CORONAVIRUS: EMERGENCY Works On a New Hospital at Fiera Di Bergamo

At the request of Lombardy’s regional government, EMERGENCY has begun working in the town of Bergamo, the province hit worst by the coronavirus epidemic.

Our medical and logistics team is working with Azienda Regionale Emergenza Urgenza (AREU) and the medical corps of the Alpini mountain troops to set up a new field hospital purely for treating patients affected by COVID-19. The hospital will be built at Fiera di Bergamo, the town’s exhibition and trade fair centre, and should be fully operational by next week.

EMERGENCY is collaborating on the design for the new facility, offering its experience in managing epidemics, thanks to its work on Ebola in Sierra Leone in 2014 and 2015, where it protected staff from contagion.

EMERGENCY’s team of approximately 20 people will consist of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, and logisticians, who will run the intensive and sub-intensive care wards.

‘We have reorganised the areas and patient flows to reduce the chance of contagion as much as possible. Every detail at the facility is essential to containing the disease. It’s crucial to separate every area, clearly define the places for dressing and undressing, and thoroughly plan any movement of people in advance. We’re offering the experience we gained in Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic, and to do that we’ve brought back some of our staff who were working abroad. We want to do our part at such a difficult time for Italy,’ says Rossella Miccio, President of EMERGENCY.

To find out more about EMERGENCY’s work combating COVID-19, see: THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK: HERE IS WHAT WE ARE DOING.