BOLOGNA (ITALPRESS) – An ark in a tree where you can find relief, surrounded by the magic and natural beauty of a forest. This is the concept of the “L’Arca sull’Arber” Pediatric Hospice designed by the architect Renzo Piano and his studio and financed by the MariaTeresa Chiantore Seràgnoli Onlus Hospice Foundation, inaugurated yesterday in the late afternoon in Bologna. An excellence from Emilia-Romagna, which revolutionizes the concept of spaces for pediatric palliative care for its ability to integrate into a building with the perfect “Piano style” a contemporary sensitivity with respect to care spaces, oriented by research which demonstrates how a space designed for the development of social relationships and attentive to building a relationship between patients and natural elements (light, plants, air) is a concrete contribution to the effectiveness of treatments for many types of illnesses, including palliative care. Immersed in a green area of 16 thousand square metres, it differs greatly from the conventional hospital typology: it is not a closed place, but an open one; it is not a detached and aseptic place, but permeable; it is not a place of hospitalization for treatment, but a “home” where one can spend time with meaning because it does not require the renunciation of social relationships and affection, rather it is designed as an opportunity to experience beauty, contemplation and spirituality.
Designed to offer young patients the experience of living in a real tree house, it is spread over 4 floors and in several sections connected by light overhead connections to the main central body. It will welcome patients, together with their families, from 0 to 18 years old with incurable pathologies and significant clinical complexity, to which are added spiritual, social, family and relational needs and with the risk of early death. A commitment that can last many years, even until adulthood. A multidisciplinary team of specialists trained through specific courses, university masters and internships, organized by the Academy of Palliative Medicine, the teaching arm of the MTC Seràgnoli Hospice Foundation, will take 24-hour care of the young patients, putting their health, their well-being, their dreams and their desires for leisure with recreational, but also educational activities. The ceremony which marked the opening of the structure was attended by the architect and senator for life Renzo Piano, the president of the Emilia-Romagna Region Stefano Bonaccini and the regional councilor for health policies Raffaele Donini, the professor of pediatric palliative care of the IPCCN UK Julia Downing, the landscape architect Paolo Pejrone and the designer Francesco Tullio Altan. After the ribbon cutting, the event continued with a standing dinner hosted by the starred chef Massimiliano Alajmo, followed by a reading by the director Gabriele Salvatores and a performance by the musicians Laura Marzadori and Nicola Piovani. The complex, unique in Italy, as established by the Regional Council, will be a specialist reference center for the provision of specialist pediatric palliative care services in the Emilia-Romagna Region and home to the Bologna Pediatric Multidimensional Evaluation Unit, providing support upon request specialist to the other nodes of the network and providing care activities; will work in full integration with the health authorities of the whole region, will operate in synergy with the department of health policies, headquarters of the organizational coordination of the regional network for pediatric palliative care, and will be a structure accredited by the Region. photo: press office Emilia Romagna Region (ITALPRESS). tvi/com 14-Jun-24 13:10 .
