A brief personal explanation by Carolyn Chamberlain
Here in the Dordogne (and possibly all of France) there are two main services available: the SIAD (Service des Soins Infirmières à Domicile – home nursing services) and the CIAS (Centre Intercommunale d’Action Sociale – care services provided by the Commune), supplemented by the APA (Aide Personalisée d’Autonomie – the departmental needs-assessment office) which visits you at home to estimate your needs.
The SIAD provides a service upon your return home from hospital, supplied by “Aides-soignantes” who have basic nursing training but are not state registered nurses. Your own doctor can also request services from the SIAD when needed.
The CIAS offers home carers known as “Aides à domicile” or “Auxiliaires de vie” who look after your personal needs and do housework and meals if necessary.
I have been greatly assisted by these services since diagnosis in Spring 2022 of cancer of the pancreas and secondary cancer in the left hip. I needed to use a wheelchair until my hip replacement operation took place in a cancer hospital in Toulouse in October. After four weeks of care and re-education in a rehabilitation clinic I returned home able to walk again using a 4-wheeled walker and to greatly increased independence.
A lady from the APA visited me again due to my changed circumstances and now I have 60 hours of help per month from the local CIAS service. The carers assist me to shower and dress each morning and in the afternoon to go out for some fresh air and exercise with my walker. I also benefit from daily district nursing services to put on my support stockings, do injections, medications etc and I have physiotherapy twice a week. I am very grateful to all the lovely people who look after me.
Talk to your doctor if you require help at home due to declining health. I hope this has clarified, from my personal experience and somewhat briefly, the help that is at hand.