Madrid (EFE).- In February 2024, the Community of Madrid will launch a day care center for patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) with capacity for sixty people at the Isabel Zendal Nursing Hospital.
In statements to the media, the Minister of Health, Fátima Matute, has announced that the old Puerta de Hierro Hospital will become the first monographic hospital for people with ALS, a disease of the neurons in the body, before the end of the legislature. brain, brain stem and spinal cord that control the movement of voluntary muscles.
The day center at the Isabel Zendal Nursing Hospital will offer these patients specialized care tailored to their needs regardless of their socio-economic level and will provide support, information and adequate training to the patient and their family.
The adaptation of the spaces, thanks to the flexibility and possibilities of the hospital, will be rapid and could be operational in two months from the award of the project, scheduled for before Christmas.
Nursing, rehabilitation or speech therapy, among other services
It will be located in pavilion 1 and its portfolio of services will include nursing care, rehabilitation with physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy, as well as psychological care.
It will also have a dining room service and a bank of technical aids such as adapted tablets or canes with the possibility of loan for patients.
Meanwhile, the regional Executive continues working on the creation of the first residence in the world dedicated exclusively to the comprehensive care of patients with ALS, which will be built at the Puerta de Hierro Hospital and will have 190 beds, with an investment of 73 million of euros for the execution of the work.
With the aim of guaranteeing optimal care for those affected and their families, the Community of Madrid will establish the ALS Network, made up of this pioneering residence, the new day care center located at the Isabel Zendal Nursing Hospital and the five ALS units that are They are located in the public hospitals Clínico, 12 de Octubre, La Paz, Infanta Elena and Rey Juan Carlos.
“Madrid takes care of you”, a portal to put an end to “Doctor Google”
The Community of Madrid is finalizing the “Madrid takes care of you” portal, a channel with truthful information on different issues related to health that citizens will have at their disposal before the end of the year to “annul ‘Doctor Google’”, in the words of the Minister of Health.
There will be an application for mobile devices and it will be linked to the health card, to prevent citizens from resorting to information search engines whose reliability is not guaranteed.
“Madrid takes care of you” will have a wall with answers to the most frequently asked questions about health issues, it will have a chatbot with artificial intelligence to answer simple questions and there will also be health professionals to answer the most complex questions, but it will only be information and not telemedicine , nor remote diagnosis, Matute specified.
Users will be able to access rigorous information on food allergies, medications, Covid-19 symptoms, digestive problems, skin lesions, pregnancy and childbirth care, respiratory problems, vaccines, anxiety, depression or insomnia, among others. affairs.
Child and adolescent mental health care places will be doubled
The Community of Madrid will invest nearly 8 million euros to double the places in the day hospitals of the specific care network for child and adolescent mental health in the general hospitals of the Madrid Health Service (Sermas) and medium-stay units of intensive treatment.
The plan includes four new day hospitals for children and adolescents, one of them specific for Eating Disorders (ED), and there will also be three new day hospitals for young adults, known as transition units, as well as a treatment unit intensive and rehabilitation (intellectual disability) and medium-stay units for adolescents and young adults with a specific personality disorder program.
Before the end of the year, the Community of Madrid will have completed the incorporation of 181 new specialist workers, including psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, nursing staff and social workers, of the 370 contemplated by the Mental Health and Addictions Plan and the Health Plan. Suicide Prevention.