivered to us as new”, says Laetitia Guédin, nurse coordinator at the EPHAD les jardins de l’Ombrière, in Eysines.
30 to 40% unused products in the first year
But why are so many medical devices sleeping in private homes in France? “We end up with 30 to 40% of unused products in the first year because they were sold without analysis, without prior diagnosis, we can say that it’s a bit of a forced sale, it’s the reality of the sector, observes Valentin Juin, even if some distributors are doing their job very well. »
To avoid falling into this trap, the company does not do distance selling, it delivers, installs and offers a two-year warranty on the equipment. “When we have a difficulty we can call them, communication is fluid”, appreciates Laetitia Guédin. The large stocks also make it possible to be responsive to establishments, with deliveries possible in 72 hours.
When you have been reimbursed for a wheelchair, for example, you have to wait five years to be able to change it under the same reimbursement conditions. A problem when you realize after a few days that your wheelchair is not suitable… And if you have ordered your equipment remotely, at the counter of your pharmacy for example, there is no possible return. To avoid this type of case, the technical advisers of Envie Autonomie offer test equipment for five days and an after-sales service.
“I was contacted by a gentleman whose wheelchair was too heavy for his wife to put in the trunk, which was problematic,” says Oussama Soudy, technical advisor at Envie Autonomie and former caregiver. He tested five and each time his wife tried to wear them. “He kept his first wheelchair to move around his house and opted for a lighter model in order to move around with his wife.
A solution for the precarious public
“Certain devices (such as those related to hygiene) are not covered by Social Security, so some people skip it, says nurse Elisabeth Carré Bouzet. If help can be requested, it takes time and I regularly see the abandonment of procedures. People then find themselves in insecurity at home, for lack of equipment. » For this precarious public, the refurbished equipment of Envie Autonomie sold at half the price of its new condition can be a good alternative. Sometimes there remains the difficulty of changing purchasing habits or a certain reluctance towards materials resulting from re-use.
“As they are not offered for sale new but returned in good used condition, there is no basis for reimbursement, except for rental, specifies Valentin Juin, territorial delegate of Envie Autonomie Nouvelle-Aquitaine. But, a decree must come out in the coming months and will set an adapted reimbursement basis which will exclusively concern medical devices that roll (scooters, walkers, armchairs), for sale to individuals. A development that should end up convincing some of the potential customers.