He has a degree in medicine and surgery and specializes in otolaryngology and in hygiene and preventive medicine with a technical hospital address. Giuseppe Russo (in the photo) is the medical director of the Antonio Cardarelli Hospital. He is a freelance journalist. «I was born in Naples but I have always lived in Volla, where I attended elementary and middle school. I did high school instead in Pomigliano d’Arco, at Garibaldi, a detached seat of the Neapolitan classical high school of the same name. Like all kids of my age I played football, but following the tennis tournaments on television I became passionate and wanted to learn that sport too. Dad bought me a racket and, clumsily, I started dribbling. Later I attended a beginners course and gradually I was finally able to play a game. I also practiced this discipline as an adult, but a few years ago I had to stop because my work commitments did not leave me any more space ».
Fhumanistic education but enrollment in the faculty of medicine. Why this decision?
«The first choice was literature and philosophy but after a long reflection I made a practical reasoning. The teaching was, in my opinion, not sufficiently paid. Medicine was difficult, the degree course was long, but it guaranteed the achievement of a respectable economic position. Despite having no doctors in my family who could advise me, I made this courageous and daring decision which then turned out to be a winner. I enrolled at the Polyclinic in Piazza Miraglia rather than the second faculty at the Vomero alto, because from the central station it was easier for me to reach the institutes ».
How was your university career?
«In the first two years I encountered some difficulties because purely scientific subjects were studied such as physics, biochemistry, chemistry. Then the clinics started and everything began to go well ». After the fourth year, the first important decision is which direction to take. Which one did you choose? “I was oriented towards gynecology, but the ward was in great demand because there were many students who thought like me. A colleague with whom I was very close suggested that I pay attention to the otolaryngology of which Professor Costa was director. I followed his advice and at the same time I also applied for cardiology in order to be able to combine a surgical branch, such as otolaryngology, with a medical specialty. I wanted to create an alternative if I realized that I was not prepared for the operating room. However, things went the right way and after graduation I enrolled in graduate school to become an otolaryngologist ».
Where did you go to school?
“At the Jesus and Mary hospital, which specializes in infectious and tropical diseases. For reasons of space, it also housed the otolaryngology school chaired by the aforementioned professor Federico Costa, director and full professor. Professor Adriano Mazzone was associated with him. With their teachings I learned how to practice medicine and surgery. The operating room was without trauma and I spent whole days with my two mentors so much so that we became friends and we still maintain a relationship of esteem and friendship with Mazzone. My debut as the first operator made me do an anesthesiologist. It was an adenoid surgery. Professor Costa’s warning is imprinted in my mind: “remember that every patient you see is as if it were the first time, so pay attention” ».
Why didn’t he continue his university career?
«I was the son of workers who later became state employees and I felt the need to feel autonomous and create a quick and concrete path in life. In the clinic there were many colleagues who were jostling to make room. That wasn’t my lifestyle. At the time there were competitions for the medical area, the surgical area and for the prevention and health management area. I made a competition to Cardarelli, at the time Usl 40 together with the Santobono, for the organization and hygiene of hospital services. It was late ’93 early ’94 and at that time there was still no need for the specialty. There were 3 places, I was eligible but not the winner. After a short time following the scrolling of the ranking I was hired. Since the first love is never forgotten, I also started a private otolaryngology practice in my town of residence to the good satisfaction of the patients. But it didn’t last long because my work commitments at Cardarelli absorbed me full time. After a few years I enrolled in the specialization school of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine with a technical hospital address. I became a hygienist which is the specialty to do the medical supervision of the garrison ».
How much time did you stay in Cardarelli’s health management?
“About three years. When the ASL were established I chose to go to Napoli 1, to the “court” of the general manager Costantino Mazzeo. The company’s medical director was Angelo Montemarano and the administrative director Lello Ateniese. I was a first level medical director and was assigned to the health management of Ascalesi. After some time the professor Montemarano called me and asked me if I felt like taking on the responsibility of the “acting” medical director of the Annunziata hospital. It was an important and demanding experience, I accepted and enrolled in various courses to deepen the logic that underlies the activity of a manager. I will never forget the teaching that my Cardarelli medical director, Franco Bottino, gave me. Today he is retired but we have remained on excellent terms. He was used to going to the hospital early in the morning and I always preceded him by a few minutes. One day he called me and asked me to make photocopies for him. I looked at him a little resentful and offended in my dignity as a medical manager. He was looking at the mail but noticed it. He looked up at me, took off his glasses and said: “Vuje vulite lose time or make a career? In my life I have done everything myself. If the usher sees you making photocopies he will never be able to disobey you because otherwise you would take the sheets and make the photocopies for him ”. He gave me a great life lesson that I always keep in mind because we are all necessary but no one is irreplaceable ».
