“Facing addictions… we are owners.”

2016/05/17 Lourdes Unzueta Zamalloa - Familia-medikuaOsasungoa Euskalduntzeko Erakundea Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna
• Medikuntza
• Berdintasuna

The association has 349 partners, mostly doctors and nurses, but also other health professionals such as psychologists, pharmacists and physiotherapists. It is especially known for its annual Conference or Congress. The Congress is organized around a monographic or general theme that allows the participation of professionals of the university, health centers and hospitals, with contributions from their field of work.

Every year, space is changed and congresses are held in a rotating manner: Araba (Vitoria-Gasteiz), Bizkaia (Bilbao, Gernika, Lekeitio and Getxo), Gipuzkoa (Donostia and Arantzazu) and Navarre (Pamplona and Altsasu). Efforts have been made to organize in Ipar Euskal Herria, but it is a problem that has not yet been corrected.

In addition to this congress, it promotes initiatives such as the Agote biennial prize to promote creativity and the publication of texts in Basque in various subjects related to health. The work awarded two years ago, aimed at students of Medicine of the University, focused on the Ictus.

The OEE also has its own newsletter, called OEEberri, created in 2011 and which offers monthly health and Basque information to health professionals. Another of the areas of its activity is the Elaboration of the Dictionary of Health, as well as the training in Basque of health professionals, offering training in the institutions that organize training courses once prepared.

Also noteworthy is the involvement of EIS in society: He is a monitor and promoter of the Plan de Euskera de Osakidetza; he has collaborated with the members of the Council in various campaigns in favor of the Basque language (with the UEMA, also to guarantee health care in Basque). In short, it has become the benchmark of the Basque Country in the world of health.

The new Basque scientific journal of health will soon be published in collaboration between the OEE and the Basque Summer University.

In addition to the ora and culture, there are moments to play and enjoy together. In this way, in addition to the clinical sessions that take place in Basque in health centers and hospitals, there are clinical trials. Bertsolaris who come to the area, some of the members of the OEE, are given symptoms, signs and tests of any disease to expose verses. Participants, by groups, should guess what the bertsolaris have spoken about. The competition of who wins and who gets the prize is huge. The dinner gives them the final point.

The XXVI edition of 22 and 23 April has recently been held. Held in Bilbao a conference on: “Facing addictions… we are owners.” And it is that, although the current society has more and more possibilities and demands for the development of autonomy, there is a greater tendency to dependence, with opposing situations. And that is clearly seen by people who work in health. These addictions can be very varied. Therefore, the round tables have been directed to three different areas, since despite having more types of dependency, it was necessary to choose. In the first table, addictions to substances have been analysed; in the second, addictions without substance; and in the third, the social society.

In addition to the round tables, three workshops have been organized: group therapy, assessment and orientation of addictions and detection of new drugs. Twelve oral communications and many other posters have been presented. 192 attendees of the congress and 42 workshops.

How to act before dependence

The consumption of substances and their possible dependence has been known in different societies and cultures and in the XXI. The society of the twentieth century is no exception, but the current demographic, technological and social changes are generating new addictions. New models of consumption without substances and without substances are created and the consumption contexts are modified. In this way, new dependencies are added to the old ones, and it is often not easy to distinguish between them, if there are differences between them, doubts arise when making the diagnosis and the treatment.

Finally, taking into account the aging process of the population and the prolongation of survival, there are more and more dependent elderly people.

Therefore, as indicated in the title of the Congress, we have tried to analyze and reflect on how we can act, and at the same time, promote the degree of independence of citizenship.

Summing up two days is not easy, I will strive, but from what I said I will give myself some brushstrokes. Among illegal drugs, cannabis is the most consumed use in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (its consumption is legal, while its production and sale are illegal). Because of the new drugs, their main characteristics are the drugs of synthesis; the analogous calls come from the change in the molecular structure of other drugs, so effective and in general much cheaper; when they are different molecules, they are outside the lists of illegal drugs, so they are located in the field “alegal”.

In the case of alcohol, the older ones end up. Young people and alcohol consumption were analyzed and criticized for the weakness of care and response from the health sector. Between the years 2000-2010, alcohol poisoning in the Spanish State in the Emergency Services of Pediatrics has tripled and more and more young people suffer intoxications. Therefore, being aware that this is a social problem, many experts advocate an agile and brief intervention in the Emergency Services themselves.

With regard to new technologies, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have provoked drastic changes and there is still debate whether or not they can generate addiction. Young people are very skilled in using these technologies, also called “digital natives”, but they do not have the experience of adults. A study conducted in Bizkaia reveals that young people aged 15 to 17 are the ones who most use video games, social networks and WhatsApp; video games are more common in boys, social networks and WhatsAppa in girls, while users of social networks exceed 5 hours daily. Instead of forbidding it, we must teach to make the most of all the advantages of ICT: education and prevention are fundamental to this.

On the other hand, the situation of dependence is that which, for reasons of age, illness or disability, requires the collaboration of other people to perform basic actions in daily life. Here we should highlight the issue of mistreatment of the elderly: physical, psychological and economic mistreatment. A complex topic that has been hidden and whose prevalence in most research ranges between 4% and 12% among people aged 70 and older. The CAPV has designed a tool for the detection of these mistreatment with the aim of its implementation in the social and health services of the CAPV, with the aim of preventing, detecting and intervening.

Regarding the old age of the generation of Babyboom, we also spoke of the so-called “Tsunami of old age”: the aging of the population, the decrease of the active population, the care of the elderly, the structural changes of the family and the transformations that this entails in the non-formal care. All of this demands a transformation and social adaptation to take into account, from a more solidary form of coexistence to the modification of productive systems.

And to finish, before capturing the tsunami, in view of next year, we moved the witness from Bilbao to the friends of Navarre. The theme of the Congress will be “Diversity”. Courage you!