journal articles
DEALING WITH THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN AN EXPERIMENTAL NURSING HOME: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE FRENCH ALZHEIMER VILLAGE
K. Pérès, G. Marie-Bailleul, S. Dreano-Hartz, V. Hernandez-Ruiz, H. Amieva
Jour Nursing Home Res 2025;11:8-13
OBJECTIVES: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nursing Homes (NHs) struggled to protect their residents, but not all NHs managed the COVID-19 crisis in the same way; some having protected more effectively their residents than others. The study aimed at evaluating the management of the COVID-19 crisis in an experimental NH and comparing the dynamic of contaminations to more typical NHs of the same area.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of the COVID-19 monitoring data.
Setting and Participants. NHs, including an experimental one, the French Alzheimer Village, unique in France, designed as a dementia-friendly community to promote good quality of life and well-being.
MEASUREMENTS: The temporal and spatial distribution of the infections in the Village between June 2020 and December 2022 was described and contamination rates were compared to a control group composed of the comparable NHs of the area using the national monitoring data of the COVID-19 pandemic.
RESULTS: Out of the 151 residents who lived in the Village over the studied period, 80 were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (52.3%), but with very few consequences (one person referred to hospital and two deaths). Only two cases (2.5% of the infections) occurred in 2020-2021, the highest-risk period of the epidemic (vs. 72.2% in the control group). Focusing on 2022 (that counted 97.5% of the contaminations), each of the 16 houses of the Village has been contaminated but with differences in terms of temporal and spatial spread of the virus. However, the contaminations have been mainly contained to the house scale.
CONCLUSION: Probably thanks to its specificities (architecture, organization, sanitary protocols), the experimental French Alzheimer Village provided a very efficient protection of its residents during the highest-risk period of the pandemic (2020-2021) against the severe consequences of the epidemic, while preserving a certain well-being. Lessons must be learned to propose anti-epidemic effective management strategies dealing with both, protection and preservation of the resident’s quality of life.
CITATION:
K. Pérès ; G. Marie-Bailleul ; S. Dreano-Hartz ; V. Hernandez-Ruiz ; H. Amieva (2025): Dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic in an Experimental Nursing Home: The Experience of the French Alzheimer Village. The Journal of Nursing Home Research Science (JNHRS). http://dx.doi.org/10.14283/jnhrs.2025.2