- Mission leader
- Plt Luca Cimino
- Deputy leader
- Lt Yvan Bettoni
- Civil protection personnel deployed
- 12
- Maximum number of personnel deployed simultaneously
- 3
- Number of vehicles used
- 0
The mission was received on 31.03.2020 for a start on 01.04.2020.
The mission consisted of:
- Support the EMS kitchen through help serving meals, morning, noon and evening.
- Creation of meal trays and distribution to residents
Entry into service and release was done directly on site to avoid contaminating the rest of the troop or, conversely, the troop contaminating civil protection personnel engaged in the EMS. Hours were from 0745 to 1900, seven days a week.
Change upon arrival
On site, civil protection personnel arrived in PCi uniform and changed directly in the EMS locker rooms. They then wore medical clothing (pants, t-shirt, gloves and masks) in order to avoid contaminating the EMS. At the end of their shift, the EMS provided soap and linen so that civil protection personnel could take a shower on site.
Each civil protection member worked either a morning or evening shift. There were four teams of three so that they did two days of work then two days of rest.
At the start of the mission, there were 64 residents and one death due to Covid had been reported. Twenty-five residents (almost 50% of the EMS) had tested positive.
Additional deaths
On 7.04.2020, five additional deaths due to Covid were announced in the EMS. On 22.04.2020, there was only one positive case of Covid left. All the others had been deconfined and were in good health. The latter case was in confinement but in good health.
In fact, when working in this EMS, the risk for civil protection personnel was very high. They were not authorized to enter the Covid rooms (specific marking had been installed). For non-Covid rooms, civil protection personnel judged for themselves whether they could enter or not.
On several occasions, we called in the civil protection Psychological Intervention Group (GIPSY), as the personnel were working in an unfamiliar environment: a care home with many Covid-19 cases and several deaths. Two GIPSY members met the personnel for a debriefing at the end of their shifts to help prevent psychological distress and support their mental health. The group visited several times, sometimes twice a day, to meet all the teams.
Mission reorganized
On 04.05.2020, the mission changed somewhat. The civil protection personnel came into service at 1400. Until 1700, two of them took care of disinfecting most of the interior and exterior common areas (railings, armrests of chairs, physio-park, elevator buttons, tables, etc.). Another accompanied the patients for their daily 15-minute outings. Assistance with the laundry service was also provided.
Taking all the health precautions into account made this mission complex. Deploying civil protection personnel in a confined environment heavily contaminated with coronavirus was difficult and psychologically demanding. Since they were not trained to work in care homes, they had to find their bearings, get used to caring for older people and use good judgement when interacting with residents, most of whom had cognitive impairments.
*Mission completed on 17.05.2020*