Sister Luisidia Casagrande passed away peacefully at the age of 104, known to all as simply Sister Luisidia head nurse of the analysis laboratory in Borgo Trento. For 68 uninterrupted years, hers was her home, where she entered in October 1939 fresh from her professional nursing diploma obtained thanks to the consent of her institute: Sorelle della Misericordia of Verona in Valverde.
But the memory of Sister Luisidia is not linked only to the exceptional duration of her service, the historic head nurse is remembered by everyone, and by the Integrated University Hospital of Verona, for how she performed it. “The test tube that arrives in the laboratory is actually a person who anxiously awaits an answer about his health and therefore about his life,” he said years ago. Therefore I have always considered the blood and the poor samples the whole symbol of the sick man».
The health profession was also a human mission for her, as confirmed by the two episodes that made her popular. During the Second World War she not only obtained the liberation of the then head of the Laboratory who had been deported by the Germans, but she even saved the entire structure with the ploy of the fake funeral. In 1943, she hid the essential medical material for the functioning of the analyzes in four coffins. In this way, when the Germans abandoned the hospital which had been transformed into a military facility, the laboratory did not lose a single day of activity for the benefit of the war-stricken population.
The passion of a lifetime has had, over the years, the right recognition of the institutions. In 1976, the hospital institutes of Verona awarded her the gold medal of merit; in 2002 the Municipality of Verona awarded her the gold medal of the city, in 2007 the President of the Republic awarded her the honor of Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
«That of Sister Luisidia is a personal and professional story of great stature – said the director general Aoui, Callisto Marco Bravi -. Our Company remembers his work with affection and esteem, in the belief that these are examples of dedication and passion that have made our structures grow more and more. Sister Luisidia is part of our progress, he started when the analyzes were still done manually to the point of using the most modern technologies ».
Luisidia Casagrande was born in the province of Treviso on 20 June 1918 into a family of humble origins. A few years after graduating from elementary school she asked to take her vows, she arrived in Verona alone at the Sisters of Mercy and became part of the “Apostoline” in the headquarters of San Michele Extra. At Casa San Giuseppe di San Michele, she still lived, she spent her old age, always lucid until the last day. Her funeral will take place on Monday 9 January, at 10, in the church of the religious structure in via Serenelli in San Michele.
Zaia’s condolences
“In almost seventy years of service he has demonstrated a dedication that was the result not only of professional commitment but of a deeper motivation. It will remain a model for all those involved in our Healthcare which is an excellence for the qualitative level of the work that is carried out every day by thousands of professionals and operators as well as for the clinical and cutting-edge technological levels of which it is the protagonist”. Thus the President of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia, expresses his condolences for the death at the age of 104 of Sister Luisidia Casagrande, a health nun who served for 68 years at the Borgo Trento Hospital in Verona. “They called her the Angel of the Analysis Laboratory – continues the Governor -, a nickname that goes far beyond her position as dean of the matron and reference for generations of nurses. I join the many people who remember her at this moment and I am close to all those who loved her”.
