The Building of the Center for Mental Health Arturo Ameghino, Is Split Into Two
<p style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">It is literal. The audit found that in the Buenos Aires headquarters located at 3100 Avenue Córdoba the land was sinking and the back floor was displaced. When the technicians evaluated the place, there was only one maintenance worker and an artistic molding fell off in the entrance door.</p>
A report by the Auditor General of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) warns that the building of the Center for Mental Health Arturo Ameghino is in "a dangerous situation that requires urgent assessment by a specialist (civil engineer)." So much so that the watchdog explained that there is a sinking of the land and faience in the rear of the Institute, which causes a displacement of the building that is "perfectly noticeable on the terrace." This movement creates a fissure that divides the building into two parts.
The Ameghino Center is located on 3120 Córdoba Avenue and provides psychiatric, psychology, psychological outpatient, and vocational counseling to children, adults, and elderly people consulting spontaneously or are referred by the judiciary or mental health hospitals in the City.
The auditors noted that there was also a shift in the embankment of the Center parking lot which forces the verticality of the containment perimeter wall to be lost. In addition, the vehicular entrance gate detected "another instance of immediate risk of collapse, as one of the pillars supporting the heavy iron gate (was) affected by the impact of a truck."
To make matters worse, during the audit report, which was passed last year, "2 kilo cement artistic molding came off the front and onto the gateway” it could have caused serious injury to any person circulating around.
The Ameghino has three buildings: the main, an annex called "Little School" and the building of the former Center City Health (CESAC) 11.
The main building was opened in 1909 and is considered the most important country for being endowed with cutting-edge construction of the major advances of the time. Therefore, in 2010 it was listed as "precautionary level of protection," a category that is awarded to buildings that are related to an area.
However, the audit report of the Buenos Aires audit concludes that "the building is in very poor condition and in need of corrective and preventive maintenance," adding that at the time of the visit, the Centre had only one maintenance worker.
The audit revealed that the disabled toilet is not only locked but doesn’t have space for wheelchair access, handrails are in poor condition, and the space is used as a deposit. Also, the toilets for staff and patients have no maintenance.
In the annex called "Little School", the AGCBA detected a subsurface "deteriorated" and "instability" in ceilings, walls, floors, stairs, and electrical installation. Although it says that at the time of the audit the sector was being repaired.
In the space of the former CESAC No. 11 it was noted that the board of the electrical connections of the building directly inaccessible, as it is installed in the building next door, where the Carlos Gardel Center is run, an organization dedicated to addictions care. The auditors also reported that the tin roof is broken in two offices and that the main salon product leaks holes in the sheet metal roof.
Finally, the audit relieved 67 of the 88 offices in the Arturo Ameghino Center noting that, according to the Building Code of the City of Buenos Aires, "60% did not meet the minimum length for proper operation, 100% of balanced draft stoves are not installed correctly, 25% don’t have natural lighting and 37% don’t have ventilation.”