In the last two years, patient associations have made a great contribution to coping with the Covid emergency, providing answers and support to patients and caregivers. An experience gained in the field – which the pandemic has brought out even more strongly – which must be enhanced now that the health system will be redesigned with the implementation of the National Restart and Resilience Plan (Pnrr). To do this, however, it is necessary to change the perspective and put people at the center. “Reading the documents developed by the institutions, the importance given to infrastructures, whether digital or physical, such as health homes or community hospitals, and the little space given instead to investments in human capital, skills , training ”, underlined Angelo Moretti, of the Alliance for a new Welfare, during the webinar ‘Pnrr, health reform: as a space for the Third sector and associations’ hosted on the Vita Facebook page and created in collaboration with the Roche Foundation. “For us, the first infrastructure to invest in are those people who know how to establish a relationship of care with patients. Because the personalized care project is not the form that the taking in charge must take but the content “.
To support people who are concretely committed to helping patients and their caregivers in the experience of illness is the ‘Roche Foundation for patients – Beside those who take care’, a call for proposals dedicated to patient associations, foundations and partnerships committed to providing services and activities dedicated to people who face or have faced a treatment path. An impressive financial support – 500 thousand euros – which was made available in 2021 and which is reconfirmed in 2022, as announced during the webinar Francesco Frattini, secretary general of the Foundation. Last year’s edition was won by 22 patient associations who proposed projects in the areas of onco-hematology, rare diseases and neuroscience and ophthalmology.
“We are proud and proud to be able to support the 22 patient associations in the realization of projects that will concretely support patients and caregivers – comments Mariapia Garavaglia, president of the Roche Foundation. Today more than ever it is necessary to invest in the care aspect, and the Health System must guarantee equity of access to care, but above all bring it closer to the patient, as demonstrated by the many winning projects that are based on the implementation of digital services – online platforms that bring in contact with patients and clinicians, multimedia contents such as videos and podcasts to inform at a distance, tools that provide for remote monitoring – able to facilitate the treatment process and simplify, thanks to technology, the management of many pathologies. With the aim of providing responsible support to those who operate in the system and making the system sustainable, with this 4th edition of the “Roche Foundation for patients” call for proposals, we intend to confirm our commitment to guaranteeing, promoting and protecting health and health care, without forgetting the most fragile “.
The selection and evaluation of the projects was followed by VITA Impresa Sociale, as an external partner. “Working on the Call has shown us once again, if anything were needed, the enormous needs, but also the enormous opportunities, which the world of non-profit organizations must face. It is not a question – explains Giuseppe Ambrosio, CEO of VITA – only of assisting the most fragile people and their families, it is very often a question of contributing to innovation in health and social services, a fundamental role that our Third sector finds itself to perform without any institutional delegation, starting from the observation in the field of what works and what could be improved, and how to do it. VITA, in addition to thanking the patient associations awarded by the 2021 Call for the enormous work done, is certain that the collaboration relationship undertaken with the Roche Foundation will bring, also for 2022, a very positive social impact for our communities “.
The 2022 Call will be released on May 16 and will be visible on the Roche Foundation website.