Bolzano Mobile Clinic: A Camper for the Homeless

A mobile clinic to provide healthcare and treatment to the homeless in Bolzano, even during the Covid-19 emergency. It was set up by Volontarius non-profit network in collaboration with the White Cross of Bolzano, the Weisses Kreuz Bozen.

The goal is to provide healthcare and pharmaceutical assistance to people living on the streets, as the health crisis risks being twofold for them due to limited access to healthcare services at clinics or hospitals.

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MOBILE CLINIC BOLZANO

Soul of the project, together with the many volunteers involved with the Volontarius Group, it's the doctor's Lucia Pappalardo, a pediatrician and full-time employee of the mobile clinic, especially these days, when requests for help have multiplied.

At each exit of the camper, dozens of homeless people turn to the care of the 4 doctors who take turns in the clinic, coordinated by Dr. Alessandro Scrinzi.

For those living on a bench, under an overpass, or under a porch, the present moment is even more difficult: they feel alone, disoriented, even more vulnerable. And often, they don't even turn to the most basic assistance services.

This is why we set up a camper van like a doctor's office, to reach the most suspicious and hidden pockets of social suffering.

IIn a permanent garrison in front of the day and night reception centre in Via Comini, where around one hundred people are hosted, the medic often goes to Piazza Verdi, in front of the canteen building, to intercept the demand for assistance from those receiving assistance services. The requests are diverse, as are the patients' ages and medical conditions: from thirty to sixty, all with issues related to homelessness. Allergies, eczema, skin, intestinal, and respiratory problems. Many, many people require psychological or psychiatric support because they bear the scars of a difficult life, as is the case with refugees. These people lack access to primary care physicians and are not registered by the national health service, either because they are foreigners or undocumented, or because they come from another city. Many of them, in fact, as Dr. Pappalardo explained in an interview with the Alto Adige newspaper, arrived in Bolzano looking for work and were left stranded by the lockdown.

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MEDICAL CAMPER VOLUNTEER GROUP

Too often, the problem is the lack of basic information about accessing healthcare services, or the attitude of some doctors who, overworked and overwhelmed with patients, leave requests for help from people in need on hold.

This is why the work of the mobile clinic is essential: it makes up for the shortcomings of the healthcare system, relying exclusively on the voluntary work of doctors and nurses and donations from citizens. Together with the Volontarius Group, it has established a virtuous circle: starting, for example, with donation of medicines, which are donated to the "solidarity pharmacy" by citizens, both male and female, as well as by Dr. Martina Felder, owner of a pharmacy in the center of Bolzano and supplies most of the necessary medicines.

The pandemic has significantly reduced the number of camper outings, threatening to wipe out the care network established before the emergency: for example, contacts with some dentists within the Outpatient Clinic for Foreigners, or visits at fixed times that allow for more organization and coverage.
Volontarius's work, however, continues, and they are always looking for fellow therapists and nurses who want to do good, as well as funds to survive and help those who have nothing at least get better, relying only on their own strength.

(Images highlighted and accompanying the text taken from the Facebook page of the Volontarius Group)

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