Affected by cerebral hemorrhage. The call to 118 left at 13. Only at 16 did he enter the hospital, in a coma. Meanwhile: the Areus helicopter did not take off, during the journey to Cagliari there was a transfer from one ambulance to another. "We don't know, no one knows, whether the timeliness of the rescue would have changed the mother's fate and clinical picture, but I am sure that three hours to get to the hospital from anywhere in Sardinia is too much".

The story of Caterina Deidda, from Laconi , is long and detailed, recounting the vicissitudes experienced by her mother Carmela Zaccheddu starting from last January 14, when she ended up on the ground in her house in the village of Sarcidano due to a sudden illness. He does it now that his mother is gone. Because after the time "of care, of pain and, in the end, of goodbyes, now is the time for questions, clarity and regret".

The case has already been brought to the attention of the regional council: a question has been presented to understand why the air ambulance did not take off, despite the seriousness of the situation.

The elderly woman, 84, suffered a hemorrhage. «Mom was loaded onto a base ambulance with the medical guard on board which left from Laconi without having a precise destination and was transferred near Nureci in a medicalized ambulance coming from Ales. Brotzu was communicated as its destination only at 3 pm», says Deidda, who adds: «The vehicle had to make a few stops because the patient was ill and, probably, there was not enough space inside the vehicle to intervene without stopping. Delaying the arrival at the emergency room even more ».

In the hospital, three hours later, the woman underwent emergency surgery. «I wonder and wonder», the daughter now continues, «if the right to health, given episodes like these, is truly a universal right in all parts of Sardinia. Or if the timeliness of interventions and safety is linked to the place where you were born and where you choose to stay and live».

After the operation, the elderly woman remained in intensive care for 20 days "where she was looked after with all imaginable and possible attention and we relatives were taken care of with great empathy".

But then came the transfer to Neurosurgery: «Even in systems and organizations that don't work very well, people make the difference», explains Deidda, «but if they lose humanity, empathy and ability to see, listen and welcome fragile people, they made a mistake work and produce damage and pain. I would like to point this out above all to those operators who left my mother for three days in the same nightgown, to those doctors who, faced with a "can I talk to you?" they said no and turned their backs.

The woman from Laconi underlines that «in this month of penance I have asked myself many times how people who do not have networks, skills and supports can do it. As?"

Henry Fresu

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