Unsustainable work rates, a lack of equipment, an understaffed Ehpad, and a form of mistreatment of the elderly. The observation of Hella Kherief, caregiver, is overwhelming, behind the microphone of France Culture. With three other colleagues from the same retirement home of the Korian group, the Marseillaise denounces for long minutes the conditions of care for patients in nursing homes.
We are in… 2016. Six years later, the fiery book The Gravediggers creates a real controversy in France with, in the line of sight, the living conditions of the residents of nursing homes of the private groups Korian and Orpea. So, when Hella Kheriaf is called back six years later, the caregiver sighs on the other end of the line. “I am not at all surprised by the observation that is made, launches the Marseillaise. It’s exactly the same things I’ve been saying for all these years: in private nursing homes, we make money on the backs of patients and there are serious failures. And it’s good that we talk about it. Unlike me, the journalist had the time to investigate for several years, and to highlight the whole system behind these Ehpad, in particular financial. »
A quick brushing of teeth
Dismissed after having testified several times in the media, Hella Kherief has quickly transformed in recent years into a whistleblower on abuse in nursing homes. The caregiver had notably made the rounds of television sets in 2019 during the publication of her vitriolic book, The Ehpad scandal. A testimony based on her professional experience in Marseilles retirement homes, in which she reports in particular that the toilet of the residents sometimes boils down to a quick brushing of the teeth, for lack of means and time.
“The release of my book will have released the words of caregivers, notes Hella Khereif. It will also have enabled families to be more vigilant in caring for their elders. But at the time, no politician took an in-depth interest in what I was denouncing. I was invited to television sets, people listened to me, but there was no follow-up. I had asked to be received by Agnès Buzyn. At the time, she was Minister of Health. She never received me: I had been told that she didn’t have the time or that she wasn’t the most competent. No politician has responded to these questions. »
A new life in the Gard
And to accuse: “If there, it makes noise, it is because we have touched the purses of the rich! The Les Bords de Seine nursing home mentioned in the book is 16,000 euros per month. So, if she is delighted with the current media coverage around these questions, Hella Kherief remains somewhat skeptical about the outcome. “All this happens not very long before the presidential and legislative elections, notes the nursing assistant. It is really necessary that all the politicians together put in place a law for old age, and that it be a priority, so that this whole system stops! »
In 2020, Hella Kherief was forced to leave Marseille, to try to find a fixed and stable job. Direction Alès, in the Gard. “I am blacklisted in the Bouches-du-Rhône for having denounced what was happening in the Ehpad”, she regrets. However, the 32-year-old caregiver, also a CGT activist, continues to fight. When she is called that day, Hella Kherief… is on strike to denounce the lack of means of the private clinic in which she works. “If I lower my arms, those who would like to raise them will no longer dare to do so! »