by The SAME incorporated ambulances designed to provide immediate attention to addiction and mental health emergency situationsAt the same time, the Buenos Aires Government is working on its own protocol to intervene and rescue people in these episodes.
These are three specially equipped transport units, with the padded floor and walls and no equipment for other emergencies. In this way, the aim is to prevent the patient from being injured by sharp objects.
The new psychiatric emergency mobiles will also be fenced for the transfer of patients with an aggressive attitude and will respond to emergencies on the street. They will also transfer people for evaluation and care, if necessary.
“It is a commitment that we assume in the campaign with many organizations that accompany us. The psychiatric SAME units are not prepared for other emergencies but for when there is a health problem such as a psychotic outbreak, addiction problems where the patient also becomes violent “said the head of the Buenos Aires Government, Jorge Macri, when presenting the units.
The City will have its own protocol for addictions and mental health.
In turn, Macri announced that “shortly, we will present the procedural protocol for addiction and mental health problems“, because these emergencies, he explained, require a rapid and comprehensive approach.
Regarding the mental health protocol project, it was reported that the Buenos Aires Government made available five outpatient centers and seven Community Assistance Intervention Centers (CIAC).
The head of the Buenos Aires Government was accompanied in the presentation of the psychiatry units by the Buenos Aires Minister of Health, Fernán Quirós; the director of SAME, Alberto Crescenti; the mother of the singer Chano, Marina Charpentier, head of the NGO Madre Marcha; and María Belén Lombardo, psychiatrist from the NGO Létourdit.
Macri said that many families “do not know or cannot face the solution alone” and considered that “for this reason, help requires time, but above all, being there at critical moments and that is the fundamental objective of the psychiatric units.” “. “.
He considered that article 20, among others, of the current Mental Health Law “prevents or greatly limits the possibility of helping or assisting someone who has an outbreak or is suffering from a deep addiction, because the law is based on a concept that “That person has to raise their hand and ask for help, and that – in general – does not happen, so it is a dramatic situation and leads to situations of great distress for families.”
“The world changed and left that aside. The world is working with short interventions at critical moments and city hospitals are preparing for that,” he concluded.
In the statement, the Buenos Aires government stressed that “a Mental Health Law is necessary that understands the problem and provides a response to families, especially from a comprehensive perspective, far from all ideology and false prejudices.”
