During the press conference, the projects of Triacorda and ASL Lecce dedicated to small patients being treated at the Vito Fazzi in Lecce were also illustrated
The Anesthesia and Resuscitation department of the “Vito Fazzi” hospital in Lecce has been strengthened with the activation of two new Pediatric Intensive Care (TIP) boxes, for children and young people who require intensive care and resuscitation treatment. The hospital unit is located on the first floor of the Dea del Vito Fazzi in Lecce. The announcement was made today during a press conference.
This is news of great importance for Tria Corda, the association that – together with the SOLOXLORO social network – has been fighting for the creation of the Salento pediatric center for 13 years, and for the future of pediatrics in the provincial territory which from today appears rosier. The department welcomes pediatric children who present organ dysfunction and require intensive care. A result obtained thanks to significant teamwork between Tria Corda, the doctors, the nurses, the Mother and Child Department and the General Management of the Lecce Local Health Authority.
“It’s always a good opportunity – declared the General Director of ASL Lecce, Stefano Rossi – the one in which to thank the associations for everything they do, Triacorda in particular, always close to the topic of good care for our little patients. Today, a further step in that process of taking charge concerns two beds in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit which were already functioning but which today, thanks also to the help of Triacorda, will be able to function continuously to improve the process of taking charge of small patients” .
Great satisfaction was expressed by the president of Tria Corda, Antonio Aguglia: “It is an awaited and necessary achievement for many families who until now have been forced to seek treatment elsewhere, facing journeys of hope full of difficulties. These two places represent an essential step forward, but they are also a light that illuminates the shortcomings of our pediatric healthcare system.”
The numbers “certify” the importance of this result. From January 2024 to today, approximately 51 children have been hospitalized in intensive care with various pathologies: neurological, metabolic pathologies, worsening respiratory insufficiencies, polytraumas. The number of pediatric hospitalizations in intensive care has grown exponentially in recent years. The contribution in the various transfers given by the bimbulance, indispensable and irreplaceable, complementary to the work carried out by the medical intensivists, highlights that the number of transfers to other extra-regional structures has reduced compared to that of previous years, certainly a very important sign to underline the good work carried out in the intensive care unit of the Dea.
“The need for the creation of resuscitation centers dedicated to the exclusive treatment of small patients is indispensable – he explained Giuseppe PulitoDirector of Anesthesia and Resuscitation at Vito Fazzi – Until a few years ago, pediatric patients suffering from critical clinical pathologies or who required intensive monitoring were treated in intensive care units for newborns or adults only, and were assimilated to a context of patients with very different clinical, healthcare and psychosocial needs. Pediatric intensive facilities were created in parallel with the consolidation of a dedicated scientific culture and age-specific technological development. This has certainly contributed to improving the quality of care, but above all it has considerably changed the outcome of the pediatric population. This is why for years we have been fighting to have a space dedicated to young patients to avoid a child being hospitalized next to an adult who requires completely different clinical, medical and even nursing management and almost a striking contrast. The creation of two pediatric intensive care places, with a dedicated healthcare team, translates into reality the needs of the Salento area even if to a minimal extent but which nevertheless allows us to understand that it can be the first step towards creating a greater number of beds”.
The activation of the two places in pediatric intensive care – which received the blessing of the Vito Fazzi chaplain, Don Gianni Mattia – was accompanied by a significant project, of great social and educational value: “The forest in a room”, a the original idea of decorating the intensive care rooms curated by the illustrator Valentina d’Andrea who took care of every detail to choose and draw the right images, with the aim of bringing peace and hope in the most delicate moments of awakening of the little guests of the Goddess. “The forest in a room – he explained Valentina D’Andrea – it is a real project, not just a wall decoration, in which I put together 2 places of treatment: the forest and the hospital. The forest drawn in the rooms of the Dea pediatric intensive care unit, through watercolors digitized on film, with its overall energy, made up of trees, plants and animals, releases the power of a nature-medicine that repairs and heals. The same nature that awaits them in the “Cesine” woods once they have recovered, watching the herons fly and the frogs jump from one cloud to another, rediscovering curiosity and wonder, the true test of being well again”.
Tria Corda’s projects don’t stop here. The next objective is the activation of a fast-track dedicated to young patients, an easy path that avoids them having to wait in the emergency room for exhausting times. It’s another step towards truly child-friendly care.
