Cruz Roja Lanzarote offers social assistance throughout the island. Many volunteers are encouraged to dedicate themselves to others in their day to day or even in their free time.
Its Island President, Raquel Galindo, shows the different areas and social functions carried out by the NGO on the island. "We offer general services including: assistance to the elderly and vulnerable, families, etc." through "different projects", she says.
In relation to the care of the elderly, "we provide services such as: autonomy, home telecare, constant health, etc.", explains Galindo.
In addition, for the elections on May 28, "we have enabled adapted transport that is made available to the population so that on that day they can travel from their homes to the polling stations", confirms the director.
Regarding assistance to families, "an assessment is made of them according to the needs they require and they are referred to the different services we have", she says. But "when a family comes to request a demand, they are offered the products (that they do not have) that cover their basic needs", she confirms. Among them are "single-parent families, with children, migrants, etc.", she adds.
"The Red Cross is like an iceberg, only the tip is seen, but the base is what is least seen"
"The Red Cross is like an iceberg, only the tip is seen, but the base is what is least seen", Raquel Galindo makes clear. "When we ask about Lanzarote, they always tell us that they can't tell us exactly what we do" although "they always know that we are present", the director confesses.
The issues we deal with the most are "relief or emergencies, housing insecurity, food and coverage of basic needs such as household goods, hygiene products, etc.", she points out.
In addition, "now that summer is coming, we are with a campaign to raise awareness and prevent heat waves", she adds. We also take care of situations of "unemployment, disability and transfers to health centers for the elderly and families without resources, among other things", she confirms.
Regarding employment, "we help to create curriculums, to make known the web pages where offers are posted, access to those pages and how to search for those offers", with "specific training workshops plus courses for people who do not have basic education to be able to access jobs", she reveals.
In the case of assistance to migrants, "we attend the arrival to Lanzarote, as they usually arrive quite a bit to the coast, when the alert is received, the team and the person in charge of the Red Cross activates the available volunteers", she confirms. "As soon as they arrive, they are attended to" and they are "given a first health assessment: food, initial clothing, etc." and then, "the Administrations take over, until the Ministry decides where they are transferred", she says.
Regarding gender violence, "there is a care project for women at risk", she adds. Also for homeless people, "there is a resource in which they are attended to in order to give them food, shower and accommodation during the year", she includes.
In addition, for people addicted to drugs, gambling, alcohol, etc. "through social inclusion, they are given comprehensive care, they tell us their immediate need to refer them to the project that social workers believe corresponds to them", she says.
"Basically with the pandemic we have opened our eyes to needs that we had not detected before"
On the other hand, in mental health, "basically with the pandemic we have opened our eyes to needs that we had not detected before", she acknowledges. "We are aware of that vulnerability and we help through projects and the subsequent referral to administration", she adds.
"We are concerned about loneliness in the elderly, treating especially the accompaniment and autonomy together with home help", Galindo confesses. We know that donations do not stop being something essential for the association. "The Canary Islands has good statistics, but we must remember that we must continue to be supportive", she reveals.
"The Red Cross lives thanks to volunteering"
For Raquel Galindo, despite considering that "Lanzarote is very supportive", she comments that "volunteering is not always enough". "The Red Cross lives thanks to volunteering", which is the "reflection of society" and we make it clear that "one hand helps and all people are welcome".
The only requirement to enter the NGO is that "you have the desire", she reveals, since "a specific profile is not required". To encourage young people to become volunteers at the Red Cross "I would encourage them to come and see that it is a way to collaborate with an unparalleled emotional reward", she says. "Helping another person who needs a hand at a time in their life is very rewarding", she confirms.
To encourage young people to be volunteers, the director remarks that "surely we all have friends and family who volunteer, and grandparents that we would like someone to help".
To start at the Red Cross, she urges that "they are interested in the activities we carry out and surely they would like to carry out some of them". There are several ways to access it: "go to the office to explain the projects and then, conduct a small interview", and then, "focus the person in the area in which they are interested", she points out. Also "it can be done through the web", given that in the same way, "they contact the interested party" and "the interview is conducted", she informs.
"It is true that there are people who love children, others to be with the elderly or even more the numbers", she refers to the wide possibilities that exist within the Red Cross. To motivate volunteering, "we take initiatives to educational centers", without neglecting the "talks to learn about the projects" and stands "in shopping centers such as the Biosfera", Raquel recalls.
"From Lanzarote we can contribute our activity in national and international conflicts or disasters"
"Normally we do not go directly to other places in the world, but we can intervene in case of catastrophes, natural disasters or armed conflicts", she remarks. "If we have availability we can move to cooperation teams", she makes clear.
From Lanzarote, "we are quite encouraged to go to help in the calls at the national level", as "we did during the eruption of the La Palma volcano in September 2021", she recalls. Although also counting that "at the international level, we have several colleagues who have been as International Delegates in several parts of the world", she confirms. The fastest way is "to take courses to train and thus they are activated to move", she reveals.
"We have psychologists prepared to help our workers when they suffer an emotional impact"
For the Red Cross it is important the emotional care of all people. But not only of those who come in search of help, but also for the workers that make it up. "The technique of "Debriefing" is carried out, she highlights. That after living closely a situation of emotional impact, it is about "meeting and making a discharge of those feelings", she confesses.
From the "ERIE of psychosocial support", we put at your disposal "a psychologist who acts as a guide, to help everyone manage the emotions that overwhelm them so that they do not go further", she argues. In the event that "it is detected that the situation continues to exceed, it is referred to the health services", she confirms.
A form of psychological assistance that is activated in the same way when "the population suffers catastrophes, disappearances at sea, etc", she concludes.
