The president of Dfa Foundation, Marta Valencia, identified physical accessibility as one of the main problems. She cited consultation rooms that are too small, narrow doors, unsuitable examination tables and power sockets installed at an inappropriate height. “There is still quite a lot of work to do,” she warned, although she acknowledged progress at new facilities such as the hospitals in Alcañiz and Teruel.
But the barriers, Valencia insisted, are not limited to architecture. She also called for better professional training because “we are generally treated in a very infantilizing way, and even more so in the case of women.” “Instead of speaking to me, they speak to the person accompanying me,” she lamented, while also calling for better communication and transport to access healthcare facilities.
ACCESSIBILITY THAT GOES BEYOND THE RAMP
Javier Arredondo, president of the Aragon Patient Forum, also shared the need to broaden the perspective. “We often talk about physical disabilities, but forget organic, sensory and mental disabilities,” he said. In his view, all of them “require different areas of action” and cannot be addressed with a single response.
Arredondo also pointed to other less visible barriers. He called for “pictograms that everyone can understand” and urged authorities “not to make every interaction with the healthcare system so digital.” He also criticized the fact that “things are done without consulting patients or associations,” even though they are, he said, the ones who can identify most clearly “where the failures are.”
The same idea of adapting the system to people ran through the intervention by Pilar Moreno, director of the social area at Dfa Foundation and vice president of Amanixer. “We need to humanize the healthcare system in the case of women,” she said. Among the shortcomings, she cited the adaptation of diagnostic tests, accessible gynecological consultations and healthcare staff training.
WOMEN, TERRITORY AND HEALTHCARE FOR EVERYONE
Moreno considered it particularly worrying that accessibility deficiencies continue to appear in newly built hospitals and health centers. “It is unbelievable that this still exists today,” she said. In the case of women, she insisted that “we still have a very long way to go” and called for avoiding the “unconscious biases” that continue to influence part of the care they receive.
From the Government of Aragon, the director general of Care and Humanization, Cristina Sarasa, acknowledged that “things are not always as they should be,” although she defended the fact that the Health Department holds regular meetings with associations to resolve problems. “Participation seems extremely important to us,” she said, with the aim of gathering patients’ views and subsequently adapting care to their needs.
The ASISA provincial delegate in Zaragoza, Alfredo Pérez, agreed that inclusion cannot be limited to basic compliance with regulations. “We must not stop at the ramp,” he argued. He also noted that laws “always set minimum standards” and that institutions and organizations must “take another step” toward healthcare based on each person’s autonomy and needs.
