Category Archives: News

Vaccination Programme

This information has been obtained from afpop (Portugal Foreign Residents Association)

Vaccine programme – Private health care: We have more information now for those people who are registered with the state healthcare system (SNS), but who use the private medical system for treatments and who may have ailments that should be taken into account when calling people for vaccinations.

The first thing for private healthcare patients to note, is that if they are registered with the SNS and have no health issues which will cause them to be in a higher risk category, they need to do nothing and will be called by the SNS according to their age. The criteria for higher risk categories in the vaccination phases are included below. This link will help you discover what phase you are currently included in for vaccinations. https://covid19estamoson.gov.pt/simualacao-fase-vacinacao

If you do have any of the conditions in the list below, you should contact your doctor and arrange a consultation. The doctor will then issue you with a document, in Portuguese, for you to take to the nearest Centro de Saúde for input into the SNS system. There is no need to ask for a doctor’s appointment at the Centro de Saúde as far as we are informed and if you do ask for a doctor’s appointment and are not ill, you will probably be refused. However, once your details are registered you may be asked to go to see the doctor, but that will be decided by them. I suggest that you explain when you call or email them for the appointment, that you have a report from your private doctor that needs to be updated in the SNS system for the purpose of early vaccination and then follow their instructions.

If your Centro de Saúde is not accepting visitors, then you should consult this website https://bicsp.min-saude.pt/pt/biufs/Paginas/default.aspx In the three boxes at the top, you will see ARS, ACES and UF. These are drop down boxes and you select the region in the first (ARS) box, for example ARS Algarve, then in the second (ACES) box select the area, for example ACES 1 – Algarve Central and then the town in the 3rd (UF) box. This will then give you a list on the right-hand side of the page of the health centres that you can use and the contact details.

When you visit the health centre, make sure you have your personal identification, social security number (if you have one) and fiscal number with you as well as your Cartão de Utente/Número de Utente.

Vaccination phases:

Phase 1. From February 2021

People over the age of 50 with the following health conditions:
  • Cardiac insufficiency
  • Coronary Illness
  • Kidney disease
  • COPD and chronic respiratory problems requiring mechanical ventilation and or using oxygen permanently.

Phase 2 from April 2021

People over the age of 65 who have not been vaccinated previously;
People between the ages of 50 and 64 years of age, who have at least one of the following illnesses
  • Diabetes
  • Cancer sufferers
  • Chronic renal failure (GFR higher than > 60ml/min)
  • Liver failure
  • High blood pressure
  • Obesity
  • Other underlying illnesses that fall into this category not yet defined.
Phase 3 will commence once phase 2 is completed.

Registering for Cartão and Nº Utente:
If you are Resident and not yet registered with the SNS, you must do so in order to be included in the vaccination programme. You need to contact them and arrange an appointment, after which you will be issued a document called Cartão de Utente, that will have your State health care number, also known as Nº Utente or Nº SNS.

Non-residents: We are still waiting for responses to our questions about non-residents and what to do if they are here in Portugal and if they can be vaccinated here. There are people who came to their property in Portugal and can’t return to their home country, but at the moment we still have no information about whether there will be any facility for those people to be included in the Portuguese vaccination programme.

Charitable Christmas Cheer

by Matt D’Arcy

Twenty-two disadvantaged families on the Algarve’s west coast will be having a far happier Christmas than they might otherwise have expected.

The ladies from the St Vincente de Paul society charity who helped co ordinate and distribute the goods

Thanks to the generosity and efforts of Amovate, the local community association based on Vale da Telha outside Aljezur, a team has distributed Christmas food to families identified as most in need by the St Vincente de Paul society, so each family could cook its own Christmas dinner.

Apart from donating €250 to buy the traditional Portuguese Christmas meal of Bacalhau da Consoada,  Amovate, (the Association of Residents & Friends of Vale da Telha, or, Associação Dos Moradores e Amigos do Vale Da Telha) co-ordinated the donations, collections and distribution of the food and goods.

Boxes ready for distribution

Amovate, who provided the 22 bacalhau, launched a drive asking members and residents to further donate the potatoes, cabbage and eggs which complete this traditional meal.

Vegetables, potatoes, carrots and greens were all provided by Sofia and David at the Restaurante Vale de Telha—situated in a central part of Vale da Telha—who also stored all the goods and took further donations before distribution.

Individual people also donated a total of 22 bottles of wine, 22 bolo-rei, 22 bottles of soft drinks, and 120 eggs alongside other non-perishable goods.

And last weekend Amovate loaded all the goods into two vehicles and delivered them to the charity for distribution to the chosen families.

Amovate president Ian Bedford told us, “We felt that none of our neighbours should go without the basics necessary to make Christmas a warmer and welcoming time for families going through hard times.

“It’s been a fantastic, warm-hearted and generous community effort and we hope the families who might have been approaching Christmas with little expectation now have a wonderful festive period, knowing there are people out there ready and willing to support them.

“We hope they really do have a Happy Christmas”.

Presents for A Casa CLD4SG (Casa da Crianças)

Amovate has also spent the past months supporting A Casa CLD4SG (Casa da Crianças) which looks after children and their families in poverty throughout Aljezur, Rogil and Odeceixe. 

And for Christmas they also purchased presents for these children, providing books, crayons, colouring pencils and erasers for 75 children.

 

Some happy children from A Casa CLD4SG (Casa da Crianças)

Brexit – SEF – Exchanging Residency Documents

Brexit: SEF and the British Embassy launch joint campaign urging UK nationals to exchange residence documents:

The Border and Immigration Service (SEF) and the British Embassy in Lisbon launch today the second phase of a joint campaign to inform UK nationals living in Portugal about the procedure to exchange their current residence document for a new permit that confirms their status as residents under the Withdrawal Agreement.

All details in the link:

https://www.portugalresident.com/brexit-sef-and-the-british-embassy-launch-joint-campaign-urging-uk-nationals-to-exchange-residence-documents/

PLEASE NOTE

When registering on the Sef site, your Password will need –

At least 6 digits
At least 1 Capital Letter
At least 1 number
At least 1 symbol

📞 If you have any questions, please use SEF’s dedicated Brexit line (21 711 50 45) or email address (brexit@sef.pt).

Collection of Items for the Needy of Aljezur

Great News!!

An update for you all, the Restaurante Fonte do Vale have offered to supply the vegetables for the meal for the 22 Families which is a fantastic gesture…..We are still collecting other goods and as the item below will be till Sunday 20th December.  Non Perishable Food Gifts at Restaurante Fonte Do Vale.

                    ………………………………….

I must start this note by first of all thanking both Members and Non Members of Amovate for their donations made to one of our charities – St Vincent de Paul Society continually since May.  Your generosity has been overwhelming and all who receive these goods are extremely grateful and thankful.
Amovate has agreed to donate €250 for the Charity to purchase Bacalau for 22 families in Aljezur to help them enjoy a traditional Christmas meal and of course the goods donated by yourselves will help the cause, and ensure a substantial meal for all.
Hopefully I can now ask for one big effort towards the Christmas period and maybe you could also donate some little special foods – sweets, chocolates etc. to brighten up the families in this exceptionally difficult time.
We would like to ask that whatever gifts of food you give, it is left at the Fonte prior to the 20th December to give time for sorting and distribution.
Finally, a Special Thanks to Sofia and David at the Fonte for fronting these special collections and making sure the goods stay safe and dry, and of course as stated before, to all that have donated so far….Perhaps you could mention this effort to friends and cajole them into making a donation as well.
Kind Regards and Stay Safe

Ian Bedford, President of Amovate.