Integration of foreign citizens in Florence, linguistic mediation in the health and social districts
A linguistic mediation service in the social and health districts of S. Rosa, Morgagni, Piagge and d’Annunzio, ethnopsychiatry interventions in the Sollicciano prison started in recent days and two audiovisual guidance on the school against abandonment in progress at the Gandhi Isolotto Institute, which will then be translated into 5 languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, English and Spanish) and distributed to foreign parents: these are some of the actions foreseen within the FAMI EULIM project, recognized by the Municipality of Florence, the Health Society of Florence, the Azienda Usl Toscana Centro, thanks to the contribution of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 2014-2020 of the ‘European Union and the Ministry of the Interior’ to strengthen social and socio-health services for the integration of non-EU foreign citizens in the municipal area of Florence.
“This project offers services aimed at different foreign population groups – they said councilors for welfare Sara Funaro and for immigration Cosimo Guccione – to foster their integration into the community, to help them understand how our society works, to offer them health and non-health information. It is an important service for foreign citizens because thanks to Eulim they are able to have concrete support to make the most of the prevention activities and services at a health and social level “.
The Health Society of Florence, a body to which the Municipality of Florence and the Health Service of Tuscany (Azienda USL Toscana Centro) belong, has been managing the EULIM project since 2019, to strengthen the system of public services for foreign citizens. The project, of which the Municipality of Florence is the leader, is funded by the Ministry of the Interior and the European Union FAMI EULIM and is divided into various actions including, among others, a control room and social / health research , which is producing two studies on Social and Migrant Services and on Health and Migrant Services.
From what appears that most of the Social Services, excluding the elderly and disabilities area, have a percentage of 50% of users from foreign countries; training activities in which about 160 members participated (from the Municipality, Ausl, Consorzi Coeso and Metropoli, Caritas, Acisif, Ciao, Di Vittorio including social workers, educators, operators, LC mediators, nurses, doctors and administrators of the Municipality and Ausl). Various topics were touched in the various lectures, including the geopolitical knowledge of the main migratory routes, questions for linguistic and cultural mediation and the professional relationship with foreign citizens and second generations. The project also includes an orientation activity through the formation of groups at the Consultors and Casa SPA, thanks to the activities of Coeso, Sociolab and Nosotras: 30 groups planned on the topics, for example, of the birth path, on pregnancy, on family planning and contraception.
The mediators receive fixed positions and weekly hours in each of the four Florentine garrisons. They will welcome and orientate they will also be next to the doctor or health worker if their presence is necessary for a better understanding, for example, during a visit.
These are the days and times in the principals:
Morgagni: Monday, Bangla language (9-13); Arabic (14-18); Tuesday, Spanish (9-13); Thursday, Georgian (14-16).
Santa Rosa: Monday pidgin (9-13); Arabic Tuesday (9-13); Wednesday bangla (12-16); Urdu Friday (9-13).
D’Annunzio: Moldovan Wednesday (14-18); Spanish Thursday (12-16).
Canova: Arabic Tuesday (9-13).
The service is aimed in particular at families from the Maghreb area and Africa, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, South America or Asia.
The ethnopsychiatry interventions in the Sollicciano prison, conducted by the Centro Studi Sagarà, include 225 hours of ethnopsychiatry, 270 hours of linguistic mediation and 162 of ethnoclinical mediation. The activities, which will take place twice a week, involve the use of a team made up of three professional figures (anthropologist, psychologist and cultural linguistic mediator) and aim to assist health, educational and prison police personnel by providing tools to intercept ethnocultural problems early and to make the treatment and rehabilitation of foreign prisoners more effective.
The two short films, lasting between 7 and 10 minutes, are being produced by RUMI Produzioni with children, parents, teachers and school staff and aim to tell, in particular to foreign citizens living in Florence, what are the fundamental principles of the Italian school and how the school system works in our country and in our city.
In the photo the commissioner Funaro