View source for Sociolance (Yonderre)

[[File:Sociolance Yonderre.png|thumb|A [[Collinebourg]] sociolance with crew]]
The '''sociolance''', officially the '''Sociolance Service''' ([[Burgoignesc language|Burgoignesc]]: ''Service de sociolance'', [[East Gothic language|Gothic]]: ''Soziolancendienst''), is a type of ambulance in [[Yonderre]] staffed by paramedics specialized in social work aimed at providing aid and care to the homeless, alcoholics, drug addicts, the mentally ill and other socially vulnerable people. The word "sociolance" is a portmanteau of "social service" and "ambulance". Sociolances are nominally meant to cater to emergency situations that do not require an emergency response from an ordinary ambulance, but also perform regularly scheduled welfare checks and loitering patrols in areas that are known to be home to socially vulnerable people. Following a succesful trial period in [[Gabion]] in 2011-12, Sociolances currently operate permanently in [[Collinebourg]], [[Gabion]], [[Donnebourg]], [[Sainte-Catherine]], [[Toubourg]] and [[Vandarcholme]]. Several further cities in [[Yonderre]] maintain the capability to form sociolances as necessary but do not keep these permanently active.

The Sociolance Service works in close collaboration with the [[Custodes Yonderre]] who considers the former an important tool of urban crime prevention. The [[Ministry of Health (Yonderre)|Yonderian health ministry]] considers the Sociolance Service a major force multiplier in relieving the [[Yonderian public healthcare|Yonderian public healthcare system]] by offering aid and care to vulnerable citizens before they become emergency cases. According to statistics published by the [[Ministry of Health (Yonderre)|Yonderian health ministry]] in 2022, 32% of interactions between sociolances and patients ended in hospitalization. 72% of patients involved with the sociolances were male. 42% of patients were afflicted by drugs or alcohol, 20% by mental issues and 16% by both. 

==History==
The Sociolance Service was formed after the deaths of a number of homeless in [[Gabion]] in the early 2010s raised national awareness surounding the difficulties of socially vulnerable people in [[Yonderre]] receiving emergency aid. Particularly the cases of the three homeless men Josef Mähler (33), who died of a drug overdose on a [[Gabion Metro|Gabion metro train]] on 28 February 2011, Simon Fuchs (59) who asphyxiated in his own vomit in the street on March 1st 2011 and Wong Tsintsia (41)<ref>A [[Daxia|Daxian]] national living on the streets of [[Gabion]] with an expired holiday visa</ref> who was beaten to death by unknown assailants on March 2nd 2011. Mähler had travelled up and down the [[Gabion Metro]] for several hours before alarm was raised, while in the case of Tsintsia, emergency services were contacted by six different people before an ambulance was dispatched, arriving around 45 minutes after Tsintsia lost conciousness. 

The string of deaths in [[Gabion]] resulted in intense media coverage and public outcry throughout [[Yonderre]]. In response, then-[[Castellan-Steward of Gabion]] Bastian Berger ([[Social Democrats (Yonderre|SD]]) formed a committee to investigate how best to battle these social issues. The committee came to the conclusion that a number of ambulances designated for social work should be trialled in [[Gabion]]. The budget for the sociolance project came directly from the Yonderian state rather than the coffers of the [[County of Vandarcôte]] and command and evaluation of the project came under the [[Ministry of Health (Yonderre)|Yonderian health ministry]]. While the sociolances were initially intended to respond to emergencies, their area of opeartions soon expanded to include preventative measures like welfare checks and loitering patrols in areas known to be frequented by socially vulnerable peoples. 

Following succesful trials of sociolances in [[Gabion]], the service was made permanent and parallel departments raised in several other urban areas of [[Yonderre]] in 2012 beginning with [[Collinebourg]] and [[Toubourg]]. When these departments proved themselves succesful, further sociolances were raised in [[Donnebourg]] and [[Sainte-Catherine]] in 2014 and [[Vandarcholme]] in 2015. Another department operated in [[Willing]] from 2017-2019 when it was shut down due to budget cuts.

==See also==
* [[Ministry of Health (Yonderre)]]
* [[Yonderian public healthcare]]
* [[Custodes Yonderre]]
* [[Crime in Yonderre]]

==Notes==
[[Category:Culture of Yonderre]]
[[Category:Yonderre]]
[[Category:Health]]
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