VIDEOCAST
This episode of “Open Consultation” addresses the role of social assistance today and what social reality reveals to us about the health of the Brazilian population. To do this, the doctor Margarida Graça Santos invited to social worker Cláudia Simões. A woman with four children, two jobs and no home arrives at a doctor’s appointment and complains of tiredness – Do you know what a doctor has to do in a situation like this?
Family doctor Margarida Graça Santos and social worker Cláudia Simões show how social support can not only improve health but also transform lives. “All lives are the same. This is a basic principle for a doctor, but it should also be for a social worker”, and that is what he is guided by.
Margarida Graça Santos, at the beginning of this week’s episode, proposes a exercise of imagination that doesn’t stray too far from reality.
Let’s imagine: a 32-year-old single woman with four children arrives at her appointment. He leaves home at 4 am to catch the first bus and be on time for one of the two jobs he has. It comes with dragging tiredness. He can’t find a house because no one signs a contract without a steady job. Children often miss school, simply because there is no one to take them. What does a doctor do in a situation like this? Refers the user to a social worker.
“I’m a social worker and they tell me: ‘Are you going to this neighborhood alone? How dangerous’. People don’t really know these places,” he explains. Claudia Simões.
The social worker highlights the impact of social support promoting health and transforming people’s living conditions.
“I have discussions with professionals who say ‘I vote for a certain party because immigrants come to get benefits'”, says Cláudia Simões, and adds that sometimes when people get to know the reality up close, they change their position.
