Anne-Christine Drelon went from the blue police outfit to the white nurses' coat

Anne-Christine Drelon confie avoir “naturellement trouvé une posture d’étudiante” malgré son âge. Midi Libre – P.CHALIEZ

Nouveau regard de la série de portraits sur les étudiants infirmiers de la cité du gant.

Some would say that returning to training at almost 50 is not reasonable and that there is a time for everything. Not Anne-Christine Drelon who never stops renewing herself and who has embarked on a career change since her retirement from the gendarmerie 11 years ago. After 19 years of working in the military, at just 40 years old, this mother of 4 boys from Creuse, made the choice for a radical change. She encountered the medical community while accompanying a family member affected by the disease. For her, it then became obvious that it was in care that she wanted to continue professionally.

Ten years of practice in an EHPAD

Having settled in Millau in the meantime, she was initially hired as a hospital service agent. She had the opportunity to work in several departments of the hospital before joining the EHPAD Saint-Michel. At the age of 40, Anne-Christine Drelon decided to take the entrance exam for nursing assistant training, was admitted, obtained her diploma and returned to work at the EHPAD for ten years.< /p>

Again, because Anne-Christine Drelon is curious by nature and always with the aim of learning and evolving, she joined the IFSI in 2021 in professional training. Indeed, still working at the EHPAD which has become Les Terrasses des Causses, she has the opportunity to finance her training in return for a 5-year commitment to this establishment. .

“A high level of demands at the IFSI in Millau”

"There is a high level of demand within the IFSI which pushes us upwards". Eager to get out of her comfort zone, Anne-Christine Drelon voluntarily confronted services where the care is very technical. However, she naturally gravitates towards mental health. With a pre-professional internship in the intra-psychiatry department, she will seek to improve her knowledge both for her return to activity within the EHPAD where she will take care of aging people sometimes with mental illnesses and for the rest of her professional career which she envisages in this sector. For the future graduate: "In every technical care, even the simplest, there is relational care. What matters a lot to me is knowing the patient.

Anne-Christine Drelon is a cheerful woman, who has the ability to listen and the desire to work in a multidisciplinary team. She talks about rigor, drawn from her experience as a gendarme, which she puts at the service of quality care. She who always doubts herself a little and who puts pressure on herself to succeed vis-à-vis her employer, describes how she gradually forged her professional posture. Quickly integrated into the 2021-2024 class, she talks about the bonds that have been created between the students: "It’s beautiful to see all these young people growing up, s&rsquo ;flourish in 3 years. It's not because I'm 51 that I don't go to parties, you have to fit in", he jokes -she.

"I fed off the dynamism of the other students"

"If we want to evolve, even after 50 years, we can do it. It’s not easy but it’s doable. You need availability, rigor, vitamin C! The training is not easy, it is even trying, you have to adapt a lot. I learned from young nurses at the different internship locations. I naturally found a student posture despite my age and my experience as a caregiver. I also benefited from the dynamism of the other students, we helped each other, we complement each other", says the future nurse.

If she concedes that she devoted a lot of time to training, a maximum to her family, and little to herself, she would like to thank her husband: &amp ;quot;He is very understanding and managed daily life with two teenagers still at home. I am happy to reach the end and soon return to a calmer daily life.

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