Donating blood Making waves

ORIHUELA was recognised for its quality beaches at an awards ceremony in Cullera, near Valencia on Friday, March 24.

The event was organised by the Spanish Association of Environmental Education and Consumers, ADEAC, recognising beaches that have held the Blue Flag award for 36 years in a row. The ADEAC awards both Blue Flags and Blue Trails to beaches and hiking trails in Spain that display outstanding natural beauty and meet a rigorous criteria.

The Blue Flag award began in 1987, and has awarded Blue Flags to more than 250 towns, including Orihuela. In fact, the Orihuela municipal

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Safer society

Betty Henderson area has 11 Blue Flags fluttering on its beaches every summer. Orihuela beaches are known for their excellent water quality, local environmental education programmes, beach information and management, accessibility, and safety. The councillor of Infrastructure, Angel Noguera, attended the event in Cullera where he announced the creation of a department to manage Blue Flags and Blue Trails in the Orihuela Council.

ELCHE City Council took a leap towards a safer society on Monday, March 27 as councillors voted for a new policy to prevent sexual assault in nightclubs and bars in the city. A series of other positive initiatives were also voted through including to increase local funding and to improve infrastructure.

The department aims to secure Blue Flag and Blue Trail certifications for years to come and ensure they meet international standards of environmental quality, safety, services, and education.

Keeping you safe

TWO hundred new Local Police officers are bound for some 30 municipalities in the province of Alicante.

The aspiring municipal police officers have just graduated. Before taking up their duties in their respective municipalities as civil servants, these officers must undergo practical training, which will last for two months.

Throughout the training, they will still be working but won’t be carrying a firearm.

Then, if they pass the evaluation, they will take up their duties as new Local Police officers. Of the 200 applicants, 104 are from the city of Alicante.

The Head of the Local Police of Alicante, Jose Maria Conesa, confirmed: “Now they have two months of practice in their local councils. We are going to assign them to different units. It will be very useful for security at Easter and Santa Faz.”

PINOSO has confirmed that for its March blood collection a total of 30 people attended the Health Centre to donate their blood and 24 of them were able to do so, including two first time donators.

The town council has requested that anyone who is eligible to donate blood attend the next collection at the Health Centre on Friday, April 21.

So far this year, the number of Pinoso residents who have donated their blood amounts to 78 people.

The council added that there are three very important reasons for donating: Blood cannot be manufactured, it is essential for operations and emergencies and has a shelf­life so cannot be stored indefinitely.

Blood or the components of blood are used to treat patients with medical conditions such as anaemia, cancer blood disorders, and those having surgery.

Blood is usually separated into its individual components or parts, so a patient can be given the particular component they need. This makes the most of every blood donation, as the components in one unit of blood (or one donation) can be used to treat different patients.

Representatives from the city council also highlighted their attempts to obtain more funding for the region from the national government to compensate local businesses for lost income due to the pandemic.

The stand­out piece of legislation was a policy which will aim to prevent sexual assault in nightclubs, by developing a partnership between the local hospitality industry, Local Police, and National Police.

Authorities committed to improving infrastructure with a scheduled maintenance plan for sports facilities and installing new pedestrian traffic lights.