Audrey Squier, the choice of the heart to take care of the elderly in EHPAD in Saint-Affrique

Audrey Séquier vise, au quotidien, à améliorer la prise en charge des patients en EHPAD. D.R

Rencontre avec une étudiante de l’IFAS de Millau où se forment les aides-soignantes.

In 2009, after a year as a beautician and a year as a home helper, Audrey Séquier followed her husband transferred to Aveyron and immediately applied for a position at the Émile Borel hospital center in Saint-Affrique. hospital service agent acting as a nursing assistant. She has been working at the Caylus EHPAD with elderly people for 15 years. From 2015, she wanted to professionalize but her employer already had several requests to start training, this project finally came to fruition in September 2023.

Audrey Séquier says "very happy with this personal and professional revaluation. I've been wanting to take the plunge for a while but my second daughter is only 4 years old, it's a lot of personal sacrifices but it's so important to enrich yourself. In 15 years, I have learned things in the field but in almost 1 year of training, a lot.

Training financed by your employer

Funded by her employer, the training Audrey had heard about it before."I knew where I was going because I have colleagues who had done it. But it’s true that when you learn the theory, you make a lot more connections. That’s what training is for, that’s what I was looking for. I always wanted to learn. In my daily life at the EHPAD, I often asked questions to my fellow graduates. Moreover, during the 2nd internship, which I did in my department since I am in professional promotion, colleagues told me that I had changed professionally and I feel different. I make more links between pathologies and the clinical state of patients, I have more professional language, a different, more refined perspective, I take more time for transmissions. School changes a person.

“They are women with big hearts”

"The EHPAD is rich, there are many things to learn. The end of the training is near, we have seen the nervous system and its related pathologies, the digestive system, bone pathologies. We are finalizing everything we have left to learn, we have less than 2 weeks of training left because we have two upcoming courses of 5 and 7 weeks. Basically, it's just practice now, it's going to be very rewarding", confides the nursing assistant student. His plan is obviously to obtain his diploma and then return to his initial service. She does not rule out, in the future, seizing an opportunity in another department of the Saint-Affrique hospital. She pays tribute to her small group of friends she met during training. "Luckily they are there, we are very united, that helps. They are women with big hearts who will make very good caregivers.

In her work with the elderly, the young mother of two girls aged 10 and 4 describes herself as "benevolent, patient, calm, attentive ;listen, while ensuring a sustained rhythm", rhythm intrinsic to this type of service. Audrey Squier wants to get involved and improve patient care. She is notably a PAP referent (personalized support project) and is part of an internal working group on this. "It’is a mandatory procedure upon entry of the person into an EHPAD. We try to get as close as possible to our desires, our needs and we integrate the surroundings too", she explains.

Sporty and epicurean

In life, she is rather sporty: invigorating gym, zumba, walking and calls herself an epicurean. "I like to eat, going out, going to restaurants, I'm a good living". She says she doesn't really have confidence in herself. But, on a professional level, she was able to gain confidence thanks to the training. Positive and cheerful, the future caregiver is also very organized, even more so this year. "It took us three weeks of adaptation as a family but now things are going well", she rejoices. 

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