Fear in hospital in Cosenza. Yesterday, in the white code area of the Annunziata (old pediatric emergency room), the intervention of two Cosmopol security guards was necessary who chased down a thirty-six year old who felt… orphaned by the attention of the white coats. He would have liked to get ahead of the others, but his claim would have been nipped in the bud by doctors and nurses. A “no” which unleashed the patient’s anger to the point of requiring the intervention of two men on patrol, firstly, and then of the police. The police brought the situation back to normal.
Casa San Francesco: «Too often left alone in the face of complex needs»
Pasqualino Perri, director of Casa San Francesco, also spoke on the episode, reconstructing what happened and raising the alarm about the daily difficulties faced by the operators of the facility. According to what was reported by the organisation, the young man had already presented himself in the afternoon asking to be welcomed, but there were no places available either in the social-welfare communities or in the spaces intended for emergencies. The operators would therefore have invited him to seek an alternative solution, also through his lawyer and the competent local services.
In the evening the situation would then degenerate. Casa San Francesco reports threats and intimidation against the operators present and the director himself, in addition to the attack against one of the workers on duty. The intervention of the police was necessary to bring the situation under control, while the injured operator was transported by ambulance to the nearby hospital to receive the necessary treatment.
The episode, underlines Perri, raises the problem of a structure which, due to its continuous operation, often finds itself facing situations of strong social and health vulnerability almost alone. Among the people requesting assistance there are people with psychiatric problems, addictions, disabilities, chronic and disabling pathologies or those without a family and social network, while in several cases access to Casa San Francesco would end up making up for the lack of other specialist services.
“You cannot sustain all this by endlessly spending skills, energy and resources, and ending up putting yourself at risk”, is the meaning of the appeal launched by the director, who asks for greater collaboration and more guarantees from the competent authorities and institutions to allow operators to carry out their work safely. Finally, from Casa San Francesco also comes the invitation to the community to continue to support, through solidarity and closeness, the daily activity alongside the most fragile people.