Valencia floods
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José Molins
Valencia
Friday, 6 December 2024, 12:29
Cases of anxiety and depression have doubled in the areas affected by the floods caused by the 'Dana' which hit parts of Valencia on 29 October. Spain's health minister Mónica García announced on Tuesday 3 December that the central government and the Valencian regional government are to set up USMES, emergency mental health units, to treat patients in need of help.
In the next few days the two organisations will sign an agreement to create nine units in the affected municipalities with a total of 42 professionals, which will be added to those already working in the area. Each unit will initially be operational for a minimum period of one year with the possibility of extending its presence "up to 15 months or as long as necessary".
Each one will be made up of four health and non-health professionals, to which will be added a clinical psychologist and a psychiatrist for every three units. However, the number of units and their professionals may also be increased depending on demand.
The minister said that disasters "generate human and material damage, as well as damage to the mental health of those affected. Anxiety and depression can double in these humanitarian crises".
She went on to say, "It is the responsibility of the ministry to ensure that mental health is at the centre of responses to these emergencies. The creation of these mental health units is a key pioneering model of intervention in this area in situations such as the Dana."
García indicated that the USMES will operate in various phases, from providing "an immediate response, psychological first aid", to more advanced levels, such as support in the prevention of mental health problems, care for children and teenagers and "more personalised assistance in the most vulnerable cases or those who have had very difficult experiences", and even the highest level, people with traumatic clinical conditions, who will have specialised care services.
"The USMES are going to be a before and after in dealing with these situations when there are disasters," explained García, who did not specify where the nine units will be located: "We have to map the terrain, they will be set up in January or February so that we have an operation to intervene."
The most serious cases start to emerge some time after the tragedy, "three or four months after," the minister said. That is why they want to expand the mental health network, "so that preventive interventions are made," she added. "We want psychological damage to be prevented so that in a few months we don't find ourselves with more acute disorders. This intervention is endorsed by those that have been carried out in other countries and aims to ensure that in the following months the population is attended to and to have an epidemiological surveillance of mental health," García said.
So far, more than 1,000 people have been treated in the 17 mental health units that the ministry has set up in the affected localities for stress reactions of various kinds. The ministry stresses that the emotional impact of events such as the Dana is not limited to the first weeks after the emergency. According to international studies, up to 25 per cent of the affected population may develop stress-related disorders months after the disaster.
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