Orihuela´s Councillor for Social Welfare, Almudena Baldó, has detailed the action protocol in the municipality of Orihuela for the care of Ukrainians. And it is that “in the face of a possible arrival of refugees from this country, as a result of the war and the social emergency situation that may arise from it, the department establishes the protocol to attend to the needs and emergency situations that arise: they can produce, so that the aid to be provided is adequate and effective”, indicated the councillor. Thus, all assistance to Ukrainians who may come to the municipality will be channelled through Social Services, specifically at the PANGEA office.
Baldó explained that the first step of this protocol is to request an appointment with the Department of Social Welfare, through the municipal Immigration program (PANGEA), since following the line set by the Department of Equality and Inclusive Policies, these services will proceed to carry out the reception of refugees from Ukraine in Orihuela.
The protocol will start with the detection phase. That is, individuals or family units will be assessed for referral to a temporary and extraordinary residential resource, based on their intervention needs, taking into account whether they require socio-health care, accommodation, psychosocial care or a combination of the above.
This is followed by the Identification phase, which consists of defining the conditions of the applicants, so that the resources are destined for families, unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents at risk, young single women with special vulnerability and any case assimilable to the previous ones.
The councillor also advanced that in terms of the demands and possibilities of families (third step) “we will try to know the possibilities of each person (support network, relatives, housing, economic resources…)”.
The fourth step will be the verification of the existence of the family unit, characteristics of the family unit, with special attention to possible conditions of vulnerability.
The last step of this protocol is the diagnosis, so once the information has been collected from the Pangea office, it will be referred to the resources required by each family unit. On the one hand, people or family units with a lack of residential resources, in which case they will be referred through the Cruz Roja to the Alicante Temporary Care Centre (CATE), where they will receive extraordinary and temporary comprehensive, psychosocial, residential resource care, among others, according to the action guidelines sent to the Primary Care Social Services.
On the other hand, there are people or families who have a residential resource in Orihuela, that is, they have a place to stay. In this case they will be referred to the following resources:
Application for political asylum at the National Police station, going without an appointment for an interview and receiving updated information on regularisation procedures.
Registration in the Municipal Register of Inhabitants. “We have spoken with Statistics and I have to thank the councillor for the area, José Galiano, for his promptness in resolving the legal issues that could arise. As well as for speeding up the procedures, because it cannot be otherwise, so that they can register”, explained Baldó.
Parallel to this information, Almudena Baldó has assured that in addition “a psychological care service has been created, aimed at those people who require psychological support for different situations related to the conflict (anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, lockdown…)”. This service will be attended by psychology professionals from the municipal social services.
Likewise, if necessary, the PANGEA service will be reinforced by extending its opening hours.
This municipal PANGEA service is currently located in the El Greco building, on calle Marqués de Arneva (next to the Town Hall) and in the Alameda del Mar Civic Centre on the coast. The prior appointment telephone number is 965306645.
Baldó concluded by highlighting that this protocol may vary depending on the needs and difficulties that may arise in the coming days.
