Almost two years after the outbreak of the pandemic, after intense months spent in the ward and with exhausting hours – even fifteen hours of work in a row -, nurses are writing to the Government and the Regions to denounce a situation that is no longer sustainable. «History is written by the winners. And in this long war against the virus, we nurses, 456 thousand professionals at the forefront of the country – writes the National Federation of Nursing Professions (Fnopi) – have been writing the history of the National Health Service every day for two years. Yet, we do not write this history as winners and it is not our fault ». “We have carved into the collective memory words, values and images that speak of self-denial, ethics, sacrifice, protection, closeness, competence and we have overcome the indifference of those who ignored our role, our university career, our specializations”, continues the Federation, recalling that “the whole world has recognized nurses as the engine, the backbone, the future of every modern health and social system that wants to be defined as such: we have been defined as heroes, angels, while squares and statues were dedicated to us”. But all this, says Fnopi, is not enough: «We are not winners because in these two years we have had to put aside the normal extraordinary nature of our profession alongside the citizen; we had to work in constant emergency; we got sick more and worse than any other category; we have given up on holidays, permits, career and life projects. Now we are losing the last thing we had left: hope. The hope of a Healthcare and a Policy capable of recognizing pathways to enhance the nursing profession, with an adequate economic return and a truly merit-based system “.
Nurses, the forgotten heroes of Covid
Chiara Baldi
The nurses complain about the “failure to materialize” in the draft of the Budget Law of the “requests made with force and decision by our National Federation which, as a subsidiary body of the State, has always maintained a serious and calm dialogue out of institutional duty. At this point, the words and promises of politics take on a mocking, unjust, even cruel light. An unbearable cleaver that lashes out at all the nurses who, still on the front line, suffering, continue to keep the health system up and running, even if at the mercy of attacks and violence from an adverse, confused or just frightened party that pours on them his anger for the difficult historical moment we are experiencing ». Because, remembers the trade federation, although “Italian nurses have always gone through fear and death with their heads held high, today a short-sighted vision of politics makes them impact on mistrust and disappointment. And it’s much, much worse. If this country, if its political decision-makers want to reverse this trend, they should do it now ”.
Hence the ultimatum that Fnopi launches to the institutions: «We cannot continue for long to seek mediation that does not exist. Because nothing, today, has happened with respect to what was requested and what was declared in front of the cameras. Thus a profession dies. This prevents the return of nurses trained in Italy and valued abroad. Thus the pain and commitment of hundreds of thousands of lives are ignored. Thus the trust of Italian citizens is betrayed. Worse than this crisis there is only the drama of wasting it, as Pope Francis affirms and the Government likes to repeat. But these words must be followed by facts ». If the promises are not kept, therefore, «we will coagulate a unitary response, independent of trade union and party affiliations, roles and positions. We are ready to have 456 thousand nurses ask for an account of everything that has not been done. With the ethics that have always distinguished us, but with the exasperation that now affects us. It is still possible to write a history that restores dignity to nurses. There is no more time to waste ».
The nurse symbol of the pandemic: “Our health is not worth so little, the 100 euro is an absurd choice after very hard months”
CHIARA BALDI
As of January 17, 2022, since the beginning of the pandemic, infections among health workers are 42,506 compared to the previous month (of which 34,855 nurses) and since the beginning of the pandemic 196,838 (of which 161,407 nurses). From December 2, 2021 to January 17, there was a 926 percent increase in infections among healthcare workers and 232 percent from January 1 to 17. In the last week – 10/17 January – the increase was 53 percent. The average daily increase in infections is 7.88 per cent, although in the first week of January it reached about 10 per cent daily with a peak of almost 20 per cent on 4 January, that is, close to the New Year. The 42,506 operators infected in the last month represent the highest value recorded in 30 days since the beginning of the pandemic. Since 20 February 2020, 90 nurses have died of Covid.
