Author Archives: Sue

Defibrillators Now Bought And On Their Way!

Amovate is proud to announce that thanks to the amazing generosity of our members and the people of this area we have now bought the defibrillators that will be such a life-saving asset.

This incredibly warm-hearted community leapt into action once we announced the project to raise €4,500 for these two machines and a piece of training equipment. Such was the incredible response that the money was raised WITHIN A MONTH both on Vale da Telha and from the surrounding areas.

These state-of-the-art defibrillators were ordered from the United Kingdom, and are now in transit to Vale da Telha. The more sophisticated of the two machines, which is to be donated to, and used exclusively by, the Bombeiros had to be calibrated in Portuguese. The defibrillators have computerised spoken instructions as you work with them, and this more advanced machine had to its vocal software re-calibrated from English to Portuguese. This is due to the fact that the defibrillator is to be used by the professional paramedics of the Bombeiros to service the entire Aljezur region and its 5884 inhabitants, from Odeceixe in the north to Carrapateira in the south.

Up to now the Bombeiros have possessed only one defibrillator for their four ambulances, so the new machine doubles their capacity to respond to the type of emergency where their use is essential.

The simpler, but still highly-sophisticated, defibrillator to be kept on Vale da Telha will continue to voice the instructions in English, with a number of volunteers from the Portuguese and Expat community being trained to use it.

And there is no shortage of volunteers!

As you will know by now the Bombeiros are keen to establish a corps of volunteers of all different nationalities on VdT and surrounds to be trained by them, initially in Basic CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), which you may recognise from the Vinnie Jones “Stayin’ Alive” commercials.

Then, they will ask those volunteers who become certified in CPR through this training if any of them wish to be further trained to become part of a group of individuals thus qualified to use the defibrillator kept on Vale da Telha.

More than 70 people turned up at Amovate for the inaugural meeting hosted by the Bombeiros at the Old School House in Vales on Thursday January 9^th when their experts outlined their plans and explained what the classes involved.

Vale da Telha resident Sue Kenyon, a UK-certified trainer and instructor in Hands-Only CPR and also use of AED (automatic devices) worked with the team from the Bombeiros to explain what will be required.

More than 50 people immediately signed up for the CPR training course, with more registering their interest in the following weeks. If you have not yet applied but wish to take part, please contact us at info@amovate.com or to Sue Kenyon direct at diversue@gmail.com we will add you to the list, letting you know in due course when your training session is to be held.

It was decided that the training sessions will each be restricted to a maximum of 16 people, in four groups of four, to make each session more manageable.

Sue will be booking the training sessions and contact will be made directly by e-mail or telephone to let all the volunteers know which group they are in and when their training sessions will be held.

The first takes place at The Old School House, Vales, on Tuesday 11th February 2014 from 14:00 – 17:00, and the 16 people involved have already been informed. Sessions will then take place every two weeks until every volunteer has been trained to the required certified standard.

Sue explained: “As you will appreciate, we have a large number of people wishing to train so, in an effort to provide the best initial distribution of trained personnel, we are offering one place per household for the first few sessions.

“Please rest assured that nobody will miss the opportunity to train; there will be as many sessions held as is necessary. “We look forward to working with you on this great initiative.”

Incidentally, if you or anyone else is unable to make it to the training session allocated to them, you needn’t worry. All you have to do is let us know, and that place will be offered to the next person on the list, whilst your name will be put down for a later date.

Bombeiros Donation Article in UK Newspaper

The huge €50,000 kit and lifesaving equipment donation organised by Amovate for the Aljezur Bombeiros did not just make headlines in Europe–it also hit some newspapers back in the UK.

“Here is the headline and story that appeared in the Sunbury and Shepperton Herald”…

Bombeiros Emergency Phone Number

The correct EMERGENCY number to call the Aljezur Bombeiros is:

282 990 140

This is for Emergencies only, but will save time in getting an Ambulance / Fire Engine dispatched to the Aljezur and surrounding areas. By calling this number, your call will be directed through the 112 system after the Aljezur Bombeiros have responded to the emergency, therefore saving valuable time.

Winter Storm Hercules – at Monte Clérigo

Here are some photos from the Winter Storm Hercules, and how it affected the beach at Monte Clérigo yesterday, together with today’s clean up operation.

The photos have been kindly provided by Amovate Members Helen And Steve Rowell.

New Driving Laws in Portugal

From the Algarve Daily News:

More than 60 amendments to Portugal’s Road Traffic Act came into force on New Year’s Day, including the lowering of the alcohol limit for professional drivers and drivers who recently have passed their test, new rules for cyclists and new rules for the nation’s multitude of beautifully constructed roundabouts.

The Highway Code now provides for the creation of ‘residential areas of coexistence,’ ie where man and machine operate in perfect harmony with specific rules for traffic such as speed limits reduced to a gentle 20kmph.

There is an important paperwork change – Portuguese identification cards now are needed if the driver does not have the new citizen card. It is hoped that foreign drivers will be OK with a passport as non-Portuguese citizens are neither entitled to an ID card nor a citizen’s card. Many expats do not have fiscal cards but should carry the paper document, free from Finanças, with their fiscal number on it.

The law that fiscal numbers must be produced when asked is to enable authorities to check if a driver is in debt with the taxman. Failure to present the card will result in a fine of €30. Whether this is to be challenged by the over-burdened Constitutional Court or not remains to be seen but the increase in spying into citizens’ financial affairs by the traffic police will do nothing to improve the pact between state and citizen.

There is an important change at roundabouts. The only road users that can use the right-hand lane at a roundabout are those that are taking the first exit. Everyone else must use the inner lane i.e. if going straight ahead or turning left. The fine if you get this new maneuver wrong is between €60 and €300 and over the next few weeks the GNR are likely to be perched at their favourite roundabouts, waiting….

Annoyingly, different sources of information have different interpretations of this new rule with some suggesting that the right hand lane is for both the first and second exits. More clarification will be needed so in the meantime stick to the IMTT’s interpretation, right hand lane – first right only.

The new code reduces the alcohol level permitted to 0.2 grammes per litre of blood for drivers on probation i.e. those that have held a full license for less than 3 years, and for drivers of rescue service vehicles, taxi drivers and commercial drivers of vans and trucks.

In the event of an accident, in addition to the mandatory test for alcohol blood level, there now will be screening for drug use using rather accurate test kits.

Cyclists gain new rights with new rules giving them equal rights to vehicles in many cases.

The police are required to inform any driver fined more than €200 that he or she can pay the fine in installments of €50 or more, over a period not exceeding 12 months.

Mobile phone and i-Pod headphones with two earpieces are banned but those with a single earpiece are still allowable. No, you can’t say you were only using one of the earpieces as double earpieces are banned totally.