Locomotion
Walking, balance, transfers, risk of falling and adaptation of the home.
What we do best
Support without taking over
Supporting an older person well does not mean doing things for them. It means preserving for as long as possible what they can still do alone, and stepping in precisely where they no longer can.
The method
Six capacities to observe, not one disease to treat
Our framework draws on the World Health Organization’s ICOPE approach — Integrated Care for Older People. Its principle is simple and it changes everything: rather than starting from diagnoses, you observe the person’s intrinsic capacities and act where they decline, as early as possible.
Every care worker trained at Les 3A learns to observe these domains visit after visit, to record what they see and to raise concerns through a clear procedure. Observation is not administrative overhead: it is the heart of the job.
Cognition
Memory, orientation, capacity to decide; early detection of behavioural change.
Vitality
Nutritional status, weight, hydration, activity levels and fatigue.
Psychological state
Mood, anxiety, withdrawal, quality of social contact and sense of usefulness.
Vision and hearing
Sensory function, whose decline isolates more surely than loss of mobility.
Environment
Housing, social network, resources, access to care: what holds up or undermines everything else.
The personalised care plan
Every person supported has a single, revisable document bringing together four elements.
- Initial assessment — at home, with the person and their family.
- Objectives — set with the person, in terms of daily life rather than diagnosis.
- Interventions — nature, frequency, duration, named worker.
- Review — regular checkpoints and a six-monthly reassessment, including respectful care.
Our services
What we offer families
Every service rests on professionals trained at the centre, working under contract, supervised, and replaceable in case of absence.
Help with essential activities
Washing, dressing, help at mealtimes, mobility, accompanying to appointments. The foundation of staying at home.
Company and social contact
Conversation, adapted activities, accompanied outings. Isolation damages as surely as illness.
Prevention and vigilance
Detection of falls, undernutrition and cognitive impairment. Structured reporting to the family and escalation by protocol.
Support for the family carer
A few hours of respite, practical advice, short training. An exhausted carer eventually becomes a second patient.
Remote follow-up for the diaspora
A named care worker, regular documented reports, a single point of contact. For families arranging care from abroad.
End-of-life care
Presence, comfort, respect for the person’s wishes, support for those around them. Our specialist workers are prepared for it, and supported through it.
The context
Why the home is where it really happens
Institutions attract attention and resources. But the great majority of people losing independence live at home, often with moderate dependency — and that is where most of the care work is done.
How to read this chart
65.6 % of dependent older people live at home with moderate dependency, yet account for only 32.1 % of the sector’s jobs. Conversely, severe dependency in institutions concerns 11.6 % of people and absorbs 29.5 % of the jobs.
This imbalance is not an anomaly: supporting someone with heavy dependency requires more resources. But it does signal a blind spot — moderate dependency at home, the most common situation, is also the least covered.
That is exactly the segment where a well-trained social care worker makes the difference, and the one the Les 3A model targets first.
Urban and rural: the same loss of independence, different resources
| Indicator | Urban | Rural |
|---|---|---|
| Older people at home losing independence | 7.7 % | 6.7 % |
| Share of women among older people at home | 56.6 % | 52.9 % |
| Poverty rate of the population | 17.0 % | 11.2 % |
Source: Drees, Vie quotidienne et santé survey 2021; Insee-DGFiP-Cnaf-Cnav-CCMSA. French data, cited for comparison.
Our respectful care commitments
- The person’s consent is sought for every act, however routine
- Privacy and modesty are protected, including in front of the family
- The person’s habits take precedence over the worker’s convenience
- Any mistreatment observed is reported through a written procedure
- A six-monthly review involves service users and their families
What binds us
A right, not a favour
In September 2023 Cameroon ratified the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Older Persons, in force since 4 November 2024. That text gives an international legal basis to what we do every day: supporting an older person with dignity is a matter of their rights, not of their family’s charity.
It also binds professionals. A care worker is not a servant to whom a relative is handed over: they are a trained third party, answerable for their actions, whose presence protects as much as it relieves.
Our respectful care charter turns that principle into verifiable rules, enforceable against our own teams.
Does a relative need help?
The first step is a home assessment, with no commitment: understanding the situation, listening to the person and their family, and proposing a realistic plan.