Salò Hospital Renovation and New Roè Volciano Facility Plans

“I lost Salò!”, exclaims Angelo Foschini, General Director of the hospital company of Desenzano. He rummages through the papers but cannot find them: who knows where the data and figures regarding the Salò hospital have ended up, which Foschini himself relentlessly criticizes and leaves last in considerations about the healthcare in the eastern province. “The day I visited, it felt like I had arrived in Albania,” he says. An uncompromising condemnation. He adds: “The standards prescribed by law are missing. The officials responsible for Law 626, on worker safety in the workplace, are worried. Same goes for S. Corona in Fasano.” In front of him, in the Gavardo municipal library, are doctors, nurses, and some local administrators. One of them retrieves the lost papers for him. In the background, in the realm of dreams, stands the structure that (perhaps) will be built in Roè Volciano, in a splendid basin descending between Valle Sabbia and the lake. “162 beds,” emphasizes Foschini, “with six inpatient functions: internal medicine, geriatric rehabilitation, palliative care, and three rehabilitation programs (functional, cardiological, geriatric). Additionally, dialysis and diagnostic imaging are planned.” “Construction is scheduled to begin by the end of 2002. The facility is designed to incorporate Salò and Fasano, which would require significant renovation works.” However, the mayor of Gardone Riviera, Alessandro Bazzani, and his fellow citizens, gathered in an assembly, have already said no. Down there, amid daily ugliness, the old decrepit Salò hospital, gradually stripped of departments, beds, patients, and hopes, is called a piece of Albania. Certainly, due to its lakeside location, the complex is sought after by major real estate groups (one of them has already acquired the nearby retirement home for 12 billion lire). The same can be said for S. Corona in Fasano, which depends on the Civile di Brescia. “In Salò, the transformation into a multidisciplinary rehabilitation facility continues,” reiterates the general director. “The 25 long-term care beds, attached to Medicine, have been reduced to 18 in the new functional recovery division, with specialized staff. Services have been unified, resources rationalized, waiting times drastically reduced, a new gym has been built, and a Geriatric Psychopharmacology Unit has been established, initially as a pilot in August 1999 by Marco Teggia Droghi, for the study, diagnosis, and treatment of the elderly.” “Almost two years later, I can say that a model of care aligned with the actual territorial needs has been built, overcoming sectoral clinical approaches. This unit aims to identify and respond to emerging needs, creating a therapeutic recovery pathway and serving as a filter for healthcare demand.” Foschini states that the Medicine department has specialized, focusing on endocrine and oncological diseases, and there is a First Intervention service with ambulances (“initially as a pilot for the summer, later stabilized for the entire year”), along with the existing services: Dialysis, Radiology, Outpatient Clinics, etc. “While waiting for the new Roè Volciano hospital to be built, where current Salò services will be transferred, we have scheduled structural adjustments, including: expanding spaces for Psychiatry, by reclaiming areas currently occupied by the Prevention and Safety Service; restructuring the second floor to house the Rehabilitation unit; moving Psychopharmacology to the first floor in more suitable spaces; improving outpatient areas and the inpatient ward accommodations.” The total expenditure planned is around eight billion lire, minus the 800 million spent on project design. To address the nursing emergency, the general director announced that the Desenzano company has allocated a fund of 250 million lire to compensate for services provided in place of absent staff. An open call (without deadline) for fixed-term hires has been issued. Furthermore, an agreement has been signed with union organizations to define new organizational models.