Hospital in Spain’s Costa Blanca doubles staff to ensure the ’round the clock’ health safety of frontline workers during the Covid-19 pandemic

Denia Hospital on Spain’s Costa Blanca has doubled its staff to protect the health of frontline workers during the coronavirus crisis.

THE Preventive Medicine and Occupational Health Service (DSD) has been reinforced during the pandemic to ensure ’round the clock’ healthcare at the hospital and nearby health centres.

DSD Manager, Luis Carretero, has highlighted the “effort and commitment” of the health personnel, who he said have adapted incredibly to the constant organisational changes of protocols, forming new teams and performing extraordinary tasks.

At present there is a large team of professionals made up of doctors, nurses, technicians in Occupational Risk Prevention and administrative staff dedicated to the prevention, identification, diagnosis and monitoring of all employees with suspected or confirmed Covid-19 infection.

The objective of the reinforcements is to guarantee attention 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

Among the tasks of this group, specially trained to deal with the coronavirus among DSD professionals, is prevention, through training and constant review of protocols, and diagnostic tests or comprehensive monitoring of the clinic.

Antonio Valdivia, Head of Preventive Medicine said “the review and adaptation to our environment of the protocols issued by both the Ministry and the Regional Ministry of Health is constant.

“We are updating and publishing daily in our intranet all the changes that are taking place. In addition, training has been provided to all our colleagues, both in person and online, and has been reinforced with posters and explanatory videos.”

Nursing Supervisor of Preventive Medicine, Teresa Prats said colleagues in quarantine or home isolation are monitored every 48 hours.

And she added: “We also attend to all the social-health professionals and the state security forces in the Marina Alta, and the nursing team is responsible for taking samples for the detection of coronavirus.”

According to Dr. Valdivia, health personnel are checked every two days to keep an eye on the evolution of the symptoms and analyse results of the tests.

Depending on these two variables, decisions are made according to the protocols set out in the official monitoring guidelines issued by the Ministry and the Regional Ministry of Health.

When in doubt, adds the Head of Preventive Medicine, “we always choose the most protective option for our colleagues.”

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Tara Rippin

Tara Rippin is a reporter for Spain’s largest English-speaking newspaper, Euro Weekly News, and is responsible for the Costa Blanca region.
She has been in journalism for more than 20 years, having worked for local newspapers in the Midlands, UK, before relocating to Spain in 1990.
Since arriving, the mother-of-one has made her home on the Costa Blanca, while spending 18 months at the EWN head office in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.
She loves being part of a community that has a wonderful expat and Spanish mix, and strives to bring the latest and most relevant news to EWN’s loyal and valued readers.

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