“It’s been 562 days. After a while, we start counting them, the situation is so incredible”. Since September 15, 2021, Christel A, 54, has been one of the suspended healthcare workers who refused vaccination against Covid-19. But the list of days that this caregiver in Menton adds up will soon stop growing.
In force for 18 months, the vaccination obligation is coming to an end. This Thursday, the High Authority for Health reviewed its doctrine. She now suggests that theinjection against Covid-19 “be highly recommended”. A favorable opinion that the Minister of Health François Braun has undertaken to follow “quickly”.
At the idea of being able to return to work, Christel, who has worked for 30 years in the public hospital service, is vigilant.
“There is a big question mark regarding the conditions of reinstatement. We all fear a twisted decree. And then, they don’t talk about compensation”.
This reintegration, François Braun wants it to be done “in good conditions”.
“I’m going back, that’s for sure, and with my head held high”
After a year and a half away from her patients, the one who was suspended from the La Palmosa Hospital Center, in Menton, assures her: “I’m going back, for sure, and with my head held high! I have nothing to reproach myself. I am a caregiver at heartI like the patients, I like the contact, I miss it a lot, especially the human side”.
But the ordeal and this isolation professionally “unfair” marked her.
“They cut us off, we didn’t even have the right to RSA”, recalls the one who also learned that her mutual insurance company was no longer covered by her employer. As a result, the bills pile up. Difficulties too.
A “critical” financial situation
“They put us in a situation of no return. We are struggling to make ends meet”. Pots set up in Menton and collections of support for suspended caregivers allowed her, as well as at least two other health professionals, to keep their heads above water.
“I could have been a cashier, but no, I have a nursing assistant diploma”.
If financially the situation is “critique”the ordeal also marked her psychologically and physically: “with the stress and the gaze of people, I gained about twenty kilos”, explains the one who also went through a depression.
“Some will be happy to find us but there will always be some to criticize”
Finally stay the gaze of colleagues to face. “Some will be happy to find us but there will always be some to criticize”. Above all, she remembers the speeches of some of them. “A lot of people at first said they didn’t want to be vaccinated, and then with the holidays… they went.”
From this parenthesis, Christel wants to retain the solidarity that has been established between the 3,000 to 4,000 nursing staff suspended across the country. “People from the Vosges came to support us. Do not tell me that the caregivers form a big family. My family are those who have been suspended”.