Free yoga, psychotherapy, art therapy, cooking and reading courses, both face to face and in streaming mode. These are the creative workshops activated as part of the ‘La casa delle donne’ project promoted on the occasion of May 8, World Ovarian Cancer Day by Acto Lombardia, an association that supports Lombard women who have to face a diagnosis of gynecological cancer.
After the success of the first edition of La casa delle donne, Acto Lombardia has decided to renew an appointment that has become so important over time and that in recent months has kept many people company: a real creative laboratory in which confrontation between patients it has become a useful tool for growth and sharing, through free yoga, psychotherapy, art therapy, cooking and reading courses, both face to face and in streaming mode. “We strongly wanted a project that would be able to transmit more trust to women through cooperation and alliance between doctors and patients and that would allow women who are facing the same suffering to find themselves in a protected place and to work as a team”, she says. Alessia Sironi, president of Acto Lombardia who underlines how the motto of the #alleatisivince association is today more relevant than ever.
The great interest of the initiative is shown by the numbers. After a timid start in which, also due to the limitations imposed by the pandemic, no more than 15-20 patients could be involved per event, we have reached more than double the number of women. Our social channels also benefited with a 30% growth in interactions. The attention paid to the issues dealt with also ensured that even a younger target became interested in our initiatives, thus expanding the age range and managing to spread the prevention message widely.
The idea was born in 2020 starting from an accurate assessment of what women need most after a cancer diagnosis but also during and after treatment: “We at Acto Lombardia know well the needs of women because we are all you go through this serious neoplasm, ”explains the vice president Cristina Bignotti. “This is why we know that it is necessary to guarantee 360-degree support: support that goes from nutrition to beauty, up to physical activity and psychological help”.
The project, made possible thanks to the non-conditioning support of Clovis Oncology, was immediately welcomed with enthusiasm by doctors and nurses from the San Gerardo di Monza and A. Manzoni hospitals in Lecco and aims, during the next season, to involve various hospitals located throughout the region. “Even in such a difficult year for everyone, and even more so for cancer patients, the ‘La casa delle donne’ project did not stop and on the contrary it received more than expected adhesions. The message we want to give, by supporting Acto Lombardia, is that we are there to guarantee treatment but also to promote the support of our patients in the round. The initiatives were welcomed with great enthusiasm by us health professionals and by our patients. They want to be an omen for a cautious return to normality ”, he confirms Tiziana Dell’Anna, head of the Oncological Gynecology Unit of the A. Manzoni hospital in Lecco.
“The relationship with Acto Lombardia, that is with patients who have already gone through the experience of treating a tumor pathology, is fundamental for us, because it teaches us that it is not enough to cure the disease, but that the doctor’s task is to take care of the woman in the its entirety ”, he adds Robert Fruscio, Associate Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Milano-Bicocca University.
.