Staying closed in a structure for elderly for fifteen days and fifteen nights, to avoid contagion, and to put people with greater frailty at risk. A real seclusion, but different. Among the many Italian stories there is also this: Antonella Galluzzo is a nurse who worked in a Lombard RSA, the "Domus Patrizia". With a colleague, they cared for eighty elderly people for fifteen days, without ever leaving the facility. His message of encouragement gives hope, especially in these weeks when on the one hand the number of gods is decreasing contagions, it is precisely the nursing homes that record the greatest number of deaths. We tell you the testimony of the nurse Antonella.
Nurse Antonella, a testimony of courage
“That was my house because I felt useful” and now that she is back in her home, however, she feels in prison. Because the service to the elderly not only gratified her from a working point of view, but it taught her how important it is to give hope even to those in difficulty. The nurse Antonella together with another colleague assisted the elderly of the structure, sleeping a few hours a night on a mattress on the floor and depriving themselves of many things. Such as going out of the balcony to get some air, to avoid setting a bad example. In fact, the fear is that even one of the elderly could get sick: the spread of virus it would have been inevitable.
The total closure of the structure: the nurse Antonella tells us, a system that worked
To avoid the contagion, detailed group work has been started. The five-storey Milanese structure was completely closed to the outside. With the nurse Antonella also thirteen social and health workers and a cleaner. In case of emergency a doctor who was outside. Inevitable discussions and conflicts, Antonella told Agi, “but in front of ours elderly we are always united and attentive to their every need ".
A detailed organization to survive
Tight shifts to provide assistance and make sure the elderly do not miss anything: and then beds in the gym, or in the medical room. There are those who slept those few hours a night in the hairdresser's, in the closet or in the archive. "Meals in the canteen, with food entering the trolleys and with all the precautions, service bathrooms - he said -. There was a group chat between who was in and who was out. At one point, I timidly asked if a mocha for coffee was possible. They arrived the day after two, and what a great joy that coffee not from the machine ”.
Experience with the elderly
Inevitably living in close contact with the elderly, relationships and interactions with them also change. Who perhaps did not understand this moment of difficulty, who instead had the clarity to understand everything. "In my experience - underlined the nurse Antonella -, there is no total dementia, there are always moments in which you understand and everyone, even the most serious, has something to communicate to you.. Sometimes I took off my gloves to caress them, make them feel less alone because there were no family members. By protocol I could not have done it but I was sure that the virus had not penetrated without inputs from outside. I am proud to have become friends with a grumpy lady with everyone. I won it with some daily pocket coffees ".
A service made not only of assistance, but also of human relationships, of bonds. And then the inevitable virtual contacts with the outside world with family members, through video calls with the telephone.
Life outside the structure: empty
Nurse Antonella is 59 years old. She is the widow and mother of a 20-year-old girl. She decided to work in the facility to put herself at the service of those in difficulty in this period of emergency. On her return home, she just slept and thought about this experience that changed her profoundly. “At the beginning I felt sad and without adrenaline - he added -, now it's better, I also remember many funny moments. I would do it all a thousand times ".
