On Friday 21 June 2024 at 6.30 pm, in the Meeting Space of the CRC Foundation in Cuneo, in conjunction with the National Ail Day for the fight against blood cancers, it will take place the double event celebrating the 25th birthday of the Ail Cuneo “Paolo Rubino” Section and the 20th birthday of the Ail Case di Cuneo. During the event, the history of the association will be retraced, intertwined with that of its homes, also through the testimony of patients, family members and doctors who have had direct experience. Participation is free and open, but reservations are required on 0171.695294 or 370.3405038, or by email to [email protected].
“In the invitation we sent in recent days to all the volunteers and friends of the Ail Cuneo, we wrote that ‘every detail of these houses speaks of you’ – comments Anna Rubino, recently reconfirmed as president of the Ail Cuneo Paolo Rubino section until 2029 -. From 2004 to 2024, the three Ail Houses in Cuneo welcomed a total of 926 relatives and companions, who benefited from hospitality in homes located in a strategic position in relation to the Santa Croce and Carle Hospital in Cuneo, home to the only hematology department in the province for the treatment of leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. It is an important heritage, built over time thanks to the generosity of many supporters of the association, which acquires even more value if we consider that on the national scene Ail Houses are present in 33 provinces. The Cuneo section led the way in Piedmont, being the first to activate the service. A good example which was then followed by the sections of Alessandria and Turin”.
The first to be opened was Casa Marisa (via Schiaparelli 29) in 2004, then in 2008 it was the turn of the accommodation on the same landing as the Ail headquarters in Cuneo (via Schiaparelli 23) and finally Casa Nuova in 2013 ( via Bassignano 52). The three Ail Houses are made available free of charge to patients and their families and when demand exceeds supply; the Ail works by seeking alternative solutions in other structures close to the hospital and suitable for carrying out such a delicate function. A free gift that always leaves guests surprised and which is rewarded by their generosity: the symbolic deposit requested from those who use them, in fact, in most cases is not recovered and often becomes part of a donation to the association. Most of the guests come from the Piedmontese provinces (Cuneo, Asti, Turin) and from nearby Liguria (Savona and Imperia), but over the years there have been significant presences from central-southern Italy (Lazio, Basilicata, Calabria and Sardinia), as well as a progressive increase in patients arriving in Cuneo from Eastern European and North African countries. Even if in the majority of cases these were presences lasting a long time (there were peaks of 409 days), the average stay was 35 nights per guest, for a total of 28,800 nights spent by patients and their families in the three Ail houses in Cuneo. The association bears the management and maintenance costs and if the lost spending for the guests is then calculated, an important social saving emerges for the beneficiaries of the service.
