Whats up Doc?

A Flying Visit to Torrevieja A&E

Had a bit of a medical emergency last week this called for a trip to the local Salud in the middle of the night. As if that was not bad enough the Doc there decided I needed to go to hospital, scary at any time let alone when its 4 o’clock in the morning and you are in pain. The ambulance was duly called and I was carted off to Torrivieja with John ambulance chasing in the car.
It was very quiet in the ER, which was a surprise as the last time I was in an A&E recently when i was in the UK, Leicester Royal, in fact the busiest A&E in Europe I am told. That was a nightmare place with armed police, high security presence on the doors and a lot of sick and injured people. Over all those visits were not pleasant experiences. It’s slightly different when you are the person in pain but non the less it was amazing how quiet it was, no sound of rowdy violent drunks or worse, certainly no armed police or security men on view.
So it was straight through to the business side, I saw a doctor within minutes. Now his bedside manner left a little to be desired but you cannot have everything and I had not waited hours to see him.
After assessment I was taken over to the observation ward, a very high-tech place to be sure. What really struck me, as I came too with the help of the pain killers, was the high proportion of non Spanish patients there was being treated. Made me wonder what it will be like in another few years time with an aging immigrant population requiring more and more intervention and care.
Countries like Spain, that attract those wishing to spent there retirement in warmer climates may well need to be funded at a higher level from countries of origin to sustain their National Health Service.

Charity begins at Home

and if you’re reading this in Spain then you may like to help a very worthwhile charity here. Caritas is the charity arm of the Catholic Church, indeed the word caritas translates as CHARITY.
It was created in 1971, Caritas Europe bringing together over 45 organisations that work in 44 European countries. It is one of the seven regions of Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organisations working to build a better world, especially for the poor and oppressed, in over 200 countries and territories.
Caritas Europe focuses its activities on issues related to poverty and social inequality, migration and asylum within all countries of Europe, humanitarian assistance and international development throughout the world.
What this means at a grass roots level is people get fed. Many people in this area have received food parcels in these difficult times. So what can those who are more fortunate do to help? Its simple really, donate non perishable food stuffs to you local branch. You can be sure that everything you give will be passed on to a family who have fallen on hard times.
With the jobless total in Spain going up by almost 99,000 it seems likely more and more families will need help, so if you can give please please do.

http://www.caritas.es/