On March 19, the alarm was raised by the mayor of Cingoli to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak developed in the retirement home for the elderly, where the medical personnel of the Armed Force are operating. "Without the Navy, we would not have been able to face and resolve the serious condition that has arisen within the Cingoli rest home with the extension of the infection to guests and also to some internal workers" reads a note from the mayor, Michele Vittori.
The request arose from the need to give breath to the staff who were already providing assistance in the structure. Two doctors and four Navy nurses are still employed in support of the staff, exhausted by the absurd rhythms that continuous assistance imposes.
The first to intervene in this emergency were the lieutenant of vessel Carlo Mondelli and the first nurses marshals Rocco Ricchetti and Alessandro Barile. The situation, however, required more substantial intervention and therefore, the lieutenant of medical vessel Vincenzo Susca and two nurses, the first marshals Lorenzo Ciammaichella and Pietro Peca, were added.
We asked Dr. Mondelli what is the situation he has to face today with the whole team involved: upon our arrival the general situation of the guests was very critical, almost dramatic: 38 guests present, 36 of which positive for the swab (one was negative and another did not want to undergo the test) and a nursing home that quickly transformed into an acute care ward from Covid-19.
Our commitment was first realized by identifying the diagnostic and therapeutic framework of the basic multi-pathologies (cardiological, pulmonary, endocrinological, psychiatric) that afflicted the elderly hospitalized. All the necessary support therapies were guaranteed. Patients who experienced symptoms of Covid-19 infection, after careful clinical evaluation and graphic ECG, were treated with specific therapy.
After passing the acute emergency phase, we are now bringing the structure back to a condition of ordinary clinical management. The results obtained so far are extremely positive with about 90% of the patients who initially had symptoms of Covid-19 infection currently asymptomatic and about 25% of the total negative to the control buffer which can therefore be defined as clinically cured. In addition, we managed to preserve the negativity of the only patient present in the facility. In the next few days, even the patients to whom we have given specific therapy for Covid-19 will be subjected to a buffer and, if the trend should continue, we could soon have most of the patients negative.
The initially critical situation therefore fell within the parameters of tranquility. An intervention that fills the protagonists with pride not only for what is collected from the medical point of view: in our work the best satisfactions are, in reality, those that the people we assist provide us every day, their defenseless looks, their thanks, the small gestures. Seeing them smile, talk and even walk fills the heart with joy, says Dr. Mondelli who then continues - during our stay in Cingoli, a continuous telephone information action was also guaranteed in favor of the relatives of the guests of the structure regarding the conditions clinics of the latter, also for this reason they continue to thank us for the work we do every day (…) episodes like these fill us with pride and give us the energy to be able to continue to carry out our "mission".
In the April Navy Newsletter, which will be published in full on the Navy website with a browsable version, you will find the full interview with Dr. Mondelli, one of the protagonists, who bravely intervened in this story.
A feeling of gratitude paid by all the citizens of whom the mayor is spokesperson: Our soldiers who provide Italy with so much prestige in peace missions and in NATO, also in this case, have shown an attachment to the defense of the values of Uncommon homeland - continues the mayor in the note - because with our guests, all infected by the Corona virus, the risk of contracting the disease is rather looming. Not only for this reason I feel strongly the duty to thank the medical commander Nesca, of the Military Navy Selection Center in Ancona, for the advice and the precious closeness he has shown to our entire community.
The Navy in the Marche region, a region heavily affected by the pandemic, is also actively involved with the field hospital set up in Jesi, by the marine brigade Saint Mark, where the first patient recovered at the advanced medical point was discharged on Easter Monday.
