Branded cap on his head, Christian, 88, seated with friends, hums and quietly sips a soda. “We forget everything, under the Mexico sun…” A banal scene in any bistro except that this one, called Chez Georges, is located within nursing home Georges-Dumont, in Abbeville (Somme). It is located in an imposing 18th century building dependent on the town’s hospital centre. Here, the coffee is 50 cents, the soda at 1 euro. A house tail, the Saint-Georges, is also to be enjoyed.
Open every afternoon of the week from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Chez Georges is very popular with patients, who are 306 in the establishment, families and 186 employees. When the weather is fine, tables and chairs are set up outside. “I come almost every day. We talk about everything with friends. Before, it was sad. I stayed in my room,” says Christian, who is in a wheelchair.
Next door, Djamila, 74, also in a wheelchair, came thanks to her sister, Sonia, 67: “It’s very good, it sets the mood. Some residents do not see their families. It changes them,” she says. Guérard, 70, says: “Before, I was also in my room moping. Djamila adds: “I like the hubbub at the bistro. It changes me from the ordinary. »
Also open to the public
The idea for this bistro, run by an employee of Ehpad, germinated in the head of Laurent Douchin, senior health manager of the geriatrics center: “This hall was empty, he relates. Now it’s a village within the city. It’s only positive. There are residents who come out of their rooms even to not consume, families who come back and visit them more often. The reports are rather more courteous. »
The general public can also p through the doors to pause: “We want to be more open. It is possible to visit the structure. The goal is to create social ties. “Meanwhile, Christian continues to push the song under the applause…
