Thanks to the technical and pharmacological progress of modern medicine, but not without the decisive contribution of organizational and human aspects, it can happen that a patient in her seventies, struck in a state of well-being by an unpredictable cerebrovascular accident, becomes a manifestation of boundless and ageless generosity.
The multi-organ harvesting carried out a few weeks ago at the “Giovanni Paolo II” hospital in Ragusa has once again consecrated the ideals and values connected to organ donation. Access to the emergency room immediately made the doctors understand that the patient’s cerebral hemorrhage left her with no expectation of survival. Thus the coordination machine for the collection and donation of liver, kidney and corneas was instantly triggered.
Doctor Francesca Corsaro, coordinator designated by the Regional Transplant Center, directed the healthcare orchestra made up of many professionals. The hours in intensive care saw the intensive care doctors busy supporting organ functions, with the precious and irreplaceable work of the nurses and support staff, coordinated by Dr. Giuseppe Occhipinti. But everyone was present at the Transplant Coordination machine: from the medical and technical staff of the Analysis Laboratory for the necessary tests, to that of Radiology for the instrumental investigations and of the pathological anatomy for the meticulous study of every detail, up to the consultants of the various medical and surgical specialties and to the Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Giuseppe Cappello.
In the hands and steps of every healthcare worker who carries a test tube, pushes a stretcher or drives an ambulance, the gesture of donation has taken shape to become increasingly real. Until the inexorable diagnosis of brain death, when together with the empathy and humanity generated by the event, it was necessary to remain clinical to live together with the family members the awareness of the end and the possibility of a beginning.
There is also psychological support behind the scenes, with the presence of Dr. Gianluca Mancuso who makes his expertise and humanity available on all ASP facilities, and plays a fundamental role in supporting healthcare workers even before families. Which, in the Iblea province, are increasingly generous also in terms of organ donation, thanks to the tireless work of the AIDO volunteers who, together with the ASP staff, are involved in training in schools.
After the family’s consent to donation, in Ragusa too the gift became a collection, and the collection a transplant, with the unison activation of the Operating Room staff: from the coordinator of the operating block of the “Giovanni Paolo II”, Dr. Giampiccolo, to each of the nurses and social health workers. The collection teams, coordinated by the transplant network system, rushed to the hospital and the organs, preciously guarded, took flight towards the waiting patients.
“This is the miracle within the miracle – explains the General Director of the ASP of Ragusa, Giuseppe Drago – the passage from death to life. The new life of sick people who find hope again, ageless and faceless gratitude, that injection of strength and trust in each of the people involved in the gift process. Thank you to our generous mother, her family, friends and everyone who created that gift. And thanks to each of the people, starting from the director of intensive care Dr. Massimiliano Sorbello, who took care of, assisted and made that gift possible.”
Salva
