Decentralised Disability Services Launch Across the Islands
Canary Islands residents living away from the capital cities will no longer have to travel to them when they require a disability assessment. This new approach will not only ease congestion at the central headquarters in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria but will also spare many people with reduced mobility from tedious journeys. Until recently, if a resident of Garachico needed to complete such paperwork, they had only one option: to travel over 120 kilometres round trip to present themselves at the Directorate General’s office in the capital. Now, they will find an office in their own municipality, and perhaps even on their own street.
First Two Centres Open in Garachico and Gáldar
The Department of Social Welfare of the Canary Islands Government inaugurated two of five new centres for disability certification this December: one in Garachico, to serve Icod and the Isla Baja region, and one in Gáldar for the north of Gran Canaria. These will soon be joined by three other centres distributed across San Miguel, Santa Úrsula and Agüimes, which are on the verge of opening. The procedure will be identical to before, but located much closer to people’s homes.
Multidisciplinary Teams and Future Expansion
Each unit will have a team comprising psychologists to assess cases, particularly for minors; physiotherapists for the healthcare aspect; administrative staff for processing; and social workers to evaluate limitations in daily life and contextual factors before determining a final percentage. Residents in outlying areas can visit them to complete the relevant procedures and also to receive advice and information on barrier-free activities held across the islands.
Furthermore, the Disability Area has signed an agreement with the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS) to ensure a public system doctor assists with the healthcare part of the degree assessment. In a second phase, which does not yet have a set date, the teams will become itinerant and will travel to other non-capital points across the islands.
Historic Building in Garachico Given New Purpose
In Garachico, the team has been installed in the old municipal nursery, which closed three school years ago. It is an accessible building with views of the Church of Santa Ana, which, according to the staff themselves, only needs a few finishing touches. “The toilet is already adapted, but the washbasins are the pending task,” highlighted one of those in charge of showing the centre during its inauguration. The Councillor for Social Welfare, Candelaria Delgado, who was also present at the event, committed to finishing the decoration with some “beautiful” armchairs, upholstered by minors at the Valle Tabares centre.
Meanwhile, the director of the Disability Area, Dulce Gutiérrez, proposed placing a table on the terrace to enjoy a coffee with views over the town. Even before it had opened its doors, this centre had already accumulated around 1,200 applications. The oldest? From the end of 2022. “Actually, we were surprised, considering we have also included Icod de los Vinos, we thought there would be a larger volume,” noted the director.
Cutting Queues and Saving Time for Islanders
For the administration, decentralisation is an advantage because a major bottleneck had developed in the capital city offices in recent years. Another significant change is that those wishing to request an appointment can now do so through the 012 helpline, freeing the Department’s staff from that task. For islanders with disabilities, these centres will save waiting time and travel.
In the words of the area director, the service will be more agile and also more accessible because it will have a larger number of professionals who will, in turn, be more dispersed. “We cannot force people with very serious problems to travel to the metropolitan areas when we have argued to Europe that we should receive special consideration for being an ultra-peripheral and segmented region,” she emphasised.
In this vein, the Mayor of Garachico, Heriberto González, argued that this region was one of the most affected by queues on the TF-5 motorway, meaning people who had to complete procedures often lost a whole day to it. “Two years have passed since we had that first idea, since we started with this matter; seeing this space open now is a hugely important step forward, even more so with the mobility problems we all know about.” During the opening event, he also highlighted that the centre is located in a building with a rich history and varied uses: “I believe the person who built it would have appreciated that, over time, it has acquired this functionality because it will benefit a great many islanders who face hardship every day,” he pointed out.
No post found!