SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 13 May. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Red Cross served a total of 203,006 people in the Canary Islands during 2021, of which 121,086 people received services through the different social projects offered by the Institution.
This follows from the Activity Report of the Red Cross in the Canary Islands corresponding to the year 2021, a year marked by the social crisis derived from the pandemic that began in 2020 and by the volcanic eruption that occurred on the island of La Palma.
Last year, the Red Cross managed 84 million euros in the Canary Islands, which made it possible to maintain a significant capacity of human and material resources, the provision of services and the carrying out of different projects and activities with its users.
In the area of education, the Red Cross in the Canary Islands carried out 1,236 training actions in which 16,424 people participated. And in the context of employment, 4,606 people have participated in the different Red Cross programs, achieving 961 job placements that translate into 2,351 work contracts made and almost 500,000 hours received by the participants in their improvement of employability.
In the area of Social Inclusion, the Red Cross served 104,320 different people last year, highlighting people in situations of extreme vulnerability and migrants, in addition to other groups, such as children in social difficulty, people with disabilities, the elderly, prison population, refugees and other groups.
In total, the Institution carried out 537,195 interventions with these groups, of which 223,811 have been provided to the more than 10,000 elderly people served by the Red Cross in the Canary Islands. With regard to Ukrainian refugees, the Red Cross currently cares for 1,166 people, of whom 738 are staying in two hotels in Tenerife and of whom 240 are children.
Likewise, the humanitarian organization delivered hygiene, home, clothing, shelter, sanitary, food, toys, teaching material and household items, as well as essential aid, health, leisure, receipts for supplies, transportation expenses and educational/training aid, from which 73,948 people benefited.
LA PALMA VOLCANO.
One of the most important interventions carried out by the Red Cross in 2021 was motivated by the eruption, in September, of the volcano on the island of La Palma. Thus, the Red Cross intervention reached 8,038 people, most of them women (4,219).
To carry out this work, the Institution deployed 474 workers, of whom 415 were volunteers and 59 were staff, as well as 3 ambulances, 5 vehicles for transporting goods, 1 mobile operations center, 1 field hospital with 50 beds and 3 logistics centers.
In the Relief area, the activated Response Teams carried out 632 interventions in shelter and logistics; 1,449 in psychosocial matters; 1,382 communications related to search and rescue, and 45 health interventions. And in the area of Social Inclusion.
In the area of Social Inclusion, the Institution registered 1,915 calls for social information; made 3,844 economic deliveries to cover basic needs, 1,034 cleaning kits for homes and 360 economic aid for transportation. A total of 20 deliveries of school supplies were also made.
SOCIAL FRAGILITY.
The president of the Red Cross in the Canary Islands, Antonio Rico, pointed out that the social fragility of the Islands has been revealed in this health crisis, which finally became an economic and social crisis, where the most vulnerable have passed into a situation of greater vulnerability.
According to the Report, a greater number of homeless people, greater needs from the psychosocial aspect, earlier cases of dual pathology and few resources to respond, an increase in the digital gap, the lack of work in the most vulnerable sectors and the greatest cases of violence are some of the circumstances that characterize the current social reality of the Islands.
To this must be added the greater loneliness, mainly of the elderly and people with disabilities, who have been more isolated due to the scarce intervention of groups or occupational centers, creating an irreparable or irreversible situation in some cases.
Antonio Rico stressed that all this “should force us to reflect on new production and wealth distribution models that are necessary in the Canary Islands to avoid not only our great dependence on tourism, but also the vulnerability of our society.”
The regional president of the Red Cross stressed that if anything has been learned from the years of the pandemic and the eruption of the La Palma volcano “it is that we can all be vulnerable at a certain time and, as a society and as a species, we must work together for a fairer and more inclusive world where everyone, even with our peculiarities or circumstances, can have a life as full as possible”.
Faced with this situation, Rico stressed that the Red Cross has a commitment to society, carrying out ongoing work to alleviate the impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable people, addressing the most difficult situations arising from unemployment, job insecurity and situations of social vulnerability.
Therefore, he took advantage of his speech to convey his special thanks to all the volunteers and staff of the Institution for their “intense, committed and effective” work. “They and they are the strength of the Institution and those who really enable the action of the Red Cross in the Canary Islands,” he added.
PROVINCIAL DATA.
The president of the Red Cross in the province of Las Palmas, Isaac Díaz, highlighted the intensity of the intervention from the Social Inclusion area, helping an average of three times each of the people who were attended by the Institution.
Likewise, 35% more users of Red Cross services were registered and the average number of hours in the itinerary of people who made social and labor insertion was 108 hours.
Similarly, the Red Cross served 56% of men, compared to 44% of women, and the majority age range of the people served was 31 to 40 years.
The president of the Red Cross in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Mayte Pociello, highlighted that the Institution’s intervention last year focused especially on the island of La Palma due to the volcano, which allowed for “all the potential” of the organization.
However, he indicated that the Red Cross has been able to work on the rest of the projects it has, through which it was possible to reach 50,000 people thanks to the work of 9,000 volunteers and the support of 30,500 members and 507 associated companies.
