March 18. World Social Work Day. Daniel and Mar, united by a work accident

Those who dedicate themselves to Social Work do so knowing its power to change lives, facing the pain of others and providing strength to serve as support in the most difficult moments. Every third Tuesday in March the calendar highlights the importance of these professionals and also the stories of those people who receive the aid they manage. This is the case of Mar and Daniel, united by a work accident and by the vocation of service.

"The accident took place in Barcelona. We were making some walls in a warehouse and because of a beam that we didn't realize was loose, I stepped wrong and fell. I don't remember the fall, I only remember being on the ground and not feeling my legs." In 2019, Daniel Paredes was 36 years old, had a wife, three very young children, and had a past as an immigrant who arrived in Spain irregularly.

"At the Vall d'Hebron Hospital they fixed my spine with titanium bars, but the doctors already told my wife that she would never walk again." Shortly after, he was transferred to the National Hospital for Paraplegics in Toledo, where he began to adapt to his new life. Moving would be something different from what he had known and he would have to have new resources.

“I learned to move from the bed to the chair, to do physical therapy for the trunk… I wanted independence and I thought that if others can, I had to be able to,” he repeated to himself.

“Daniel's case came to me through the Provincial Directorate of Alicante, the province to which his company belonged, as soon as the work accident occurred,” explains Mar Bernat, a social worker at Fraternidad-Muprespa with extensive experience.

"When he was admitted to Toledo, I established contact with his wife to find out the family's needs. From then on I always had all contact with Daniel. With the Hospital's social worker I coordinated his orthoprosthetic needs, planned his hospital discharge and how he would continue to carry out all the autonomy learned in Toledo." 

Mar Bernat knows very well how much families need this help in the form of special benefits that cover the needs of those who, after a work accident, face a radical change in their lives.

These benefits covered his wife's trips to visit him in hospitals, a nearby accommodation resource, the adaptation of the home due to the difficulty of finding one completely adapted to his new needs, for example, an adapted bathroom, training for his wife as a caregiver for people with severe disabilities, adaptation of a vehicle...    

"We social workers are in charge of 'healing' the social part of the disease. A work accident impacts at all levels: it produces disability, perhaps the impossibility of returning to work, income decreases, expenses increase, there is a change of roles in the family... All of this is what we call 'the social perspective,' explains Mar. 

The next chapter of Daniel's life has been written based on effort, determination and new learning. “They advised me to focus on sports,” he explains. And said and done. Approaching different disciplines of adapted sport, he ended up joining a paratriathlon club and has been regional champion. And he transfers his learning to his family: he recently personally taught his children to ride a bicycle. 

Daniel sends Mar a message of gratitude “for the help provided when we needed it most.” And he congratulates him for the work he does.

Mar highlights that to be a social worker "you have to like taking care of people, like the motto of our Mutual Fund. Caring makes us better professionals and better people," she says. And it ends with a declaration of intent about the importance of this day: “I think it is important that our work is recognized and valued because there is a great lack of knowledge about what we do.”

The story of Daniel and Mar, of Mar and Daniel, does not end here. It will continue soon.