L'Italo-Americano

GIOVEDÌ 30 APRILE 2020 www.italoamericano.org 34 L'Italo-Americano ITALIAN SECTION | health and our survival, is r e s p e c t e d . A t t h e e n d o f M a r c h , t h e y a r e i n Campania and Sicily, where s o c i a l u n r e s t c a u s e d b y restrictions is registered: they even station in front of s u p e r m a r k e t s , t o a v o i d thefts and robberies. These reactions hurt all those fighting on the frontli- n e : t h e y f e e l l i k e t r e a s o n w h e n , i n t h e m e a n w h i l e , Italy cries bitter tears wat- ching military convoys para- d e t h r o u g h t h e s t r e e t s o f Bergamo: not backup, but the Covid-19 dead, carried to neighboring regions to be cremated. There were too many infected bodies to be taken care of in the local cemetery. S h o c k i n g i m a g e s t h a t portray the sense of tragedy in a suspended time where there are no funerals and pain is made even larger, j u s t l i k e P r e s i d e n t Mattarella said, by not being able to be near our loved one neither in hospital, nor w h e n i t ' s t i m e t o s a y g o o d b y e . A n " e n o r m o u s " pain also when it comes to i t s n u m b e r s , w i t h I t a l y m o u r n i n g , a t t h e e n d o f A p r i l , o n e t h i r d o f t h e w o r l d ' s v i c t i m . A r o u n d E a s t e r , L o m b a r d i a a l o n e counts over 73.000 of the 2 0 0 . 0 0 0 r e c o r d e d i n f e c - t i o n s , a n d n e i g h b o r i n g regions of Emilia Romagna, Piemonte and Veneto reach 141.000 positives. B u t o u r A r m e d F o r c e s fight also on the back lines. T h e A r m y ' s G e n i o Ferrovieri regiment gua- r a n t e e s g o o d s c a n t r a v e l safely on rail. The Military P h a r m a c e u t i c a l a n d C h e m i c a l P l a n t o f F l o r e n c e p r o d u c e s d a i l y 1000 liters of disinfectants and hard-to-find bacterici- des. In the Bologna area, s p e c i a l i s t s f r o m t h e A z i e n d a I n d u s t r i e Difesa share their expertise with Valsimoggia's Siare Engineering, a world lea- ding biomedical company that, aware of bringing upon itself heavy losses, decided n e v e r t h e l e s s t o s t o p a l l exports and produce solely f o r I t a l y : i n a h a n d f u l o f days, the production capa- city for pulmonary ventila- tors, essential technology in t h e I C U s a n d s u b - I C U s wards in the whole country, is multiplied. Even when, at the end of April, things begin to impro- ve, commitment is strong: t h e I t a l i a n A i r F o r c e ' s R e p a r t o S p e r i m e n t a l e d i Volo concludes its work on mask-and-snorkel sets, tran- sforming them in protective gear to be used in hospitals, and donates a first batch to the Policlinico Casilino in Rome on the 17th of April. On the 21st, the La Spezia's Arsenale and the Centro di Supporto e Sperimentazione Navale join the effort, too. The Comando Operativo d i V e r t i c e I n t e r f o r z e , i n charge of coordinating all of our Armed Forces, creates a Covid-19 Operational Room that works 24/7. The logistic e f f o r t i s i m m e n s e : m o r e than 800 vehicles, ambulan- ces, an helicopter fleet with negative pressure stretchers located in Rimini; 5 helicop- ters with health teams for bio-contained patients at the military airports of Cervia, Viterbo and Catania; 69 air missions with 220 tons of material handled as of the 21st of April; everywhere, the sanitization of streets, vehicles and infrastructures is carried out, along with the decontamination of residen- ces for the elderly, the most f r a g i l e a n d a t r i s k o f a l l h e a l t h s t r u c t u r e s i n t h e country. T h e n u m b e r o f b e d s equipped for patients who do not require intensive care q u i c k l y e x c e e d e d 6 . 8 0 0 . About 200 military doctors a n d n u r s e s w o r k i n t h e hospitals of Lodi, Alzano, Bergamo, which are among the most affected and under p r e s s u r e , t o g e t h e r w i t h Castelnuovo Bocca d'Adda, S o m a g l i a , C o d o g n o a n d Casalpusterlengo. But they also bring their support in Parma, Macerata, Milan and Novara. The facilities of the military hospital in Milan, the Military Olympic Sports Center, the military hospital of the Celio and the field hospitals of Piacenza and Crema are made available, set up in just 72 hours by the Army and equipped with all the satellite and IT technolo- gies necessary to manage sensitive patient data very quickly. Operativity, chain of com- mand, but also training, pre- paration and spirit of sacrifi- ce for the country make the d i f f e r e n c e . I n t e r n a t i o n a l emergency simulation trai- ning, carried out in coopera- tion with foreign countries was fundamental, also when it came to coordinate and liaise with Chinese, Cuban, Russian and Albanian doc- tors, among the first to arri- ve to help Italian colleagues. The same goes for missions abroad: the logistics used in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon or Kosovo are used to set up, for the first time at home, 12 city hubs with land and air vehicles. Active service experience also makes a difference. In B e r g a m o , t h e Associazione Nazionale degli Alpini (ANA) pro- ved it when, in ten days, it equipped a field ER with 140 intensive and sub-intensive c a r e u n i t s , r e s u s c i t a t i o n units, a radiological unit, fixed and mobile CT scan- ners, oxygenation system, and decontamination room which will work for at least 6 months. "We are aiming for a 98% reduction of infection r i s k — e x p l a i n s S e r g i o Rizzini, director general of t h e A l p i n i H e a l t h c a r e — because the teams of doctors and nurses are a finite force: w e m u s t p r e s e r v e i t . " Traditional hospitals, over- crowded and not equipped, have shown that they cannot guarantee this: healthcare workers are more than 10% of the positives to Covid-19 and, among them, there are already more than 150 vic- t i m s , h a l f b e i n g f a m i l y doctors. Proximity also counts a lot: Carabinieri bring to the elderly unable to leave the house their pension and deliver Easter gifts to hospi- talized children to restore m o m e n t s o f n o r m a l c y . A coat or uniform makes no difference when it comes to the spirit of service. "We are always commit- ted, with all our energies, to provide concrete answers every day to an emergency that has unfortunately affec- ted the habits and lifestyles o f a n e n t i r e n a t i o n . I a m deeply proud — said Chief of D e f e n s e S t a f f , G e n e r a l E n z o V e c c i a r e l l i — o f what the men and women of our Army, Navy, Air Force and Carabinieri have been giving on the field: we've never been so close to the primary needs of the coun- try's people." #UnaForzaperilPaese says their hashtag. There is a w a r t o b e f o u g h t a n d a n effective system, capable of counterattacking, is neces- sary. Our Armed Forces are doing it with professionali- sm, but also with a lot of heart. LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE Continued from page 32 Italian soldiers controling movements in the streets during the Covid-19 pandemic (Photo courtesy of the Stato Maggiore della Difesa)

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