To bring dental assistance to people who do not receive basic checks because they cannot access it, due to lack of means or financial availability. This is the goal of ‘Right to Prevention’, an initiative resulting from a collaboration between the Italian Red Cross, the Andi Onlus Foundation, Rotary and Mentadent. The presentation of the project, which is based on a futuristic mobile clinic, is underway today at the Italian Red Cross headquarters in Rome.
The beating heart of the initiative, therefore, is a real mobile, technological and itinerant dental clinic, which in the coming months will tour Italy from North to South, bringing dental care and prevention to the most fragile people. Dental health screening, essential assistance, promotion of oral and general health in the field of cancer, communicable diseases, serious metabolic diseases such as diabetes, dental health interventions in emergency conditions: these are some of the services offered within the unit mobile thanks to the support of the Andi Onlus Foundation dentists, assisted within the clinic by Rotary volunteers.
In its first 12 months of activity, the mobile unit will touch Genoa, Susa (Turin), Milan, Rome, Naples, Taurianova (Reggio Calabria), stationing at school complexes, Rsa, residential communities, nomad camps, territorial areas with a massive presence. of migrant people and primarily reaching the elderly, children, handicapped people, homeless people.
The ‘dental office on wheels’, on which the project is based, is almost 12 meters long and 2 meters wide and is equipped with the most modern instruments. It is made up of 5 separate rooms, equipped with electric lighting and natural light. Each room is accessible by means of sliding doors.
In detail, it is equipped with: an acceptance room, where two patients can stay at a time; toilets with disabled access (sink, help handle, chemical toilet with cistern); first examination room for patient triage; operating dental room; radiological room. The access of disabled people in wheelchairs is guaranteed by the presence of an electro-hydraulic platform. The vehicle is equipped with an external tent to welcome and stop patients. Out of the way, Red Cross staff will refer patients and give the first information.
The vehicle also guarantees maximum safety: it is equipped for disinfection and sterilization procedures; it is equipped with a stabilization system that eliminates vehicle oscillations while people are on board; it is equipped with a networked computer with an Internet connection; a tablet allows you to avoid the use of any paper support. In addition, the vehicle is equipped with a generator to make it autonomous in terms of energy, where there is no connection to the electricity grid; the rooms are air-conditioned.
