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Portugal´s only registered non-profit crime prevention and civil protection association providing dedicated information and support services to the community
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Newsletter - December 31st 2020 |
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Good morning and Welcome to our last newsletter of 2020
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We start with the fantastic news that our President, David Thomas, has been awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) by HM the Queen in the 2021 New Year Honours.
The notice reads “David Graham THOMAS BEM, President, Safe Communities Portugal. For services to Public Safety and to British Nationals in Portugal”.
This is David’s second award as, in 2016, HM the Queen approved his award of the British Empire Medal (Civil Division) “For services to crime prevention and awareness within the British and international community in Portugal”.
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David Thomas, MBE
President
Safe Communities Portugal
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Standing for Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, an MBE is the third highest ranking Order of the British Empire award (excluding a knighthood/damehood), behind CBE and then OBE.
An MBE according to the Gazette is usually “Awarded for an outstanding achievement or service to the community. This will have had a long-term and significant impact”
David will be presented with the MBE medal sometime during 2021.
David said “I am very honoured to receive this award. It would not be so without the work of a great team at Safe Communities nor the support of the community we serve. The fact that this is for work in Portugal shows the close collaboration that exists with the Portuguese government and reflects well on the support and encouragement that they have shown”.
On behalf of the team, I would like to congratulate David on a richly deserved and very timely recognition of his tireless work for the community here in Portugal, especially during this very challenging year of pandemic and everything that comes with it - it is a privilege to be part of his ‘support network’ and I, for one, will be raising a glass today to David Thomas, MBE.
This newsletter features a Year End message from David, which was written before the award was announced last night.
Have a Very Happy and Safe New Year
Jennie Kelly
Newsletter Editor
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End of Year Message by David Thomas
As this will be our last Covid-19 Newsletter for 2020, I thought I would give a personal view of the challenges we at Safe Communities Portugal have faced in dealing with this crisis over the last 10 months and how we have dealt with these.
No one can ever prepare for a situation such as Covid-19, but at Safe Communities we have, over the last three years or so, established our building blocks through qualifying and becoming the only Civil Protection Voluntary Organisation under Portuguese law serving the international community in Portugal. This is much more than just a title, but instead developing an organisation, recognised officially by government, which helps communities in areas such as rural fires, crime prevention, cybercrime and more recently Covid-19.
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How we serve you
Our Facebook page is in in many ways the “shop window” of our organisation and when you enter you see the full array of services we offer, which are displayed on our website. When we started monitoring Covid-19 on 26th January 2020, we needed extra space so we enlarged our site creating a section for Covid-19, which has expanded considerably over the last 10 months. To ensure we could deliver the services we enlisted volunteers, some 18 to date, who have worked virtually 24/7 since then helping with enquiries, translations, the website and Facebook, for example. We try and keep up to date, by researching and providing relevant and official information free of charge to all communities.
Customer services is vital and so is effective communication during a crisis. Although we use radio (thanks to KissFm), newsletters, written and on-line media and magazines in getting key messages across, our main communication tool has been through Facebook during this crisis. Our followers have increased from around 17,000 to over 36,000 in just 10 months. From the beginning of March to November, according to Facebook Insight, our total reach was over 6 million, an average of 23,529 per day, the highest being 103,000 for a single post in November. Although this shows we are reaching people, this has presented a challenge – simply put, the more followers, the more interaction that needs monitoring and more questions that need answering!
Responding to questions and comments, quickly where possible, with the correct answers has been perhaps the greatest challenge we have had to face. Enquiries and comments during the period have totalled around 60,000 i.e.an average of 235 per day of which we estimate 70% required a response. In addition, we received over 2000 messages and 1300 emails. Many of these come from overseas.
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Keeping positive
Often we receive enquiries, from people who are worried and sometimes fearful of what lies ahead. This is a natural reaction when facing the unknown and it is therefore important to try and allay those fears whenever possible. This is why negativity in a crisis is never helpful, as is the spreading of disinformation, which we have encountered from time to time. Working on facts not supposition and hearsay is important so that people are kept properly informed.
As a pro-active measure to encourage positivity and at the same time put a smile on people’s faces we created “SCooP”, the Pug dog, who supplements the delivery of information and advice in a less formal style. We also created a “Positive Messages” page on our website which contains comments from you that have appeared on our Facebook and other sources. Please take a look at these from time to time and it will help lift your spirits during the darker days.
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Questions and answers
In many ways we are the “first line” (similar to a call centre) for many, in obtaining the answers and clarification required. We receive enquires in many forms of media, particularly through our Facebook page. Spending many hours each day dealing with concerns, emotions, even anger on occasions, I can assure you is not easy for us and has placed considerable demands on our free time. We have to keep positive and when our spirits maybe temporarily dampened by the few who are quick to pass judgement and criticise, (usually in the absence of the facts), there are many, many more of you who give us the tremendous support that keeps us going – this support is priceless and we thank you for the thousands of kind remarks we have received.
