Arrecife is the third capital of the Canary Islands and currently has a population of around 64,000 inhabitants, where the neighborhoods play a fundamental role in its present and future. Only the "triangle" of Maneje, Argana Baja and Argana Alta accounts for around 15,000 neighbors, the population that resides on the island of El Hierro. Currently, this "triangle" is the area with the greatest potential for expansion that our capital has in terms of growth capacity, and where planning in terms of public services and urbanism is essential in the medium and long term.
As a healthcare professional and nurse by profession for almost 20 years, the vision I have in reference to care and quality of care is quite clear: to bring public services closer to users. It is a vision that the political class that manages healthcare is not aware of, often arriving late or in a hurry. In short, that the Health Center goes to the neighbors and not that the neighbors go to the Health Center.
It is a priority within the island's health network that Argana Alta has an independent Health Center which is considered as a new Basic Health Zone (BHZ). What does this mean? Right now the city of Arrecife has two BHZs, one in Titerroy called Arrecife I, and another in Valterra called Arrecife II, completely independent of each other. A BHZ is that more basic health geographical delimitation that serves as a reference for the planning and organization of the work of the "Primary Care Teams", improving the portfolio of services and, with it, the quality of care for users.
From the organization that I militate in, Nueva Canarias, we have proposed the initiative "Neighborhoods That Take Care of You" with the desire to promote the assignment of the future Argana Alta Health Center as the third BHZ called Arrecife III, as we already proposed two years ago in the Parliament of the Canary Islands and which was accepted by the Ministry of Health, committing not only to create this one, but a fourth one in Playa Honda. In this way, the neighbors of the neighborhoods will be able to have a more complete portfolio of services, with a greater number of professionals and services such as midwives, social workers, clinical psychologists and, in the future, even be able to have a 24-hour Emergency Service.
"Neighborhoods That Take Care of You", in addition to proposing that the future Argana Health Center be considered as the third BHZ, contemplates the implementation in the capital of a second Normal 24-hour Emergency Service (NES) that complements the current Valterra NES. Already in 2015, the Valterra NES was the primary care emergency service that served the most patients in all of the Canary Islands. It is said soon, but at that time an average of 151 patients attended per day and more than 55,000 patients per year. Behind it was the San José Health Center (Gran Canaria) with 134 patients per day and around 48,000 patients per year; and the La Laguna Health Center (Tenerife) with 112 patients per day and about 42,000 patients per year.
Notice how profitable the Valterra NES is that, almost 8 years later, it has doubled its care load from 150 to 300 patients per day, continuing as the champion of Primary Care Emergency Health Centers that assists the most users in the Canary Islands. We are the first in something!
Every health manager is aware that, the more care load, that is, the more patients that have to be attended with the same staff of professionals, the worse the medical care will be. The so-called "quality of care" justifies that the Arrecife neighborhoods have 24-hour Emergency Services that improve the accessibility of the neighbors of Argana Alta, Argana Baja, Maneje and Titerroy. They suffer the burden of being the most dense population centers and, consequently, they must be provided with proportionate and quality public services.
Second Pharmacy on Duty
Thinking about the best well-being of the users, especially those who have fewer resources or have reduced mobility problems, the "Neighborhoods That Take Care of You" initiative introduces the possibility of proposing to the College of Pharmacists to have two 24-hour pharmacies on duty in Arrecife that are equidistant from each other; one in the center and another near the mentioned neighborhoods.
To propose proposals like these, you simply have to put yourself in the place of the other, in their real and everyday problems. I imagine a 75-year-old neighbor from Maneje who lives alone, does not have a car and, in addition, as we all know the bus and night taxi service is deficient, needs to buy prescribed drugs at 11:00 p.m. Can you imagine that that lady could have a pharmacy nearby, for example, in Argana Alta without having to go to the center of Arrecife?
I also imagine a 27-year-old girl from Argana Alta who goes to review her pregnancy with her midwife at the Argana Alta Health Center, because this center is a BHZ. I imagine a 50-year-old man from Argana Baja who suffers from a known lower back pain and goes to the Titerroy Emergency Service at 3:00 in the morning, where they apply analgesia and the pain is relieved, returning home immediately.
In short, politics is there to improve the lives of the people who live in community and make up a society. A society with quality of life, with a robust, accessible, inclusive and public Welfare State. For this to happen, we need political initiative, ideas, projects, the management capacity of our representatives and public workers. But most importantly, we need to burn into our minds that people, you, are at the center of decisions.
