Healthcare Challenges and Rescue Delays on Gardesana Road, Limone
“The rescue operation we carried out last week took us an hour and a half: this is the time needed to transport a heart attack victim to Gavardo. Usually, it takes us only 10 minutes to reach Riva. In these cases, the speed of emergency services could be decisive. Fortunately, everything went well this time,” says Angelo Colle, president of the Croce Bianca section that has been operating for years in Limone: the frontline of healthcare on the northern lake.
An essential role, which is heightened in these months of total blockade of Gardesana road northbound and significant difficulty progressing southbound, as demonstrated by the complete closure at Forbisicle until this evening. Construction work on the Rocchetta tunnel has begun, and the old state road has been cleared of the landslide from December 22.
At that point, vehicles involved in the work on the new tunnel pass through. And so, Colle concludes, “a system must be studied to also allow rescue vehicles to pass, with all necessary precautions.” The road is mainly useful for tourism, but not only: “It’s true,” the president continues, “but no one talks about healthcare assistance. It takes us from one to an hour and a half to reach the Brescia hospitals (Gavardo, Desenzano); in emergencies, we can rely on helicopter arrivals, but not at night.”
Volunteers’ Commitment and Situations of Discomfort
In recent months, the Limone volunteer group has been doing extraordinary work, operating 24 hours a day. And some fatigue is starting to be felt. The group (telephone contact 0365-954285) is equipped with a rescue vehicle, and another ambulance is on its way, provided by the Municipality.
“We also informed Limone’s mayor, Giambattista Martinelli, about the healthcare situation, who in turn wrote to the authorities and to the company carrying out work on Gardesana. But we have received no responses.” Limone remains, therefore, still in a state of difficulty. We await news regarding the “windows,” that is, the scheduled passages during the day, with columns of cars escorted by a “safety car.”
Temporary Closure and Road Conditions
Returning to Forbisicle. The Gardesana will reopen around mid-afternoon today (the Anas ordinance mentions 4:30 p.m.), and traffic, at least in that section, can return to normal. Yesterday, a landslide of about a hundred cubic meters was cleared, and everything went smoothly: only a small wall received minor damage.
