For three years he has been going back and forth from the dialysis center of Villaggio Mosè thanks to the ambulance and the operators of an association. Thursday, June 13, the phone call that froze the blood of Irene Alaimo, wife of the sixty-year-old Empedoclino dialysis patient who, over time, had both legs amputated. The association, due to a lack of staff, can no longer provide the assistance and transfer service of the patient to the dialysis center of Villaggio Mosè and since Friday, June 14, the Empedoclino, taken to the San Giovanni di Dio hospital in Agrigento with the 118 ambulance, has been hospitalized in the Medicine department. “We are in prison – he said, ad AgrigentoNews, Irene Alaimo who has been taking care of her husband who is ill for a decade without stopping – . On Friday the 14th we came, with the 118 ambulance, to do dialysis since there was no longer any assistance available from the association that always took him to Villaggio Moses. On Saturday the 15th, my husband had to do dialysis again and we stayed in the hospital. Since then we have been here, in prison”. A hospitalization in the medical unit which also takes away a bed from anyone who may need it.
The sixty-year-old empedocline undergoes dialysis 4 times a week – Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. “Indeed, nothing to say about the doctors in the Nephrology, Medicine and Surgery departments of the San Giovanni di Dio hospital because they have done and continue to do everything possible, a lot, for my husband and for me. I thank the doctors, the Oss and the nurses – added Irene Alaimo who also turned to the lawyer Luigi Troja for assistance and help -. Ours is a problem of Asp services. It is possible that a patient like this, my husband has both limbs amputated, – explains the woman – stay like this in a hospital bed? He wants to go home, he wants to go home and I can’t calm him down anymore.” The hospital, in general, creates psychological stress. Especially in those weak and suffering patients such as empedocline. “Disabled people must be protected – urges Irene Alaimo -. I want someone to do something, even the powerful …”.
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“The reason given to the ASP by the association that no longer took care of my husband – explains Alaimo – is that they are short of staff. I have heard several times and I have been to the provincial health authority several times, but we cannot remain in hospital until a solution is found. I have been told to have a stair lift installed, I am available for anything and I cannot keep my husband in hospital, in prison, because his disability is getting worse it won’t end, it will always be there. I need help from the ASP.”
AgrigentoNews Naturally, he immediately consulted the general director of the provincial health company of Agrigento, Giuseppe Capodieci, who showed great attention and sensitivity on the case: “The matter is under control, Doctor Marchica, who knows the patient’s wife, is following it personally. We are trying to speed up the practice of stairlifts, there is a safety problem and we need to talk to an engineer about it to understand if a stairlift is safe for a patient of this weight (the empedocline weighs 119 kilos). I know that doctor Marchica – continued Capodieci – proposed the lower limb prosthesis, but his wife did not accept. We have a problem with ambulance permits. We have contacted the voluntary association to resolve the problem of staff shortages as soon as possible, otherwise we will be forced to revoke their authorization. We are moving on a 360 degree front. In the meantime, the patient will be transferred from the medical department to the long-term care department, still in hospital, where he will continue to have dialysis assistance. We tried to understand-he concluded, on the phone with AgrigentoNews, the general director of the ASP – if the so-called peritoneal dialysis could be done, which is a sort of dialysis done at home, but the patient’s weight conditions do not allow it. We are trying to tackle the problem from all points of view.”
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