“Those who frequent waiting rooms in clinics and hospitals know what we are talking about. It is life time, not wasted time. And sometimes a book, something to share with others, can help“. These are the words of one of the patients of the Oncology Unit of Irccs Maugeri Pavia, one of the promoters of the library of over 350 volumes available to those who wait and to those who do therapy, inaugurated right in the waiting room for chemotherapy.
The input came from the patients, as well as the hospital support organization that made itself available: “The waiting room had been remodeled a few months ago – explains Giuseppe Laganga, director of IRCCS Pavia – we tried to make it more welcoming and brighter and this library is part of that path of humanization and improvement of the perceived quality of care which is one of the objectives that the Institute has set itself in the last period. And as always in this process, the role of patients and associations that help us in what must be considered in all respects part of the treatment is fundamental “.
Sixty people a day pass by this oncology waiting room, which includes the unit directed by Antonio Bernardo and the translational unit directed by Deborah Locati, which manage the complex Mac-outpatient macroactivity with visits and therapies for about 500 patients. And just one of them, a very active figure in associations in Pavia, conversing with other people like her who refer to the clinic, thought that the possibility of reading while waiting, perhaps commenting on the same book, would be a way to make the experience is more enjoyable. Immediately after finding the feedback from the Institute and the primary, associations, organizations and libraries were involved, not only in Pavia, collecting over 350 volumes, from fiction, to comics, to fairy tales in a few days.
The realities involved in the project are Antigone Pavia, University Library, Abbracci d’amore Association (in collaboration with Corriere della Sera and Sellerio Publishing House), Omero Association and Free Library of the Scala-Mirabello district, as well as many citizens who have personally joined, also leaving personal dedications at the beginning of the books as a sign of closeness.
“When the promoter called us – he says Simone Caiello of the Omero Association – we activated immediately, because it is part of our DNA. Homer was born in memory of a person suffering from cancer and who unfortunately did not make it. But from a dramatic event we wanted to find something positive and this bookshop is an initiative that represents us. We are happy to have participated, the cure also passes from these little things“.
The volumes have been placed in a large library, in the waiting area of the clinic, which is located on the ground floor of the Pavia Institute, and will be self-managed by the patients themselves, however called to observe some indications collected in a specific regulation. “In the waiting times that inevitably exist, this initiative fits in very well – he comments Antonio Bernardo Head of Oncology Division Irccs Maugeri – It is also a way for the patient to escape, is a period of life used in an optimal way. We are trying to give importance to aspects that were once considered secondary, from diet to sports, from rehabilitation to psychological support which are activities that improve the quality of life of our patients that cannot be just thinking about the disease, doing the chemotherapy and go home “.