We have some ‘not too far away’ neighbours in their 80’s who we believe need help in some form. Although they are both sound in mind, the lady has great breathing difficulties and needs oxygen to help get her breath and can only move around the house in her ‘buggy’. The man recently broke his ankle and is struggling with walking and general movement. We have helped them by getting their shopping, another neighbour has occasionally mowed their grass but we feel it’s time for them to get some help to do chores in and around the house. Neither of them are capable of housework and the house is, to be brutally honest, becoming a pig sty.
They don’t speak French and are not too good with a PC so they don’t know how to search the internet to find how to get help.
Does anyone know what help would be available to them and how would they go about getting it.
Thank you.
Go to your marie and ask that they get the assistante sociale to come to assess options. Point out that their French is poor!
At their age there is a lot available. If you dip in and out of the thread on french sociale care for the elderly you will find lots of relevant stuff. But the assistante sociale is the starting point.
(It is questions like this that make me frustrated when I read elsewhere of people saying that they live somewhere where they don’t need to learn French and can get by. Yes when you are fit and healthy and can get to the terrasse to sip cocktails with your fellow immigrants……but roll on to when you are more frail and it is so different)
Second that about the AS. I was asigned one after I was widowed by our local mairie and what a godsend she was, got me all my rights sorts, benefits and just generally was there to speak to. They can come to the house or you go to their office, the choice is yours.
@JaneJones has said it all really, Mairie, Assistante Sociale and go from there. I can’t remember how we got started with help for my late wife but once it was in motion it was wonderful.
25 visits a week including Sundays from 2 different organisations, CIAS and SSIAD, all funded by the Departement. Help with personal hygiene, mobility and house cleaning. Because she had no French at all, if I wasn’t there (shopping etc.) they did their best to speak in their limited English to her and also chat to me to keep my spirits up.
2 were English, one Scottish, but all of them became friends and even now that she is gone and they no longer come, they still help me in different ways nevertheless.
Also as Jane said, good advice to check out the thread French Social Care for the Elderly, we sort of took it over but definitely worth a look.
BTW, you don’t say which area you are in and I am reminded of an English couple in that exact situation that our ‘girls’ were telling me about. I am wondering if we are talking about the same people. They both ended in hospital I thought and they, and we, are in the N. Dordogne. Their help was paused and I am wondering if they came out of hospital and don’t know how to re-start the services. Give us a clue and if they are the same I will mention it to one of the aides, Annabel, who I am meeting next Thursday evening when she is going to help me with one aspect of the ongoing bureaucracy.
As ever, @JaneJones you’ve come up trumps with the perfect starting point. Thank you.
And thanks to @Shiba for your input.
[quote=“David_Spardo, post:4, topic:48154”]
BTW, you don’t say which area you are in
[/quote] - We live in North Deux Sevres (near Parthenay) so we aren’t talking about the same folks but thanks for the information you gave.
Thank you for clearing that up, I was beginning to worry. 
@rachel05 just to say thank you for caring
I think the lovely young gerontologist we saw in PX got things moving at some point!
Oh yes, I think you’re right, I must be getting old not remembering her. 
My abiding memory is of the male doctor who we saw on 2 occasions, kneeling down in front of Fran to ask if she would come and see him again in 6 months. He looked for all the world as if he was proposing. 
BTW, since you’re here, the plants are still thriving. 
Let them know there are alternative solutions to their problems. A
Live-in carer /Companion, like me, would solve most of them (cooking, meds prompting, light cleaning and yardwork, laundry and pets management, etc). If you are the one capable/allowed to speak on their behalf, let’s have a talk… Faites-moi cygne…
A+, Gheorghe
With some uncertainty as to whether this is the right “thread” in which to raise my own issues, I wonder if someone in this community can point me in the right direction, though experience thus far is that there will probably be many different avenues to go down.
A couple of years ago I had to have a leg amputated - history of that not relevant - received good treatment pre and post-surgery and then spent several months in re-adaptation clinic, also very well resourced and with well qualified and capable staff. Their help also included recommendations on how my ancient house could be adapted to accommodate my new circumstances. Though this initialling was going well, problems with obtaining materials for external doors (and wheelchair ramps - not vital) held things up. The reason given was the conflict in Ukraine affecting supplies of aluminium. The main contractor - having been paid for the “internal” work they had carried out on widening and replacing doors and fitting=out a new shower room, then said that their sub-contractor could not do the other work and, eventually, a representative from an alternative outfit turned up, measured the external openings, and I even asked if they could replace another set of external doors and a single-glazed window (not necessary re-adaptation wise) but they disappeared and didn’t even send a “devis”.
I live on my own and had some underlying medical issues prior to the amputation, so through the local CCAS I have been receiving “Portage de Repas” five days a week and Aide Domicile services twice weekly for a total of four hours to do my shopping and basic house cleaning. I receive a small contribution from APA towards those costs.
I did get a visit from the local CDAS, though after supplying them with various information on a number of issues, over and above those set out above, they concluded that I was sifficiently capable of dealing with these myself.
I have had one or two successes, e.g. with the help of someone who helps me with my tax declarations I am now counted as one and a half “parts” for tax purposes - which seems a bit weird as I’m actually now less than one!
As I learn to accept the limits of my new capabilities - not an easy process for someone who values their independance and who tends to want to know “why” as well as “how” when dealing with various organisations - I am seeking an agency to guide me through the “forest of silo-ed bureaucracy”.
As a general observation, I have dealt with a number of capable and competent individuals at various levels but there seems to be a high degree of “churn”, resulting in a loss of continuity and expertise.
Oh - I live in a secluded (remote) part of Brittany, halfway between Rennes and St Malo. Being here for over twenty years, formerly from jersey C.I.