In the small room, there are basically maps and schedules of visits to indigenous communities posted on the wall and a table with radio communication equipment. There, every day, from 7 am to 7 pm, a radio operator sits and communicates with the Yanomami people. Despite being simple, this room in the Yanomami and Yek’uana Special Indigenous Health District (Disei-YY), in Boa Vista, is the only real-time communication channel with the majority of communities in the Yanomami indigenous land, both in Roraima and in Amazonas, areas where there is no signal for cell phones. This is where the demands of the Yanomami people come in, both in relation to health and other emergencies and any other type of need for communication. Indigenous contact with Disei-YY is made from health units spread across 78 communities. This small room in Boa Vista sends, for example, information about serious health cases that require transfer to hospitals in the capital. President of the District Council for Indigenous Health Yanomami and Ye’kuana Júnior Hekurari Yanomami – Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil “The Yanomami look for these stations, pass on the information to the health professionals and the health professional passes it on here. Pass information about removals. When a mother refuses to come to the city, my team comes to convince them, because they are afraid of flying, of the child dying here, of the child not returning to the community”, explains the president of the District Council of Yanomami Indigenous Health and Yek’uana (Codisi-YY), Junior Hekurari Yanomami. With the information in hand, the necessary logistical resources are activated, such as aircraft and medical teams, to reach that community and transfer the patient to Boa Vista. The radio center also receives requests for medication, as well as reports of threats from miners and conflicts. “Everything comes here. We listen and run to solve these problems”, says Júnior. As the room is not open 24 hours a day, requests that occur during the night can only be resolved the next morning. And, according to Júnior Yanomami, even during the opening hours of the room, sometimes they are unable to establish communication with the indigenous land. “Sometimes it only picks up at ten in the morning, sometimes at one in the afternoon” Iolanda Carvalho, in the radio room at the DSEI, in Boa Vista – Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil Radio operator Iolanda Carvalho says that many communities cannot communicate directly with the central, as they are located in remote territories. In this case, it is necessary for other health units to mediate. “There are poles where the propagation is so weak, that you have to ask the other to help, because we don’t listen. So sometimes it’s even difficult for communication to get right here, because it involves a lot of people “, he says. Nine health posts also have a public telephone device (pay phone), but not all of them are working, says Júnior.
Agência Brasil
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