After the Annunciation they told her to go to San Giovanni Bosco. How did he take it?
«I literally melted like snow in the sun because it was a very difficult hospital to manage, with a first aid emergency typical of“ frontier ”areas. I accepted on condition that I was supported by an efficient strategic management ready to support me at any time. It was so because whenever significant problems arose the company was always by my side. It was a very strong and fundamental experience in my professional training ». Can we talk about a turning point in his career development? “I’m sure of it because in those three and a half years I learned in the field to deal with problems of all kinds by resorting not to the authority that came to me from the position held but to the authority that I gained day after day with the exercise of mediation, of common sense, with the use of calm tones and without ever losing patience. The post after the CTO, which lasted five years, I defined as “noble”: different interlocutors in form and substance for culture, education and for the awareness that the ultimate goal is to protect the health of the sick. In the meantime I had won the competition as medical director and the CTO baptized me as one of the youngest in Southern Italy ».
After the Cto another difficult hospital, the Vecchio Pellegrini.
“Basically it’s the hospital in the Spanish Quarters. I went there for reasons of rotation among the management staff and they gave me the “chocolate” because a joint venture was made with the hospital of Capri. That was also a bitter morsel because the mayors of Capri and Anacapri were in constant agitation as they asked for a strengthening of the staff and the hospital. Also in this case, I armed myself with a spirit of service, and I was able to mediate situations that were not easy. I also invented an alternation between the doctors of Capri and those of the Pignasecca hospital. The Capri experience lasted less than a year, the right time to create sincere and disinterested friendships with many islanders ». His career as a medical director had a parenthesis when the Asl Napoli 1 was commissioned. Because? «Commissioner Achille Coppola, at the time president of the Order of Chartered Accountants, told me that he needed help in coordinating the ASL inspection services in the area for both hospitals and accredited clinics. I accepted the position of coordinator that I completed after a year and a half, when, in 2012, Maurizio D’Amora was appointed general manager of ASL Napoli 3. He wanted me by his side and I went back to being a medical director. My expertise encompassed all the health facilities of 57 seaside, hill and mountain municipalities, including veterinary offices, with about one million inhabitants. A complex and varied experience that lasted three years and that introduced me to realities, uses, customs, traditions and ways of thinking that are different from each other, some even opposed ».
He returned to ASL Napoli 1 with the general manager Elia Abbondante. Assignment to Ascalesi to put him back on track and then his fundamental experience, again at Pellegrini, to restructure the emergency room.
«The President of the Region Vincenzo De Luca strongly wanted the restoration of first aid activities after appropriate and necessary restructuring to bring the hospital of Pignasecca back into the emergency production cycle. We succeeded and this excellent result was prodromal for the “sos” of Mario Forlenza, the new general manager of ASL Napoli 1, in aid of Loreto Mare. To him was added De Luca: still a “I obey” for the spirit of service. But the final bang came when I was asked to help open the Ospedale del Mare. The period was also difficult because it was necessary to work hard and build the paths and procedures to activate the PS and the full operation of the Operational Units. Thanks also to the support of Professor Coscioni, Health Councilor of the President of the Region and of the engineer Ciro Verdoliva for the technical part, we succeeded in this enterprise, the hospital was opened with 250 beds, all the medical and surgical specialties provided for a first level Goddess including first aid ». On 9 August 2019 Giuseppe Longo is appointed general manager of Cardarelli and she returns “home”. «We had taken a management course together and we immediately got in tune. The day after the appointment he called me and told me he would like to have me with him as medical director. Despite the scorching heat, a shiver of cold went through my back: after 28 years I was returning to Cardarelli, where I had started, as medical director. My dream had come true ».
As medical director he has been involved from the beginning in the “management” of the Covid-19 pandemic. What has changed inside her?
«The conviction that human beings, whatever the role they occupy in society, must be able to work as a team and play their part with humility and professionalism has strengthened. Individualism leads nowhere and we must always stay with our feet firmly anchored to the ground ».
How much time do you have left for the family?
«Not much, but the quality is excellent. I’ve known my wife Annamaria since we were kids. 35 years have passed, we are always in tune and in love. He has always given me strength, support and encouragement. Without her I would not have reached the point where I am at a relatively young age and with so much energy still to be made available to make my modest contribution to ever better health. But he gave me the greatest gift by giving me three wonderful children of whom I am proud: Annalisa, Vincenzo and Lorenzo. I believe I am a good example for them as a man, husband and father ».