To guard the Milan Cadorna station, I first meet two Alpine troops on duty for "Safe Roads", followed by the white tensile structure where the eight-pointed cross dominates on a red background.
Volunteering, civil protection, health care, a mission or perhaps better define it a vocation towards the social; a reality made up of women and men attributable to the third sector present every day with meticulous organization and with the aim of "helping those who suffer".
In Piazzale Cadorna the 12 October meeting the National Association of Italian Knights of the Order of Malta ACISMOM, present on that date in the main Italian squares. A reality with 900 years of history from which, in the 1877, the Military Corps of the SMOM was born and later in the 1970, the Italian CISOM Relief Corps.
With the pulse in today's reality, civil professionals - many of whom are doctors and health professionals - are always motivated, operational and prepared, carrying out their admirable work in the Order of Malta, as happens in other types of associations. mission.
The noble origin, but it is not a rule, and the concrete link with the Christian roots, make the organization of the Order of Malta and its components, a sort of elite within the framework of health volunteering but also in the military represented by the best known "Corpomilitan of ACISMOM". If there are so many associations for the laity (always included in the third sector), it is also true, when we talk about volunteering, that is "people who freely provide their free time for others", that any confrontation or rivalry does not they have reason to exist. If anything, they are the synergy and common goals that must prevail.
Lombardy with Milan in pole position
In this regard, from 5 to 8 March 2020, the CIVIL WEEK event will be held in one of the main European cities, Milan; four days and a hundred events to make known and experiment the cooperation between national associations analyzing the commitments towards solidarity and the civil economy.
In the spotlight, volunteering in all its forms will be on the scene, but also the felt need for ever greater institutional awareness towards the third sector. Online Defense will not fail.
The SMOM Military Corps in Milan
In piazzale Cadorna a volunteer nurse from ACISMOM comes to meet me with a sunny smile to describe the setting up of the new mobile clinic set up on a Mercedes Sprinter and to hand me the press kit. Shortly after, I observe a CISOM doctor in an orange overalls intent on introducing the passing public to some life-saving maneuvers applied on a special mannequin.
In front of the North Station he found a great success, perhaps by those who were waiting for the train, the setting up of a station for a quick and non-invasive check-up to keep an eye on physiological parameters.
I am with Lieutenant Colonel Magnaghi present with the military component. The reality of ACISMOM it seems well rooted in the urban fabric also in terms of agreements and agreements as the Milan delegate Niccolò d'Aquino, Knight of Honor and Devotion, had described to me, and as he emphasizes, given the importance for an association, even the officer who continues by listing to me the tasks and location of the Smom military in Lombardy. Shortly afterwards, still in the scbt outfit, with the three robbio stars that surmount the turreted crown, we are approached by Colonel Calati, a volunteer medical officer and commander of the 1st department of the SMOM, based in Milan at the military hospital of Baggio.
The military body of the Order of Malta was born as a sanitary auxiliary of the Royal Army, but only in 1909 he was granted the stars for merit (Sicilian Calabrian earthquake of 1908) becoming a real special auxiliary body of the armed force. The duties of the military corps are supplementary health training for military personnel; however, when not officially "involved" in missions also outside the area, the Military Corps, provides medical assistance to the Departments or to the Armed Forces Bodies for medical assistance to the activities.
The means
One characteristic of the military corps, which is an integral part of the army, is the use of the institute plates of the Italian army, EI; however within the non-military association, ACISMOM, several vehicles are labeled with the letters SMOM in red, while the Grand Master of the Order should travel on a luxurious blue sedan strictly bearing the plaque of the diplomatic corps, CD.
It is likely that the historic interaction with the army has not obliged the Corps to provide itself with a large fleet of special vehicles, with the exception of the more common and well-known Iveco VM90T and ambulance, ACM90 or ACTL deployed in the barracks.
ACISMOM it is structured on four national departments and at the military hospital of Milan there is also an advanced PMA medical post structured on a truck.
The same licenses as the Smom volunteer military, to respond to some understandable curiosity, are released by the armed force after passing the exams carried out in the same classrooms of the army after the active service of the volunteers.
Is the selected reserve and volunteering fundamental?
After having read several articles on the drama of public health in some regions but also of the understandable use of military health to compensate for the lack of civilian doctors, one would wonder how the health of the FFAA military health was attested, rather than of some other technical body. A subject much debated by the representation of the military and that would suggest how the selected reserve and the voluntary service turn out to be a kind of manna from heaven to contain possible deficiencies and without affecting the budgets. However, to my specific question on the increase in the workload for auxiliary services carried out by ACISMOM volunteers in competition with the Army, those present confirmed to me that in the average use of the Auxiliary Corps there are no significant increases in requests. Interesting, as I underline in this context, are the recent four important new collaborations with the well-known "goods for services" system, signed with the 2 regiment AVES of Lamezia Terme and with the commander of the 1 transmissions regiment col. Michele Mastronardi.
If the European and Italian Armed Forces will have to interact with each other in a future contestor no borders it cannot be excluded that logistic, health and training services may also be included in this process. After all, observing points and notes reported by IGESAN, the General Inspectorate of Military Health, different synergetic references with civilian hospitals and resources offered by the selected and auxiliary reserve are shown.
Employer and volunteer
"The emergency happens and not always can be foreseen "- A somewhat disturbing but realistic premise, which employers today do not always accept willingly, at least when there are volunteers among the employees who must follow update days.
Despite the laws in force are clear and protect the call in service of the volunteers, preserving them the place of work, retaliations are not to be excluded in return in spite of the foreseen protections. This is the common thought of volunteers belonging to various sectors, who too often declare themselves "worried".
If the Prefectures in case of disaster still have the possibility to directly preclude the companies, for example of public transport, for the transfer of migrants - it happened to me to make several trips - it is also true that the problem is little discussed even though any proposals not to penalize the volunteer resource are already on the plate. These include tax exemption for the volunteer and incentives for companies.
We hope that the CIVIL WEEK 2020 also serves to make a contribution in this direction.
Photo: Online / web defense
