María del Río, president of the Sí Podemos Canarias Parliamentary Group, assures that the implementation of the consortium that makes up the Comprehensive Dependency Care Service, “which is a pioneer in Lanzarote”, constitutes “the beginning of the end of what in our opinion has been a poor structural management of dependency care, in the Canary Islands in general, and in Lanzarote in particular.”
The deputy for Lanzarote also recalled in the plenary session held this Tuesday that “already at the end of 2020, in the negotiation of the Budgets for 2021, our group, Si Podemos Canarias, managed to have an amendment approved to launch a pilot project, an agreement between the Government of the Canary Islands, through the Ministry of Social Rights, with the Cabildo of Lanzarote, to work on the Elderly and Dependency, with a budget of 500,000 euros.”
Del Río affirms that with that amendment “the first steps were being taken then, they were the foundations of what is already a reality for the island of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, a Consortium that is an example of cooperation and collaboration between administrations.”
“With 10 million euros, 3 for the remainder of this year, the Consortium is committed to the specialization and optimization of resources, avoiding duplication and guaranteeing the efficiency of services, a consortium that will undoubtedly be a model of reference for the rest of the non-capital islands.”
“What is being done is not magic, it is the consequence of tireless, sometimes invisible work, which is beginning to bear fruit,” he acknowledged to the Minister of Social Rights, Equality, Diversity and Youth, Noemí Santana.
For this reason, she encouraged the Ministry in the plenary session to continue cooperating with the island councils and town councils so that, as has happened in Lanzarote, “not a single person is left without receiving the dependency service to which they are entitled, wherever they live.”
In this sense, Del Río is pleased that the Cabildo of La Palma has also contacted the Ministry to implement this service of cooperation and collaboration between the administrations.
“Reducing the shameful waiting lists in the Canary Islands, and moving forward, from a welfare model, to guaranteeing the subjective right to dependency care, has been one of the most important challenges that we set ourselves at the beginning of this legislature,” he insisted.
Among other things, Del Río recalled that Lanzarote will have an Island-wide Home Help Service and, progressively, other services such as telemedicine, domotics or advanced telecare will be implemented in homes.
“The objective is not to leave anyone unattended, no family alone, mostly women, carrying the burden of care on their backs, but it is also to advance in other care models within the environment, support at home and day centers, which will also reduce the demand in residences and the consequent waiting list,” he concluded.
