Alicante Needs 615 More Residential Places for Acquired Brain Injury Patients

Around 19,400 people have Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) in the province of Alicante, but only 1% of them have access to public or contracted places in day care centers and specific residences. This is the main conclusion of a report prepared by the Federation of Acquired Brain Injury of the Valencian Community (FEVADACE) and released this Wednesday, on the occasion of the day that raises awareness of this condition, which is celebrated this Saturday.

The report shows that the province of Alicante only has 45 residential places to care for people with ABI with a disability of more than 75%, and estimates that 660 places are needed, so 615 more would be required.

Regarding day care centers (CAD) for ABI, mainly aimed at people with a disability between 45% and 75%, they are the resource with the most places, having 317, and 38.8% of them are managed by entities of Brain Injury Valencian Community. However, this offer is "far from" covering the need for 8,350 places.

Among the health departments of Alicante, the Marina Alta department has 45 residential places, while the l'Alacantí and Baix Vinalopó departments add up to 55 CAD places.

Furthermore, it states that 55% of people with ABI in the Valencian territory "have not had their disability assessed, so it is unknown what intervention they require." In this regard, FEVADACE points out that this disability "affects" the daily life development of these people and manifests in "mobility and communication problems, difficulty in planning and decision-making, memory alterations, and cognitive rigidity."

In this sense, it warns that the lack of an ABI code "makes it impossible to know which people are being cared for in other general centers and what their specific needs are." Thus, it indicates that only for the 23,603 people with ABI who have a recognized disability equal to or greater than 33%, it is estimated that 1,831 residential places, 8,350 places in day care centers, and 11,439 places in autonomy promotion services would be needed.

For its part, the most frequent cause is Cerebrovascular Accidents in 88% of cases, followed by 12% of Traumatic Brain Injuries. This calculation does not consider other causes of ABI such as, for example, brain tumors, because they are not included in the 2020 disability, personal autonomy, and dependency situations survey, from which the data have been extracted, they clarify.

For all these reasons, Brain Injury Valencian Community demands more specific resources and the implementation of an ABI Code at hospital discharge to know with "greater accuracy" the number of affected people and to plan the care needs throughout the Valencian territory accordingly.

On the occasion of ABI Day (October 26), the federated entities of Valencia, Alicante, and Castellón have prepared a series of events that include information tables and recreational days, culminating with the reading of the manifesto of the state Brain Injury federation, which includes all the demands of the group.