2023-10-20 17:43:53
“Imagine a place in zero gravity where you can feel light, without fear and without pain. Imagine if it really existed. Imagine a space emergency room. We don’t just want to imagine it. What about you?”. It is the fantastic journey proposed in the video that launches the new fundraising campaign for the Vittore Buzzi children’s hospital in Milan. Next stop: a large new pediatric emergency room. And the initiative, announced today in the Lombardy capital by the Buzzi Foundation in collaboration with the National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci, was launched ‘into orbit’ by two special ambassadors: the astronauts of ESA (European Space Agency ) Colonel Luca Parmitano and Captain Andrea Patassa.
How important the objective of having an emergency-urgency suitable for children is is highlighted by the numbers and several recent studies. Like the one cited in the ‘Wall Street Journal’ and appeared in the ‘Journal of Pediatrics’, “which revealed an alarming statistic – explains Ida Salvo, advisor of the Buzzi Foundation – Children are 4 times more likely to die when they are treated in emergency help for adults”. The new ‘stellar’ campaign draws inspiration from the imagination of children, from the space journey of imaginary young astronauts who live epic adventures, even in the emergency room and in the operating room. The destination that the promoters of this journey aspire to reach is the setting up of the Nuovo Grande Buzzi, a new emergency pavilion, which will also include a large and modern emergency room. That surpasses the current one, limited in terms of size and resources, highlight the souls of the campaign.
“From a study published in ‘Jama Network Open’, in the United States, from 2012 to 2017, approximately 1,440 children lost their lives due to health facilities lacking adequate staff and technological equipment – continues Salvo – The analysis conducted involved commissions of doctors, researchers, public bodies, doctors and scientific societies, including the American Academy of Pediatrics. These experts have developed a score of 88 points to evaluate the preparedness of emergency rooms and surprisingly, excluding children’s hospitals, only about 14% of adult hospital emergency departments achieved eligibility.”
In Italy, despite the absence of accreditation criteria for pediatric emergency rooms, according to experts the situation is comparable since in addition to regions without such structures, “there are only 11 pediatric hospitals present in the entire national territory”, we read in a note, and from this we can deduce that the majority of Italian children are treated in adult hospitals. “It is unacceptable that pediatric care is not accessible to the majority of children – underlines Stefano Simontacchi, president of the Buzzi Foundation – The project we are launching today has the main objective of doubling access to care for all children, from premature newborns to ‘adolescence”.
“Many other steps forward have been made from the beginning of the Foundation to today – continues Simontacchi – Among the most important goals achieved is the ‘Hospital without rays’ project, with the acquisition of a 3 Tesla resonance and numerous ultrasound machines; the replacement of a large part of the equipment of the old building with more innovative technologies and, currently, the setting up of 9 pediatric intensive care beds which will be transferred to the new building and supplies for some of the new operating rooms”.
Lombard Welfare Councilor Guido Bertolaso was also present at the launch of the campaign which will ‘land’ in various squares of the city with the #absenceofgravity posters: “Today I am extremely happy to find myself here, surrounded by astronauts, because Buzzi is ‘the’ children’s spaceship.’ Our mission is not to lower expectations, but to constantly raise them towards space”, he remarks. “We are committed to ensuring that the new Buzzi becomes the best emergency and urgent pediatric center in Europe.”
“Strengthening the structures that offer care specifically dedicated to boys and girls must be a priority for the regional and national health system to be addressed in a structural way – echoes the Councilor for Welfare and Health of the Municipality of Milan, Lamberto Bertolé – The initiative of the Buzzi children’s hospital is, precisely in this sense, a precious opportunity to support, because it takes a step in the direction of ever greater attention to the right to health which must always be guaranteed even to the citizens little ones”.
An “ambitious project”, admits Maria Grazia Colombo, extraordinary commissioner of the Fatebenefratelli-Sacco Asst, which involves “the setting up and supply of latest generation equipment for the new pediatric emergency room and emergency paediatrics. It is essential that the children and their families can access a large, fully equipped pediatric emergency room, where the specificity of pediatric needs is at the center of care”. The meaning of the campaign is this: to provide ‘fuel’ to set the dream in motion. “The collaboration between the museum and the Buzzi Foundation was born in 2020 when we hosted the presentation of the Foundation, its Honorary Committee and the New Great Buzzi”, recalls Ilaria Castiglioni, director of Human Resources and Legal Affairs of the Leonardo da Vinci Museum .
“We are two entities united by the same values - he observes – both institutions rooted in the Milanese territory, but with a national scope, which pay great attention to initiatives that have young people at their centre. Last but not least, the choice of the Buzzi Foundation to dedicate the its new campaign on space, one of the central themes of our exhibitions and educational activities”. Dreaming big is also the common thread that links the space and the project of the Nuovo and Grande Buzzi hospitals, which aim to be configured as a healthcare excellence – the first X-ray free hospital (without the use of x-rays) in Italy, contemporary, international pediatric hub – for which the Buzzi Foundation is committed with its Honorary Committee. It will contribute with fundraising estimated to reach up to 20 million euros.
LOMBARDY OBJECTIVE: “SPECIALIST FIRST AID FOR CHILDREN” – “Our goal is to create other specialist emergency rooms for children and make Buzzi a point of reference for all of Europe”, says Bertolaso. “Pediatric emergency rooms are absolutely fundamental – he points out – because assisting children in structures that also accommodate adult patients is not good. The pathologies treated are different, just as the psychological approach and assistance provided are different. For this reason, two different structures: one that takes care of adults and one of children. Unfortunately, in Italy there are few hospitals with these characteristics.”
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