From Friday 2 to Sunday 4 June, at the health areas of the aircraft carrier Cavour and of Nave Etna, the fifteenth was held weekend clinic, as part of the "Un mare di sorrisi" project.
Volunteer doctors of the foundation Operation Smile Italia onlus, maxillofacial surgeons, anesthetists, pediatricians and nurses, staff of the Navy health service, with the support of the volunteer nurses of the Italian Red Cross, operated on board the two units of the Naval Squad four patients aged between seven months and forty-five years - all of Italian nationality - suffering from cleft lip.
The healthcare team that operated was made up of 29 volunteer doctors and nurses from Operation Smile, 28 doctors and nurses from the Navy and 4 volunteer nurses from the Italian Red Cross. Nave's operating room was also used for the first time Etna.
The four operated patients are a seven month old boy and a boy of 16 years, both of Bari, a child of 6 years of Rome (operated on Ship Etna) and a man of 45 years of Lecce.
The collaboration between the Navy and the Foundation Operation Smile has been in operation for 7 years now. Started in 2010 on the occasion of the participation of the porterei Cavour the "White Crane" mission, to rescue the population of Haiti, continued during the campaign of the 30th Naval Group, during the circumnavigation of Africa, and continues in Italian ports, using the efficient hospital facilities of Nave Cavour, flagship of the Naval and Ship Squad Etna, Navy logistics unit.
More than 120 patients have been examined and more than 70 surgeries performed.
On board of Nave Cavour of the Ship Etna the manager, dr. Domenico Scopelitti and the commander in chief of the Naval Squad, squad admiral Donato Marzano.
The project manager, dr. Scopelitti said: "is another edition of the clinical weekend, we are at over 70 patients operated with the "a sea of smiles" program resulting from this agreement between Marina Militare and Operation Smile. The agreement with the Naval Team provides that, when the Cavour or Etna are not used for operational or training activities, Operation Smile "occupies" them for this activity dedicated to children. The Taranto office is for us the place where we can give assistance to the southern center of Italy. But if the ship stops in some other Italian port, as happened in Cagliari where we have a "Smile House", we have the possibility to operate also in those locations in support of the activity of the local structures".
For the team admiral Donato Marzano, commander in chief of the Naval Squadron, "this project arises from the synergy between the Naval Squad and Operation Smile. In all these years, thanks to the work of the volunteer surgeons of the foundation and the doctors and paramedics of the Navy, we have helped to give back the smile to many children. This activity is the finest demonstration of how dual use can be made of a military ship. When the Cavour, and from this year also Etna, both equipped with a state-of-the-art health facility, are stopped in port and are not engaged in operational activities, they are used in their dual function of hospital. The collaboration between the Navy and Operation Smile is carried out equally effectively abroad, in support of small patients who have very serious pathologies, as occurred during the circumnavigation of Africa or during the mission to Haiti."
