The Santissimo Salvatore Hospital of Paternò (CT) requested a demonstration from the Helicopter Station of the Navy (MARISTAELI) of Catania to refine the management of patients infected with the COVID-19 virus. The health team of MARISTAELI, in fact, is in possession of the knowledge necessary for the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) of biological protection for high bio-containment, and was able to provide assistance and advice for the preparation of the areas of triage and brief observation of the hospital unit.
The activity was coordinated by the director of the health service of the base, the frigate captain Salvatore Mirabile and by the medical director of the hospital unit, Dr. Agata Santocito, with a series of demonstrative meetings regarding the dressing and undressing procedures of health personnel auxiliary of the departments involved in the emergency (First Aid, Otolaryngology, Pneumology and Anesthesia).
The specialized personnel of the Navy also shared their knowledge on the procedures for setting up the areas dedicated to the emergency, as well as the techniques of biological risk management and staff sanitation, after undressing. The bio-containment team of the Catania Helicopter Station was born in 2013 to equip the Navy with the capacity for emergency transport of potentially infectious patients from naval units in the central Mediterranean.
The Helicopter Station manages, in collaboration with the Military Corps of the Italian Red Cross, two bio-containment stretchers of the ISOARK N36-4 type and a fixed bio-containment chamber. These assets contribute to making Catania Airport one of the three national entry points for highly infectious avio-transported patients, together with the airports of Pratica di Mare (RM) and Malpensa (MI).