There is also space to highlight some critical issues and shortcomings that are found in the path that will lead to the creation of the Salento pediatric center, an objective awaited by many families and many children forced to seek treatment far from the Salento area.
“A single association, or even a network of associations such as Tria Corda and SOLOXLORO – he stated Antonio Aguglia – cannot take on the enormous responsibility of creating the Pediatric Center alone. The creation of a true Pediatric Network and the necessary structural works is a task that falls to the Region, which must assume its responsibilities. We cannot forget the second floor of the Vito Fazzi, which had to be renovated to house the Pediatric Centre. As many as 11 million euros had been allocated, but were then diverted elsewhere, a sign of a lack of political will that we cannot ignore and which leaves us in disbelief.”
During the press conference, the projects of Triacorda were presented, together with ASL Lecce, dedicated to the young patients treated at the Vito Fazzi in Lecce.
In the anesthesia and resuscitation department at Dea, numerous results have been achieved by the joint synergistic work between ASL Lecce and Tria Corda.
In the “Read you that I read too” project, animated reading becomes a refined tool for acquiring knowledge, but also an opportunity for sharing and personal and group expression, thanks to the students of the Banzi Bazoli Scientific High School, Istituto Tecnico G. Deledda, De Giorgi Scientific High School, Palmieri Classical High School. Movies for Children is the Cinematerapy project in synergy with ASL Lecce, born from a collaboration between Tria Corda and the cultural association OfficinaVisioni.
Piccolo Principe is the project, in collaboration with the Department of Innovation Engineering, soon to be activated in the Pediatric Hematology Oncology department which aims to provide the Salento Pediatric Center with some applications, based on Virtual Reality (VR) technologies and of Augmented Reality (AR), for children up to 10 years old who are already hospitalized or who will have to undergo a planned hospitalization. Tria Corda financed with 12,000 euros the research grant awarded in October 2024 by the University of Salento to Dr. Debora Musarò, who will work for 12 months on a research project on acute and chronic phase myeloid leukemia in the oncology field.
The Association also promoted and organized the third edition of the course aimed at its volunteers to make the approach with young patients who require particular attention and delicacy in the relationship with the stranger more aware. Together with the Calabrian radiology practice, Tria Corda financed the training of the Pediatric Intensive Care team, offering doctors Daniela Puscio and Paola Vergine – two doctors from the Fazzi Anesthesia and Intensive Care Department – free participation in the course and ultrasound scans, including pediatric ones. The objective is to contribute to the macro project of specialized training of medical and paramedical staff in pediatric departments.
Thanks to the financial support of Tria Corda, Dr. Lucia Russo, acting head of Pediatric Surgery at the Pediatric Center of Salento, has just completed the Robotic Surgery Course, experiencing an experience that will change the care of our children forever.
Fifty pediatric oncohaematology, general paediatrics, pediatric surgery, anesthesia and resuscitation, hematology and oncology nurses from the Vito Fazzi Hospital participated in a training course in pain therapy and pediatric palliative care organized by ASL Lecce in collaboration with Tria Corda.
Also worth mentioning is the Lectio magistralis by Professor Ravelli, Scientific Director of the Gaslini Institute of Genoa, on the varied universe of rheumatic diseases in children and adolescents, an initiative promoted and organized by the Alessia Pallara Association with the support of Tria Corda. The two associations also organized Professor Locatelli’s Lectio magistralis in Monteroni to explore the latest discoveries and future prospects in the fight against acute myeloid leukemia.
Last school year, around 600 boys and girls from primary schools who are part of the “Talking Veliero” gave life to poems, fables and stories inspired by the Pediatric Center of Salento.
Furthermore, the Tria Corda association and ASL Lecce are collaborating for the restyling of the playroom of the Pediatrics department of the Salento Pediatric Centre.
Finally, another initiative is in the works: from the meeting between Decathlon Surbo and Tria Corda on November 20th an extraordinary project will be born, Hearts in Motion, which brings motor sports activity to the wards of the pediatric departments of the Vito Fazzi in Lecce: the girls and boys in the four departments of the Pediatric Center will be able to experience sport as a game, a challenge and a bridge towards normality.
