Miguel Martín Alonso I Almería, (EFE).- The new president of the Spanish Red Cross, María del Mar Pageo from Almería, elected at the X General Assembly held last weekend, has set as one of her objectives the “ deinstitutionalization” of care for people so that they can develop their “life cycle” in their usual environment.
Pageo (Almería, 1961) is a doctor specialized in Geriatrics and Gerontology, and assured in an interview with EFE that the NGO will continue its work to promote this “deinstitutionalization”, to prevent vulnerable groups or victims from having to leave the place where they have developed their lives to be cared for in residences for the elderly or centers for minors run by administrations or institutions.
He warns that the number of older people “is going to increase significantly” and that for the Red Cross their attention is going to be a “priority”, although he also adds that, in addition to the elderly, “there is an institutionalization of childhood or of women victims of violence” -among others-, when the ideal would be for people to “develop their life cycle in their usual environment”.
Pageo maintains that he will give “continuity to all the work that the Red Cross has been doing for more than 150 years,” and recalls that the Red Cross’s strategic lines for the next four years have been approved in the General Assembly.
Agile and effective participation
“Within the humanitarian commitment that we have with people, I want to continue doing it more and more effectively and efficiently. And taking into account that one of the objectives is to continue expanding the comprehensive response that we give to the person. Beyond giving material things, by attending to the social part, the emotional part, the mental health part, the environment ”, he abounds.
It also hopes that volunteer participation is increasingly “more agile and effective”.
On the other hand, it maintains that the Red Cross is “an auxiliary institution of the public powers, in the humanitarian field” and that its relations with the administration must be “close and collaborative, but also exercising what we call humanitarian diplomacy.” We are always going to be vindictive”.
It also insists that they will continue to give “a humanitarian response” to immigrants who arrive by boat on the Spanish coast or to those who are already in the country, who suffer from “extreme vulnerability.”
The institution
In 2022, the Spanish Red Cross served more than 12 million people, both within the country and in international missions, all thanks to 263,764 volunteers.
“Red Cross is working and very well. It has a very solid structure (…) Historically we have been pioneers in responding to emergencies. Now they are increasingly unpredictable and we don’t know what is coming. But the Red Cross is highly trained to give answers and we are the ones who come out first and the first to be found. We are on the front line, ”he says.
Pageo points to the case of covid-19 as an example and stresses that in addition to being “fast”, the organization has another advantage, a “capillarity” that allows them to be “very close to people throughout the territory”. “Being close allows you to know and be able to adapt the response,” he says.
“We have to be modern and adapt to the times, and that implies working with data (…) Technology is essential, in order to be able to give such fast, so adapted responses (…) Maintaining and continuing the modernization of the institution is essential” adds on the other hand.
The future of the Red Cross
In the absence of the Council of Ministers ratifying his appointment and it being published in the BOE, Pageo hopes that his mandate will be characterized by “a job well done” and the effectiveness of the Red Cross in meeting all possible needs.
“To feel that it has been well directed and well led, with good decisions for the objective we have, that after all we are here for a mission, which is the person (…) That everything develops as if we were a team ”, he values.
And from her time as president of the Red Cross organization in Andalusia, she has learned important lessons. “A very exciting shared experience. We have cried and we have been very moved (…) My time in Andalusia has been incredible, because there is a team that impresses (…) The one who decides to cross the door is me, despite the responsibility and the vertigo. How was she going to say no to such an exciting project? (…) Making decisions by and for people seems incredible to me, ”she concludes. EFE