Several days of free specialist medical visits for people in economic and social difficulty were held at the parish centers of Santa Maria della Neve in Riparo-Cannavò and Santa Maria di Loreto in Ortì in the city area of Reggio Calabria, carried out by volunteer doctors specializing in angiology, cardiology, gastroenterology, emergency medicine of maxillofacial surgery, nephrology, pulmonology, rheumatology and pain therapy. The preventative health care days were sponsored by the Reggio Calabria Citizens Committees of the Italian Red Cross and the Hospital Volunteers Association.
Participating in the initiatives, and representing the Section of the City of Reggio Calabria of the Calabrian Delegation of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George were: Dr. Emanuele Nazario Scarlata, Knight of Merit with Silver Star; Dr. Antonio Barbalace, Knight of Merit; Dr. Rosy Perrone, Dame of Merit; Dr. Marco Umberto Scaramozzino, Knight of Office; and Dr. Attilio Attinà, Dr. Alessandro La Pira and Dr. Susanna Quattrone, postulants. Spiritual and religious support was provided by Father Giovanni Gattuso and Father Giovanni Zappalà, Chaplains of Merit.
The creator-organizer, Dr. Emanuele Nazario Scarlata, Knight of Merit with Silver Star, stated: “Our initiatives are a means of reducing long waiting lists in public health care. Unfortunately, it is painful to note that there are many invisible immigrants in a serious state of health, unable to access treatment for the most varied reasons. The appreciation is a confirmation of how well we are doing.”
The interim Delegate for Calabria, H.E. the Marquis Pierluigi Sanfelice di Bagnoli, Knight Grand Cross of Justice, Lieutenant for Southern Peninsular Italy of the Royal Commission for Italy, declared: “It is important and necessary to reach all segments of the population, who cannot access for the most varied reasons preventive medical visits. Prevention is necessary to avoid possible serious worsening of pathologies, providing those who cannot seek treatment due to economic weakness or distance from health centers with the same rights and opportunities as the more fortunate. This is a path we have undertaken that we will continue to follow, encouraging and further involving more and more branches of medicine, so that we can guarantee free and preventative access to health.”
