GALLARATE – In the program of the center-left candidate for mayor Margherita Silvestrini (Pd) the issue of health plays a fundamental role. The topic is addressed in an exchange of observations with Michele Bisaccia, family doctor and medical director of the Melo di Gallarate. Several topics covered and ideas for in-depth analysis on the topic of health: go from one hold medicine at an opportunity medicine, the strategic importance of family doctor as a family counselor for health, the sdevelopment of the Health Houses and the synergy between healthcare professionals and a single hospital.
Click here for the video of the dialogue between Silvestrini and Bisaccia
“From a drug of waiting to one of opportunity”
“The old health model is the one that rests on waiting medicine that is activated only when the patient is sick – while initiative medicine is a preventive medicine that aims to intervene on the needs of our patients – intervening earlier, in order to prevent them from getting sick », explains Bisaccia. He adds: «Precisely because it deals with preventive medicine it is clear that the focus of this medicine is territorial medicine and cannot be the hospital: it will always be entrusted with the task of waiting medicine because the hospital will never be able to take preventive action against the citizens but will always take care of the sick. But if the action we want to take is to reduce and prevent the number of chronically ill patients who at this moment represent the real problem and cost of our health care, the only possibility of intervention is an enhancement of territorial medicine: the protagonist of this change must be the family doctor “.
The “protagonist” family doctor
Saddlebag focused on family doctor, who must be the protagonist of this change. Yes, because it is «a kind of family consultant on health: it is clear that in the perspective of a development of territorial medicine one can think of development of health facilities such as the Health Homes. They have already been conceived and implemented in other Regions, where the presence of the family doctor is of primary importance and will be able to operate inside or outside them, coordinating – in the same way – all the professional figures that gravitate around territorial medicine: the community nurse, the physiotherapist, the social workers ». It’s still: “Greater aggregation and coordination between the various professional figures is essential to offer the best service to the citizen ».
The theme of community medicine
In the Silvestrini program on health there is also the theme of “Community medicine for proximity services to citizens”, Where the commitment is aimed at the possibility of taking care of oneself and others, supporting one proximity medicine to citizens, in homes and neighborhoods, with prevention and health protection services in living places e favoring the regulated experimentation of the Neighborhood Nurse, of structured interventions at home, of clinics available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, community service, secretariats and remote help desks for guidance in the management of health problems, even important, but not urgent.
The single hospital
Bisaccia also intervenes on the theme of the single hospital. “It is clear that it could be an excellent healthcare facility is desirable in the future and that this structure can respond at the same time to the needs of two municipalities ». He continues: «The problem is that this step should be taken only after having strengthened territorial medicine because if we focus exclusively on a hospital structure we will always go towards a waiting medicine, a type of medicine that is now old and that cannot respond in any way to the preventive moment ». Not only: “The synergy between the professional figures is of fundamental importance: unfortunately the feeling I have at the moment is that today buildings are given more importance than the people who occupy those same buildings. So I believe that the problem is not to find a new structure where to place the hospital, but to organize who works within the hospital itself».
The organization for the Health Homes
Similar the reasoning for the Health Homes: «The determining factor before thinking about the structure is that of organize who will go to work inside such as family doctors, community nurses and others. Without going to distort the role – which remains central and of great help – of family doctor it is essential to interpret him more and more as a family consultant for health protection. My colleagues and I have lived and experienced it – especially in this pandemic period – where news comes from all areas and often generates a lot of confusion. In fact, I believe that our role has always been to bring clarity and make suggestions. More than offering information, of which we are submerged today, we must offer solutions ».
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