The nurses put away their utensils.
They close the blue cooler where they kept the vaccine doses.
Outside the room, in the hallway, residence workers and residents are waiting in line.
Some form the word thank you with signs.
The medical team leaves.
Everyone applauds.
The gratitude is such that there are those who do without the walker to get up and clap.
The nurses, excited, thank after injecting the second dose of the vaccine at the
Hermanos Residence
Tight
from
O Carballiño
The arrival of the vaccine against
Covid-19
the landscape in residences has changed in this third wave of the pandemic.
Immunity, knowledge of the disease, new contingency plans and that «now finally!
Health
and the
government
if they listen to us, they have discovered that we exist! "
makes them face the new escalation of the virus and the immediate future of the sector with better weapons and optimism, without losing caution.After hard months of fighting the virus, a strenuous learning and irrecoverable toll of more than 22,000 deaths from Covid-19 -according to data from the Ministry of
Social rights
-, the centers are better prepared, the virus is known and it is known how to combat it and the dialogue and collaboration with the administrations has improved / initiated, despite the fact that
Salvador Illa
He left the Ministry of Health without meeting personally with the residences, something that the Vice President of Social Rights has not done either
Pablo Iglesias
, despite the fact that, for example, from the
Business Circle of Attention to People
(CEAPS) have forwarded up to five requests for a meeting.
Iglesias delegates the dialogue to his
number two
,
Nacho Alvarez
Since both ministries justify their actions is that the competences of these centers are autonomous, although the first decree of the state of alarm empowered the Government to dictate guidelines and protocols that the regions had to enforce, as well as decide on the economic funds and the distribution of the same.
In the sector, until the middle of the year they complained that the Executive ignored their proposals.
"They heard us, but they did not listen to us," was the criticism. "A social dialogue table with Social Rights has been established.
We are present through the
CEOE
, and also with partners in the sector.
It is a great advance because this Government denied us the interlocution, we had earned the social right to sit down and listen to us, we have complained that Health was not paying attention to us, and now it is, "he says
Ignacio Fernandez-Cid
, president of the
Business Federation of the Unit
(FED). «We have made great progress in coordination.
Health and the Government have discovered that we exist!
They have been aware of the social health work that we do in the centers ", celebrates
Jesus Cubero
, general secretary of
To this
,
Association of Dependency Services Companies
.
"At last we exist for the Government!"
In July, the care and dependency sector sent a document to the vice-presidency of Churches to work on the coordination and improvement of the sector.
Since then, an interlocution and dialogue table has been established that the Government has led the Secretary of State for Social Rights,
Nacho Alvarez
.
A few weeks ago, the negotiation was fruitful with the approval of the
Dependency Shock Plan
, agreed with social agents and communities, which foresees a public investment in the sector of 3,600 million until 2023. «It is a starting point to make an x-ray and improvement of the sector.
The needs of society have changed.
We need to revalue person-centered care.
We are on the right track, now there is good dialogue at the regional level and in the Central Administration with the social dialogue table much progress has been made, "adds Cubero.
Lares
,
Association of Residences and Care Services for the Elderly
, explain that the relationship and dialogue with the Autonomous Administration has been improving and expanding throughout these months.
«The employers of the sector have a minimum of one weekly meeting with the
Department of Social Policies
of the
Madrid's community
, a meeting in which the Social Health Director General also participates, where the situation, specific cases, evolution of the pandemic, new protocols, etc. are evaluated ”.
Andres Fernandez
, director of a residence in Madrid, celebrates the social and healthcare dialogue with the administrations, harshly recalling the past months.
«We have experienced dramatic situations, due to the abandonment in which we were and due to the lack of equipment.
We had the impotence that no one paid any attention to us, the elderly were not a priority and we saw ourselves with our elders without knowing what to do or how to act, abandoned by the administration. ”Together with dialogue and joint work with administrations, the vaccine is another milestone that differentiates this wave from the previous ones.
«The vaccine was received as if it were a revelry.
We have all suffered, residents, workers and families.
It is salvation.
The vast majority of residents and workers have chosen to be vaccinated.
To those who do not want, we have appealed to their conscience and responsibility ", explains Fernández-Cid." The vaccine is the only solution we have.
Sometimes we regret the first 10 days, that before Christmas we had prepared the lists to vaccinate quickly, but the system needed a few days to start up and pick up speed, "he says.
Easter Ribbon
, president of
Business Circle of Attention to People
(CEAPS).
All the interlocutors point to the improvement in the speed and coverage of the vaccine. What happened in the residence of the Madrid town of
Becerril de la Sierra
, with
an outbreak that resulted in 11 deaths
, or at the residence of
Marists
from
Cartagena
with another outbreak that left 23 deaths, or the death of six users of the residences of
Biscay
in recent days they are proof that despite the vaccine, residences are on high alert. «This third wave generates concern and fear.
The virus enters through staff or family members, who endure all kinds of restrictions.
They are part of society, they come and go, they interact.
If there is an increase in infections, they cannot be oblivious to them.
Hence the need to vaccinate quickly.
We have the solution, what matters is not knowing how to implement it, ”says Fernández-Cid. In a residence, on many occasions keeping one's distance or even for some residents always wearing a mask is complicated.
The pathologies of the elderly and the attention and care make it difficult.
"Our incidence is better than what exists in society, but if there is Covid outside, there is little or a lot also inside," Pascual explains.
They have changed the way they organize themselves: more space, signs ...
«We are very afraid now because relationships are a necessity of the elderly.
We understand it, but we are afraid that in this human need the Covid will enter again, "explains Fernández, from his residence in Madrid. And it is that both the routines and the physiology of the centers have changed in recent months.
Covid corridors, watertight areas, security spaces ... A structure to fight the virus in a better way, trying to prevent it from spreading throughout the center.
“We have had to adapt to the safety distances in common areas (corridors, bedrooms, dining rooms, elevators).
Enable specific areas for visits to residents, with spaces where all the required security and protection measures could be maintained ", reels
Fernando Mosteiro
The centers are divided into three colors (green, yellow and red) to control possible outbreaks, they have had to leave a percentage -minimum of 5% - of free rooms to be able to isolate possible cases, watertight areas where the The same residents and workers have intensified the general cleaning and disinfection of all residences and residents.
Partitions, floor and wall signs have been installed ... The high degree of immunity achieved by the number of older people infected also contributes.
"The high level of immunity is important in many centers", contributes Cubero.
Thus, the centers most affected in the previous months are now calmer.
The virus has been able to enter, but the impact is less.
However, in those white residences where the first wave passed better -
Asturias
,
Estremadura
,
Murcia
or
Valencia
- the pandemic has been more voracious in the second and third waves.
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