Bergamo is currently the epicentre of the epidemic. The situation is devastating in terms of the number of infections, intensive care patients and deaths. The Red Cross is on the front line.
The heartfelt appeals from exhausted healthcare workers urging the people of Bergamo to stop and stay at home are beyond counting. Even the mayor of the Lombard city, Giorgio Gori, is imploring his citizens not to leave their homes, as it is the only way to emerge from this public health emergency as quickly as possible. The influx of patients arriving at Bergamo's hospitals and those in the surrounding province — in particular Papa Giovanni XXIII — is putting the system under enormous strain. In Bergamo alone, the number of intensive care beds has gone from 8 to 80 — the largest intensive care unit in Europe and perhaps the world for patients suffering from coronavirus and severe respiratory difficulties — and every one of those beds is now occupied. To give some sense of the pressure on the hospital, the facility is delivering 10,000 litres of oxygen per minute. The death toll has reached 50 a day; a body is cremated every 30 minutes, there are no more coffins, and there is no longer any possibility of a final farewell, of an embrace.
There is a great deal written about how hospitals are reorganising to face the emergency, but very little is known about how the Red Cross (Cri) operators are coping with the burden — yet, judging by the number of ambulances I can hear from my window, which looks directly onto Bergamo's hospital, there are many, very many, every day.
Through the words of Paola Pesenti Bolognini, delegate for the Development Area of the Italian Red Cross, Bergamo committee, we have tried to take a journey among those on the front line.
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What has changed at the Red Cross during this coronavirus period?
Let's start from one premise: since the Covid-19 emergency began, the headquarters of the Italian Red Cross Bergamo committee has had to "restructure" itself, changing its organisational setup and its routines, focusing above all on sanitising vehicles and keeping the premises clean — more so than would normally be the case.
The Cri headquarters in Bergamo has also become the logistics centre for all the ambulances that have come from outside the area to support us. This means ensuring that external ambulances also have the right conditions in which to operate — that is, sanitising their vehicles and welcoming the operators who arrive from the field after a rescue call. It is essential to maintain cleanliness at every level, both to protect those being transported by ambulance and to protect Red Cross operators. Employees and volunteers are working to ensure that all of this happens under the requisite conditions of safety and hygiene.
By how much has the number of ambulances increased?
If you ask me for figures, I can't give you exact numbers. It's important to bear in mind that there is a day-to-day reality made up of emergency and urgent calls: people falling at home, accidents, strokes, cardiac arrests, workplace injuries. All of that continues, even if since 8 March there has been a sharp reduction — perhaps also because people have understood that an ambulance should be called only in a genuine emergency. And then there is the coronavirus emergency. So if on one hand you have the routine daily assistance and on the other you have the current situation linked to Covid-19, it is clear that you need to increase the number of ambulances.
How is the emergency being managed?
The emergency is being managed in a constant and continuous manner through the regional coordination operated by the Azienda regionale emergenza urgenza (Areu) and the Articolazioni aziendali territoriali (Aat). We are one of many organisations that form part of this system, and in particular we have decided, in agreement with Aat, to become the logistics hub for everyone. We have a process defined by sanitisation procedures so that there is no cross-contamination. All of this was in place before coronavirus too, but today it is carried out with the utmost care, because we are dealing with a virus.
How are staff and volunteers responding?
Employees are working with determination and, in the same way, the volunteers — those who have chosen to stay — have thrown themselves into ensuring that all these emergency situations are logged and that a sense of normality within the emergency is restored. One must not forget that the Red Cross is made up of employees and volunteers, and what they share is a "heart that beats red".
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What is the psychological impact of this situation?
The situation is not straightforward, and volunteers and employees can count on psychological support (Sep), a Red Cross service for Red Cross people. It is a telephone service and, with every discretion, I believe that volunteers and employees are making use of it. It allows them to do a defusing at the end of a call, or if towards the end of the day something surfaces, they have the option of telephone support. It is a case of "the phone saves lives," as an advertisement used to say a long time ago. The other important aspect is that when you are at headquarters, you are at home — these days, for many Red Cross operators, it has become home: the place where you have those human connections you can no longer have with your family, because you have put yourself in self-quarantine away from relatives and friends in order to protect them. When you come here, there is that physical presence — always with the appropriate distances — that you cannot find at home. You nurture one another, you look each other in the eye, and that means a great deal.
Have you experienced problems with the supply of materials?
Yes, we have. At the moment there is enormous demand for ffp2 masks, ffp3 masks, surgical masks, gloves and protective suits. Demand has surged and it is only natural to run short; supplies are rationed for everyone. We are not in ordinary times but in extraordinary ones. Little by little we will reach the quantities we need. Demand was a thousand and the response was what would be normal in ordinary times. It has been a shock for everyone. If until yesterday the ordinary level was 10, today it is 10,000 — in time we will reach a new normality within the extraordinary.
Mayor Gori posted a tweet claiming that people are being left to die at home. Is that true?
We follow the protocols defined by Areu and Aat. Protocols that change day by day or according to the situation. We are the eyes and the arm of the operations centre, acting on what the Region and the healthcare staff determine. We leave no one behind. Today we are doing prevention; we have learned that you go to hospital when you need to. As the Red Cross, we are launching a campaign that highlights the positive side of staying at home — this is our approach. May this be a lesson in practising prevention: community and collective prevention. From here we will start again.
