by Chiara Bidoli
Since December, there have been health workers from the Navy, Army, Air Force and volunteer doctors from the Francesca Rava Foundation on Vulcano with the aim of
to stabilize the most serious patients and then transfer them to more advanced hospitals
There is a “floating” hospital that offers care and protection to those who have seen and experienced the consequences of a conflict that does not spare children and women. This is the Italian ship Vulcano moored in the Egyptian port of Al Arish, 20 km from Rafah, which thanks to the doctors of the Navy, the Italian Army and the Air Force, the Francesca Rava Foundation and some healthcare professionals from Qatar, is providing aid to the wounded civilians coming from Gaza. The Vulcano mission is part of a series of aid that the Italian Government, in agreement with the main partners in the region and in agreement with Israel, has activated to support the population. Among the other initiatives planned there is also the reception in Italy of around one hundred Palestinian children suffering from serious complications who, accompanied by their families, will receive healthcare at some excellent hospital facilities in our country.
The witness
«Seeing terrified children arrive on the ship, both due to wounds and fear, severely malnourished, who have lived under the incessant noise of bombs is an experience that leaves its mark on you, even if you are an emergency doctor», says Enrico Ferrazzi former head of the Mangiagalli Clinic – Milan Polyclinic, among the first doctors of the Francesca Rava Foundation to provide aid on the Vulcano.
«The children arrive on the ship like zombies, petrified by wounds and fear, especially because they see themselves surrounded by soldiers again but then, as soon as they feel safe, despite the physical suffering, they smile again – continues Ferrazzi -. With them, more than with adults, non-verbal communication is very important: they understand the meaning of our gestures, they are comforted by small attentions and they give us lessons in resilience. I still have in my eyes the image of a 12-year-old girl who arrived on the ship in a very serious condition, with lacerations on her abdomen caused by shrapnel from a bomb. When she came out of her critical condition and was able to get up and start walking again, we took her to the deck of the ship and at the mere sight of the sea, the same sea that she had seen who knows how many times, her empty gaze was filled again of life and hope. After 23 years as a clinic director I have met many patients but I am sure I will never forget those eyes.”
The “field hospital” ship
The Vulcano ship is not a hospital ship, it has hospital capacities that were upgraded and reconditioned, within 24 hours, also to treat women and minors. «Thanks to the “Role 2” structure (editor’s note of the NATO welfare standards) we have created a real “field hospital” on the ship with surgical, intensive and sub-intensive care functions, operating rooms, analysis laboratory, pharmacy, diagnostics, radiology and telemedicine, ordinary and intensive hospitalization places, making use of medical personnel recruited from the three armed forces (Navy, Army and Air Force) in addition to volunteers from the Francesca Rava Foundation (for the obstetric-gynecological, pediatric and of plastic surgery) and the nurses of the Red Cross – explains Lt. Col. Valerio Stroppa, Army orthopedist working at the Celio (ed. the Army Military Polyclinic in Rome) -. What we offer is both basic support with the provision of medicines to the population, and specialist and ultra-specialist activities thanks to the presence of different skills: surgeons, orthopedists, anesthetists, gynecologists, paediatricians, nurses”.
The patients arriving on the ship are selected by the shore medical staff according to urgency criteria and, if necessary, once stabilized, they are then transferred from the Vulcano to advanced level hospital facilities.
Curing on a ship
«The most disparate cases arrive on board: from the pregnant woman, to the riddled one, to the paralyzed one who we operated on, restoring her upper limbs to function, and then lacerated and mutilated children – continues Stroppa -. At the basis of every treatment, as Hippocrates said, there is the trust that even in such a complex context it is the first step of treatment and means first of all linguistic and cultural mediation”. Professionalism, ability to resolve critical issues and a strong motivation to help anyone in need have quickly made the group cohesive and effective. «On board we found ourselves with personnel who, for the most part, did not know each other, in a structure that had never been tested but, thanks to the tested military structures and team work, not only of the healthcare personnel but of the entire crew on board (approx. 200 people), we are able to supply any type of need and also carry out ultra-specialist surgical interventions, such as the surgical transplant of a nerve”, says Stroppa. «Between reading things
and seeing them, experiencing them, the difference is terribly different. Behind the numbers there are people, with their stories. The impact on the human level is very strong. In a world like the healthcare world full of rules and protocols, we sometimes forget what it means to be a doctor. In this context I appreciated it to the fullest. I realized the value that simple human gestures, within a treatment process, make the difference. For me it was the reconfirmation of having made the right life choice”, concludes Ferrazzi.
The interpreters
Breaking down linguistic and cultural barriers between the population and the healthcare team is the first step in starting treatment. «Patients need to bring out the enormous pain they carry inside and this also has a therapeutic function. Without the support of our cultural mediators, the doctors’ work would not be possible”, says Vincenzo Attanasio, Lieutenant of the Cavour aircraft carrier. «My task is to mediate the suffering of every single individual and make them as accessible as possible to doctors, starting from that relationship of empathy and trust that I create with the patient – says Nadia Trabelsi, Arabic interpreter for the Navy -. Sometimes small gestures are enough, such as offering tea or a date which, for Palestinian women, is not a simple fruit but something linked to faith, traditions, memories, useful in triggering trust.”
Military welfare levels
They are divided into ROLE 1, ROLE 2, ROLE 3, ROLE 4, which represent four different levels of assistance according to the standards defined by NATO. «Role 1 is the basic level, with devices that are deployed close to the line of operation and offer advanced dressing points with the presence of 1 doctor and 1 nurse, with the aim of direct stabilization of the patient – he explains Stroppa —. Role 2 is a higher level, with field hospital structures and is made up of a medical structure that includes: 2 anesthetists, 1 orthopaedist, 2 surgeons, 1 emergency doctor and a series of nurses and professional figures who allow the use the laboratories, the radiology facility, the 2 operating rooms. Role 2 allows the provision of both ordinary hospitalization and surgical services, with the aim of stabilizing the patient and being able to transfer them to higher levels of care. Role 3 is, in fact, a Role 2 with greater, ultra-specialist capabilities such as neurosurgery or ophthalmology, which are not present in Role 2 which is more emergency. And then there is Role 4, which in Italy is the Celio, the military hospital in Rome, which welcomes the wounded for definitive treatment, with advanced levels of assistance. The Vulcano ship, in this case, offered the logistics to be able to work to which the Role 2 structure was applied, a structure in support of the civilian population already tested (for example in Libya and Afghanistan) and established, and therefore extremely effective. To this basic structure others can be added that can assist depending on the situations. In this mission, the Francesca Rava Foundation provided expertise in the gynecological, obstetric and pediatric fields, while Qatar provided three specialist doctors.”
Corriere della Sera is also on Whatsapp. It’s enough click here to subscribe to the channel and always be updated.
January 28, 2024 (modified January 28, 2024 | 09:04)
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED