It is a key sector in the healthcare system, because everything depends on intervention times, but for some time now when we talk about 118 the emergency is entirely internal. The emergency-urgency system, in fact, in the Vibo area is now at its limits and the result is a territory in which the timeliness of rescue depends on unpredictable variables, because the 118 territorial emergency stations are under pressure between staff shortages and uncovered shifts.
There are six Pets: 2 ambulances in Vibo and one each between Pizzo, Tropea, Serra San Bruno and Soriano Calabro, but although Azienda Zero’s objective is to guarantee at least one medicalized ambulance 24 hours a day between the mountains (Northern area) and the capital/coast (Southern area), it often remains only on paper: often there is not even a single medicalized ambulance available in the entire province. Furthermore, in Pizzo the PET is guaranteed until May, then from June to September it is almost always closed and the reason is simple and dramatic: there are not enough operators to cover shifts and use up holidays. In Tropea the balance is: 4 nurses, uncovered shifts and a heavy loss; to guarantee a 24-hour shift, at least six would be needed: 5 to cover and 1 to replace absences/illness. Added to all this is the pain of the recent death of Gabriele Alviano, the 42-year-old rescue driver, who died in a road accident just as he was on his way to work (the funeral was celebrated just yesterday, leaving a heavy human and professional void).
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