Santa Cruz has suffered in recent years some emergency situations such as floods, landslides or fires, in which a significant part of the population has been affected. In order to address these situations specifically, the Department of Social Action has budgeted for 2023 the start-up of the Social Emergency Unit, which will have a total cost of 140,000 euros, and whose specifications are still being prepared.
“This unit will deal with emergency situations related to catastrophes. I mean floods, fires… We have already suffered some evictions for these reasons and what the unit will do is deal with these events,” explained the mayor of the area, Rosario González. It will be a kind of “social Samur” and will be made up of a social worker, a psychologist and a social animator.
“As is logical, we are not going to have these situations every day, so this unit will serve to support ordinary services, especially at night, or for urgent situations that arise from day to day in the UTS and that can be assigned to these professionals so that they attend to them”, the mayor qualifies.
Along with this unit, another novelty in the budget of the Municipal Institute of Social Care (IMAS) will be the launch of a program that responds to the growing number of older people who live alone and who are at serious risk of exclusion.
“From the IMAS we have detected serious situations of elderly alone, who are susceptible to the intervention of the Prosecutor’s Office or who would have to be in a socio-sanitary resource,” explains González. “That is why -he continues- next year, with a contract of about 40,000 euros, we will launch a program of care for vulnerable seniors.”
The contract will be put out to tender in 2023 and the councilor hopes to put it into operation almost immediately. “Over the next year we will see how it goes and decide whether to expand it or not.” Also in relation to the elderly, the money from the Telecare contract will be increased, to include the delivery of geolocator watches to system users.
Another of the contracts that will be incorporated in 2023 is related to children. “It is about encouraging children’s participation in municipal processes. With 15,000 euros we will launch actions in line with the title that Santa Cruz holds as a Child Friendly City”, González advances.
aids
“Although many people believe that social services only give aid, that is not the case. That is an important part, as much as they are 39% of the 26 million budgeted for 2023, but the reality is that the rest of the money goes to finance services for the population such as home help, the Municipal Reception Center, or Infant Schools”.
This is how González defends the distribution of the 26 million budget, in which the item for the Economic Benefits of Social Assistance (Peas) will reach 10.5 million, two more than in 2022, the year in which, according to IMAS calculations , will close with the payment of more than 11 million in aid.
