The Management of Health Services of the Lanzarote Health Area, attached to the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, has created, through the team of the Mental Health Unit, a telephone care service to provide psychological and emotional support to health professionals. This measure, which was already implemented during the first wave of the pandemic caused by COVID-19, is being reactivated due to the increase in the strong healthcare pressure that the Lanzarote Health Area is experiencing.
The situation generated by the COVID-19 pandemic has been, since its beginning, an unprecedented health and social challenge in our environment. For almost a year, healthcare professionals have been enduring a significant workload overload, to which is added a greater dose of concern and stress in their daily relationship with patients. A situation that, according to those responsible for the Mental Health Unit, can trigger anxiety or depression problems.
The service conceived by Mental Health and aimed exclusively at the professionals of the Management, will be provided, in a first contact preferably by telephone and will not constitute a psychotherapy as such, but a crisis intervention to mobilize and enhance the personal resources of each one to face the situation. However, the head of Psychiatry, Matías Ybarzábal, emphasizes that if necessary, a regulated clinical intervention could be indicated after telephone care.
From Mental Health they emphasize that this service will not involve at any time the opening of a clinical history in the Unit and does not contemplate the writing of clinical reports. They also point out that the service does not provide care for processes other than those related to the current health crisis and does not include diagnostic evaluations.
To access this service, it will be enough to call the Mental Health Unit of Valterra and provide the affiliation data, contact telephone number and preferred time of attention. The calls will be answered as soon as possible by the professionals of the Mental Health Unit, trying, if the demand allows it, to return the call the same day.
It should be remembered that this service was in operation during the exceptional period of the state of alarm, and has been reactivated after the aggravation of the pandemic on the island and especially in healthcare. The Management led by José Luís Aparicio values positively the initiative of the Unit and appreciates the effort made by the Mental Health doctors.