The “National Relief Day”, Promoted by the Ghirotti Foundation, together with the Ministry of Health and the Conference of the Regions, with the aim of sensitizing all civil society to the experience of pain relief, both physical and emotional. The Day, established in 2001, this year is celebrated on May 29, and the Italian Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association (Aisla) renews its commitment in the field of palliative care, training and information.
“It is essential to overcome the rhetoric of ethical duty because we must all commit ourselves to make good clinical practice concrete for a full humanization of care.. It is known, in fact, that an incurable disease brings with it great suffering, physical, psychological, social and spiritual. This condition heavily affects the lives of people forced to live with a severe disease such as ALS, as well as that of our loved ones who care for us every day “, he says. Fulvia Massimellinational president of the Italian Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association (Aisla).
ThereRelief culture‘is the cornerstone of the day and of Law 38/2010, one of the best laws in Europe and thanks to which for the first time in Italy access to palliative care and pain therapy is guaranteed in the context of the essential levels of assistance (Lea) “, says Stefania Bastianello, technical director of Aisla.”The law is still unfinished. An important implementing decree is still missing, which concerns the tariffs to be applied uniformly on the national territory. Our country can count on over 5 thousand volunteers who actively integrate palliative care services. This volunteering is special, it means having skills and abilities “.
The alarming fact – reads a note from Aisla – is that, despite more than 10 years have passed since the approval of the national law, there are still too few citizens and sick people who know about palliative care and their right to access it. According to the latest available data from the Observatory for the monitoring of pain therapy and palliative care, in Italy only 45% of people are aware of the legislation, over 65% are unaware that healthcare facilities are required to measure and report pain and 40% are unaware of the treatments that can be implementedalthough almost all pain syndromes are treatable.
Promoting and witnessing, through information and through awareness-raising and solidarity initiatives, the culture of relief is a thread that unites many realities involved in assistance. With this spirit, the Aisla representatives of Pistoia and Prato, in collaboration with the Ausl Toscana Centro, organized a moment of discussion on the theme of palliative care and ALS. The appointment is for Saturday 28 May at 5.30 pm at the Mcl club in Valdibrana (reservation required by contacting the numbers 335 74560041 or 347 3586947).
Considering the particular moment experienced in the last two years and the repercussions that the Covid-19 epidemic has had on our health system – concludes the note – it is essential to enhance the commitment made by all health professionals of the NHS as evidence of the proximity to suffering person, whose centrality and dignity are cornerstones of the ‘culture of relief’.
