LLEIDA

Nurse in charge: Meritxell Gómez, coordinator

Description

The Center “Arrels – Damage Reduction (ADR)” is included in the social programs of the Fundació Sant Ignasi de Loiola, which was born 22 years ago in the Parochial Community of Sant Ignasi de Lleida, with the goal of treating socially excluded people and accompanying them in their reintegration processes.

Among the several developed programs, there is “Arrels Damage Reduction,” which was created in 2009 with the objective of treating drug addicts that take drugs actively in the center created by the foundation. It is currently the only one in the city and it works as a health space formed by a socio-sanitary team and volunteers, all coordinated by a nurse.

The importance of the set up space lies in the possibility of preventing the transmission of infectious diseases and deaths by overdose. In addition, it promotes a hygienic practice and a responsible consumption in charge of health professionals, who facilitate venipuncture material that is later collected in the center, something which prevents the abandonment of consumption material in the public road. The sanitary space, coordinated by a nurse, runs the vaccine program, the HIV, HCV and tuberculosis tests… The health responsible ensures that the people that attend the center can improve their quality of life and do not undergo deterioration.

The program also possesses shower services, lockers and individualized health and social counselling, where the user is oriented towards the different services and resources that exist in the city, vaccination programs and, lastly, as a response to the will to initiate a process of withdrawal and recovery, the patients are referred and accompanied to the Center of Care and Monitoring of Drug Addictions (CCM).