An important strategy to strengthen mental health is being developed in the Ñuble Region. It involves the start-up of two mobile Mental Health Community Centers (Cosam), in the provinces of Itata and Diguillín, which provide specialty services in the different communes.
The initiative is part of the Action Plan for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in the Emergency due to Forest Fires, promoted by the Ministry of Health which, as a result of the accidents that occurred in February, reinforced the assistance teams to support the recovery of affected people, but also seeks to advance a series of initiatives framed in the Mental Health Strengthening Plan.
To account for this important measure, the authorities of the Region traveled to Quirihue, verifying on the ground the operation of one of the devices, which provides coverage to the entire Province of Itata.
In this regard, the Seremi de Salud, Ximena Salinas Urrutia, stressed that “it is important to see how this strategy is being implemented, in terms of mental health, fulfilling one of the commitments that the Government made with the ñublensina community, in terms of treating mental health pathologies. Mobile devices allow them to move from one place to another to see these topics, see the person individually and their families. So, it is a very important strategy for the Quirihue commune and the Itata province”
For her part, the Director of the Ñuble Health Service, Elizabeth Abarca Triviño explained that “this is one of the measures that the Government of President Gabriel Boric has prioritized and that comes to reinforce benefits for mental health recovery. As you mentioned in your Public Account, one of the great tasks we have is to reduce the barriers that exist to access it and, in this context, bringing care closer by reducing geographical distances is progress towards greater equity in health.”
“It should be noted that we have two Mobile Cosams, in Itata and Diguillín. Both devices have multidisciplinary teams, made up of 9 professionals each, including psychologists, TENS, Social Workers, General Practitioner, Child-Adolescent Psychiatrist, Adult Psychiatrist and Occupational Therapist. Although it was born in support of post-forest fire recovery, it lays the foundations for our mental health network, which will have new devices like this and whose objective is to expand coverage, improving the opportunity for care, “added the Directive.
Along the same lines, the Head of the SSÑ Mental Health Department, Dr. Claudia Quezada Nitor, reinforced the importance of this implementation, stressing that “this strategy has been a fundamental reinforcement for the specialty. Since it began operating on April 4, a total of 255 users have been treated with the professionals of this mobile device, who provide more intense specialized care and monitor the evolution of each case, which allows us to It has made it possible to provide care to some of the most serious cases we have in the region.”
This post-fire action is also implemented in the Province of Diguillín, with a team of similar characteristics, making it possible to deliver, to date, specialized care to 252 people in that area. Added to this is the field work carried out by the Psychosocial teams, who have been present in all the affected territories since the beginning.
