The town councils of Teguise, Tías, and Yaiza also demand "more resources" if they have to prepare reports for dependency, as proposed by the Government of the Canary Islands, thus joining the statement made by the Arrecife Town Council. All the councils agree that, due to the crisis derived from the Covid pandemic, their social services are "overwhelmed", despite having been reinforced with more staff.
"We would be delighted, but give us the tools. That is, if you are going to give me more workload, give me tools to solve it. Give me more social workers, more services, and give me so I can alleviate the situation, because in the end I don't know what this will consist of. They are going to refer that work to us and in the end they are not going to give us the tools. They are going to promise us that they are going to give us this, that, and the other, and in the end it will not be like that," said the Councilor for Social Welfare of Teguise, Isidro Alonso, on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero, who has criticized that they "intend to overload the councils even more if possible."
Thus, the Teguise Town Council is willing "to yield" and "make available" to the Government of the Canary Islands "whatever is needed", except to "overload the staff that is already overloaded". "We have an open hand to solve the problem but, hey, if you want us to solve it, don't burden us with work. Provide us with resources and means to solve it, because if you don't provide those resources and means, I won't be able to do that management because I don't have how to do it," he insisted.
"It's impossible, it's very complicated"
It was the Councilor for Social Services of the Arrecife Town Council, María Jesús Tovar, who recently revealed that the Government of the Canary Islands had sent an email with "a kind of survey" to the Council, to see if it would be willing to make the reports of the Individualized Care Plans for dependency. A proposal that the town councils of Teguise, Tías, and Yaiza have confirmed that they have also received.
"It's impossible, it's very complicated," said the Councilor for Social Services of Tías, Nicolás Saavedra, about the possibility of the Town Council making those reports, who pointed out that the staff he has in the Town Council in this department "dedicates more time than they are really paid" to be able to attend to the families. And, according to what he has stated, they are already "approaching the barrier of 700 families" that the Town Council is attending to and distributing food.
"We have been saying it, just like for the PCI, that there has to be some involvement from the Government of the Canary Islands," added Saavedra, who, in addition to highlighting the "serious problems" they have to attend to all the requests for help, pointed out that "it is practically impossible" for the Council to hire more staff.
Thus, he indicated that it should be the regional Executive who hires more workers and "not only to assess dependency but also the PCI". "Because the PCI carries a follow-up plan of the people to whom it is granted and we do not have enough staff for that," he added.
In the case of Yaiza, its mayor has also pointed out that it would be "complicated" for the Town Council to make reports for dependency because "there are still quite a few demands" and "quite a flood of needs in the municipality. "And they are being covered, but of course the team of social workers and others is quite overwhelmed," said Óscar Noda, who also fears that there will be ERTEs that become EREs and that the situation will become "more dramatic".
In addition, he pointed out that "even the lines of aid that have been proposed by both the Government of the Canary Islands and the State, are ultimately set by the municipal social services". "And that, whether you like it or not, even if we don't give the aid directly, we help with the process, which is already a workload," he added.
Thus, the mayor of Yaiza has insisted that it would be "complex" to also make reports for dependency if they do not have "some kind of help or reinforcement".
