Pilots and specialists of the 46th air brigade of the Italian Air Force “landed” this morning at the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital, Rome-Janiculum headquarters. The delegation, made up of the commander, Air Brigade General Girolamo Iadicicco, and a crew from the Department, visited the Red Area (intensive care) together with the manager Corrado Cecchetti and the anesthetist-resuscitator Matteo Di Nardo. The group was then received by the president of the Holy See Pediatric Hospital, Mariella Enoc. At the end of the meeting, everyone in the playroom to play with the children: a party appointment for the little patients of the hospital who welcomed the “heroes of the air” to the notes of 'Nel blu, painted blue'.
The crew that visited the little guests of the Infant Jesus is among those who in the 2018 carried out one of the numerous ambulance transports. Precisely the frequent joint activity between the health staff of the Pediatric Hospital and the Air Force, gave birth to the idea of the visit, a tangible sign of a chain of solidarity that has the sole purpose of saving lives, in this case, of little patients.
In the playroom, the pilots distributed gifts and gadgets: posters, photos and hats. From the children a lot of curiosity and the promise to realize the dream of flying in the clouds once they grow up.
The 46th Air Brigade of Pisa is one of the departments of the Italian Air Force in charge of emergency medical transport. In coordination with prefectures and hospitals, the aircraft of the Armed Force ensure transport throughout the national territory (when requested also from abroad), ready for take-off day and night, even in adverse weather conditions. In 2018, 110 people in imminent danger of life were transported, 65 of them in pediatric age. 32 of these children were cared for by the Infant Jesus.
The 46th Air Brigade, in particular, is the only department of the Italian Air Force equipped with C130J aircraft capable of directly boarding ambulances with patients on board. This mode of transport is necessary when the sick person needs the constant support of particular medical equipment. This is the case of flights in ECMO mode, often carried out in collaboration with the specialized medical teams of the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital.
ECMO (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) is a complex technique of extracorporeal circulation that, in very severe cases of heart and / or respiratory failure, temporarily replaces the functions of the heart and lungs. For the management of these patients, the Hospital has created (from 2011) a special team composed of anesthetists-resuscitators, cardiac surgeons, perfusionists and nurses.
Today the Bambino Gesù is the only pediatric center of reference for Central and Southern Italy qualified for ECMO transport both by road and by air. In 2018, the emergency medical flights of the Air Force with the ECMO team of the Holy See Pediatric Hospital on board were 3.
