UDINE. About seventy hires, recruiting courses and an expansion of activities. Thus the Udine Red Cross committee has equipped itself to cope with the needs highlighted by the pandemic, both in the health and social fields.
The operational structure counts on 1,165 volunteers (26 belonging to the military corps and 28 to volunteer nurses) and 194 employees “of which 68 – informs the president Cristina Ceruti – have been integrated for activities related to Covid services and are subject to the progress of the pandemic through fixed-term contracts or occasional services “. The activity carried out by the 13 territorial units is articulated, from Udine to Cercivento, Premariacco, Codroipo, Gemona, Latisana, Ovaro, Paularo, San Daniele, San Giovanni al Natisone, Tarcento, Tarvisio and Tolmezzo.
Healthcare activity
In 2020, the usual activities were joined by new services, from the transport of coronavirus positive patients to body temperature measurements. The services managed under the agreement went from 15,609 in the first half of 2019, to 14,333 in the same period of 2020, to 23,044 in 2021. As for the territorial emergency 112, two ambulance stations, with vehicles, operate 24 hours a day in Tarcento and Codroipo . In San Daniele, Ampezzo, Paluzza, Chiusaforte, Gemona and Rigolato the daily service is 12 hours. The collaboration with the Udine Regional Transplant Center is constant, for which the Committee manages the transport with four means: 250 the “life-saving missions” carried out in 2020, 76 in 2021.
The investigation
The Udine Committee collaborated in the seroprevalence survey, promoted by the Ministry of Health and Istat, to find out the number of people who have developed antibodies to the coronavirus. The trained volunteers contacted 3,000 people, setting appointments for blood sampling in the laboratories (397) or at home (153) and filling out the questionnaires. As many as 778 test tubes transported by CRI operators to the Regional Center.
Activities in the hospital
The pre-triage filtering service set up in the emergency rooms of Latisana, San Daniele and Tolmezzo engaged the volunteers to guarantee access to the facilities, measuring the body temperature and verifying any symptoms of positivity to Covid users through 517 services. Since March 2020, the association has also guaranteed screening within many companies.
Vaccinations
The Udine and Palmanova Committees took charge of the entire vaccination chain with a capacity of 800 administrations per day. The CRI is also operational at the Dacia Arena hub where the plan for administering vaccines to workers was prepared thanks to the protocol drawn up by Confindustria.
Food distribution
Among the emergencies created by the pandemic, the economic one has translated into new poverty: in 2020, the Committee’s core of socio-welfare activities assisted 2,500 users for a total of 1,100 families who received 20,000 food grants. In the Udine site alone, the volunteers support 188 families, 528 indigent continuous, 195 indigent occasional, in a year 12,867 shopping packages were distributed.
Drug delivery and shopping
“The activities that are part of the” Time of Kindness “project see volunteers at the forefront to guarantee elderly people, immunosuppressed or in difficulty, targeted help for the delivery of drugs, home shopping and the supply of basic items necessity – informs the president -. Our Committee also intervened in support of the population, especially in a period that led to destabilization from both the psychological and economic sides, creating an increase in the present critical issues and generating new poverty ». Throughout the emergency period, the Cri volunteers delivered medicines at home on the basis of an agreement signed with Federfarma.
Masks production
The lack of masks has also become a field of activity for the CRI, which has organized a production workshop in the premises of the Udine Committee and in some peripheral offices, creating 23,976 non-woven and 7,200 cotton masks.
Street drive
The evening assistance to homeless people did not stop. The street unit patrolled the streets for three days a week plus holidays, distributing food, hot drinks, clothing and blankets with an average of 15 contacts per shift in the winter and a dozen in the summer.
Showers service
At the former Friuli barracks, the showers and laundry service managed by a group of volunteers was activated in April 2020: in one year, 164 people used the showers and 194 of the laundry.
Emergency activities
Numerous interventions coordinated by the Committee’s Emergency Area, at the request of the Prefecture, the Cri Regional Committee, the Court and AsuFc, which involved 545 operators and 33,657 hours of service with triage in tents at the former Cavarzerani barracks, the hot spot of Castellerio, via Pastrengo and Cavarzerani in Udine, the default structures of Pasian di Prato and Tricesimo, as well as screening of access to the court and other services.
Recruiting courses
The pandemic has reduced recruitment activity: in 2020 three courses were activated that allowed access to only 109 new volunteers. “We start again with renewed vigor this year – announces the president – and numerous training cycles”.
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