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Since September 27, 2024, despite governmental upheavals, Charlotte Parmentier-Lecocq has held the post of Minister for the Disabled (in Michel Barnier's government) and then for Autonomy and Disability (Bayrou government). This Tuesday April 8 and Wednesday April 9, she will be in Saint-Barthélemy, after visiting Guadeloupe and Saint-Martin. For the Minister Delegate, the aim of her visit to Saint-Barth will be to assess the difficulties that persist on the island in terms of support for people with disabilities. She will be accompanied by Valérie Létard, Minister for Housing.
Ehpad: finding a financial balance
This Tuesday afternoon, Charlotte Parmentier-Lecocq's program will begin with a visit to Gustavia's Ehpad (Etablissement d'hébergement pour les personnes âgées dépendantes). The Minister will be able to find out about existing difficulties, particularly in terms of management. Indeed, in order to balance the accounts and avoid having to increase the amount of accommodation paid by residents (through their own means or social assistance), the Collectivité is called upon every year, as is every supervisory body.
This is because the daily price has to be readjusted annually in line with expenses incurred or forecast. For several years now, the Collectivité territoriale has provided a subsidy to balance the books and keep the daily price affordable for local residents. However, no budget line for this subsidy appears in the 2025 budget.
Consequently, in the absence of this financial contribution from the Collectivité, the management of the Ehpad, which is also the management of the Bruyn hospital, will be forced to readjust rates in line with needs. According to director Éric Djamakorzian, the proposed increase will push up the price by 50 euros per patient per day. This means that the cost of accommodation and care would rise to around 4,500 euros per month. Nevertheless, the director, who has repeatedly asked the President of the Collectivité to clarify the situation, assures us that he is "at the disposal of the departments to see what solutions can be put in place". It is easy to imagine that this issue will be raised during the Minister's visit to the Gustavia Ehpad.
What about the Pôle Autonomie et Handicap?
Tomorrow, Wednesday, Charlotte Parmentier-Lecocq is scheduled to visit the Anse des Cayes district. There, she will visit the temporary premises of the Institut médico-éducatif. This facility, which opened on November 27, 2023, has been entrusted to the care of the Martinique-based association OVE Caraïbes. A specialized educator, an educational monitor, a medical-psychological assistant, as well as two private nurses, a speech therapist, a physiotherapist and a psychomotricist are all employed here. They are housed in prefabricated units, as the site of the local playground is only intended to be temporary. In fact, the IME, like other organizations such as Coralita, should have moved into a Pôle Autonomie et Handicap by the end of 2024. But the building, to be erected in Saint-Jean on the site of the current pound, is still only at the planning stage. This situation is proving penalizing, and is not making OVE Caraïbes' task any easier. The Minister Delegate will then inaugurate the Maison Territoriale des Personnes Handicapées in Gustavia.
In an online publication dated March 21, the President of the Collectivité, Xavier Lédée, wrote: "After months of work and consultation, I am proud that the architectural pre-programme for the Pôle Autonomie et Handicap has finally been agreed by all the operators involved in this process. The architectural competition will be launched in the coming weeks. "In the 2025 budget, the "Institut médico-éducatif et Maison d'accueil spécialisée" line provides for an investment of 2.76 million euros. For the time being, however, no funds have been earmarked for the construction of the Pôle autonomie et handicap.
The Minister Delegate will also have the opportunity to discuss these issues with organizations and associations involved in the disability field, at a round-table discussion.
