TERLANO. Access to a specialist visit is very difficult and stressful for those living in a retirement home: transport to hospital, waiting time, interruption of daily routine. For this reason the Italian Red CrossCommittee of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – Alto Adige (CRI), in collaboration with theAssociation of retirement homes (ARpA) has launched a new project and presented it today in the RSA of Terlano: specialist visits made directly inside the residences for the elderly by volunteer medical specialists of the CRI.
“We are constantly receiving new requests. The challenge is to find enough volunteer doctors to take care of the services,” he explains Frank Perino, retired dermatology specialist. He who took over the coordination of the project and is also a volunteer doctor of the project. “However, our team of volunteer medical specialists is becoming always bigger». «The voluntary specialists – continues the dermatologist – are able to solve many of the patients’ problems directly on the spot and of exchange information with the health personnel of the facility to obtain information useful for the diagnosis. We greatly appreciate the good cooperation with the nursing home physicians and the nursing home staff. It’s also easier to pass on information to relatives.”