“It is I who become his hands and his arms.” Suzana Sabino is the partner of Philippe Croizon, a French athlete and the first quadruple amputee who swam across the English Channel in 2010. Interviewed by BFMTV, the fifty-year-old is one of the eight to eleven million caregivers who daily accompany a loved one who is losing their autonomy because they are old, sick or have a disability.
This figure, revealed by the National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy (CNSA), highlights the importance of their presence and the virtual invisibility of their commitment in society. How do these caregivers manage to endure, who sometimes put their personal lives and professional careers on hold?
Support “for love”
Before meeting Philippe Croizon on a dating site in 2006, says Suzana Sabino, “I didn’t know the world of disabilities at all.” In fact, he did not “imagine that people who care for a disabled, sick or elderly person would have a name.”
Furthermore, someone who says she supports her husband “out of love” did not “immediately recognize herself as a caregiver.” But quickly, the task “swallowed her up,” says the mother. “We get tired, we forget ourselves… For my part, I forgot a lot of things, whereas before I didn’t forget anyone,” he shares.
“The role of caregiver devours that of a woman”
When she met Philippe Croizon, at the age of 38, Suzana Sabino was working as a goat herder and had to take care of her three young children. “We had to organize ourselves in a different way,” he says. “First I had to think about Philippe and my children, not about me,” confesses the caregiver. “When I wasn’t well, I still had to do the work. Even sick, even tired,” she confesses, admitting that “often the role of caregiver overtakes that of wife.”
“We gain creativity because we find ways to make everyday life easier,” says Suzana Sabino.
Suzana Sabino, wife and caregiver, has often struggled to reconcile these two roles simultaneously. If she says that she takes on this role “out of love” and “she likes doing what she does,” the caregiver does not hide the fatigue that this causes. Furthermore, the mother admits to having “broke twice” due to “too heavy a caregiving role.” He needed to take a three-week break to gain perspective. “I didn’t know who I was anymore,” remembers Suzana Sabino.
A decree to relieve caregivers
In France, the term “caregiver” has been used for about ten years, explains Hélène Rossinot, public and social health doctor. “In other countries this term has been used for 50 years,” he compares. A specialist on the subject, the health professional would like “the social and legislative recognition of caregivers of people with chronic diseases.”
“Physical and mental fatigue can lead to exhaustion or even exhaustion,” warns Hélène Rossinot.
A decree signed last August makes it possible to better support caregivers, sometimes alone. “A single professional can now intervene for up to six consecutive days with the person being cared for, as a substitute at home or during respite stays cared for by a caregiver,” specifies the National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy.
Source: BFM TV