Talking of time, there is a joke in our team that the Government always announces new laws around dinner time! We now adjust our eating schedules accordingly!
In trying to help so many people, as we have tried to do over a period of nearly year, is to say the least demanding. Faced with many new laws sometimes amounting to 30 or so pages in Portuguese, can be daunting and has presented considerable challenges in deciphering what is important, so the foreign community and tourists are kept informed. A few incorrect words can send everyone in the wrong direction very quickly! Also naturally people require and deserve answers to questions, and although we may not have these at all at hand at the time, we are able to liaise closely with government, the police, tourism agencies and civil protection, Embassies and other authorities to try and ascertain these where we can.
In this respect I send special thanks to the British Embassy Consular team whom we liaise with virtually on a daily basis and our contact points with the GNR and PSP.
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The Portuguese Government
We work on the basis and belief that the Portuguese government has done an amazing job in dealing with what was at the beginning a “faceless and unknown” enemy. It is important that we have trust in government to make the right decisions, at the right time based on the scientific evidence available. Personally I feel that this has been amply demonstrated from the President and Prime Minister downwards, with timely and effective laws and initiatives, in the absence of which many more lives would have been lost.
We have a fantastic national health service (SNS) in Portugal, well led by the Director and Health Minister, and our gratitude goes to all the nurses and doctors and health workers, and others who are certainly the front line in dealing with this pandemic.
Laws are of course meaningless without compliance, and I feel we are privileged to live in a country where the population has generally followed the rules closely throughout the pandemic, often with great hardship to themselves and families. I believe that the actions of the population is one of the reasons why Portugal has suffered less than certain other countries in Europe.
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Turning the corner
We have now turned a new corner in the fight against Covid-19 with the implementation of the Vaccine program which started on 27th December. The Government has a well prepared Vaccination plan, supported by a dedicated page on the DGS website, and even a simulator where people can ascertain approximately when they will be vaccinated.
There is clearly a well-defined structure in terms of priorities, supply, logistics and distribution of the vaccine and now we just have to wait our turn. Of course we are all dependent on the supply by the manufacturers with Portugal having on order 22 million doses.
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A Thank You
I therefore thank our volunteer team members, who are involved with the Covid-19 work namely: Clare, Daniel, Elise, Eliana, Fernanda, Jane, Jennie, Jenny, Louise, Mike, and Sven, plus our key players who help keep the association running: Carlos, Colin, Jim, Lilia, Peter and Raoul.
So with that positive note I would like to thank you for all your support and to wish you on behalf our team at Safe Communities, a Very Happy New Year – Stay Safe everyone.
David Thomas, MBE
President
Safe Communities Portugal
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A Reminder - Social distancing, hygiene and the wearing of face masks are the best ways to prevent the spread of the disease.
If you know others who would like to obtain our newsletter free of charge click here
Lastly we thank all our sponsors (listed at the end of this newsletter) who help keep Safe Communities going and developing.
David Thomas, MBE
President
Safe Communities Portugal
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Volunteers needed to help our team with Covid-19
Monitor the news in Portugal and give us reports. Would you like to help us?
SCP can only publish correct and confirmed information. This means that we have great demands on both our sources and our volunteers.
Lastly we are looking for volunteers who have experience in either analysis or research type work who are used to valuing news and facts, to supplement our team during this period of crisis.
Precisely we need help in supplementing our team providing short daily situation reports for events happening in Portugal
You must also be able to write good English. If you feel you are the right person and want to contribute under Covid-19, send us a message here please with a brief description of your experience.
Together we can help keep the community in Portugal up to date!
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IF YOU ARE PLEASED WITH OUR SERVICES PLEASE MAKE A DONATION
During the coronavirus our team of volunteers have worked 7 days a week to provide you with the best news and advice.
We do not receive or expect payment of these services as that is the nature of our work as a non-profit volunteer association
However we have incurred extra costs through upgrades to website, translation work, printing and administrative costs for example.
Your generosity by making a donation to help maintain and further develop the work of the association and thereby help keep Portugal a safe place to live and visit would be appreciated. Any amount helps.
Three ways to make a donation Please visit our donation page here with all the details and how money is spent
Paypal - If you would like to make a donation through Paypal please visit our donation page and click on the "Paypal donate" button.
By cheque - If you wish to donate by cheque the bank account name is "Associacao SCP Safe Communities Portugal" and cheques can be posted to Caixa 207-Z, Alfontes, Boliqueime, 8100-062, Algarve.
By interbank transfer - If you wish to donate through inter- bank transfer please use the same name with the following account details NIB 0033 0000 4542 9864 44705.
All donations should be marked "Donation for crime prevention". Thank you.
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How your friends can obtain up to date Crime Prevention advice
Please pass on details of Safe Communities Portugal to neighbours and friends so they to can benefit from the up to date crime prevention advice. Simply ask them to click on this link to obtain the latest newsletter: This is a free service.
David Thomas, MBE
President
Safe Communities Portugal
31st December 2020
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Thank you to all of our sponsors: |
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