OMCeO Venice. Caring for the Earth: Venice in Health to the challenge of the environment
Caring for the Earth: Venice in Health to the challenge of the environment
The event scheduled for 24 and 25 September
Environment and health are the two challenges on which the future of the planet is at stake and which must see every citizen personally involved. Challenges that not even doctors, dentists and health professionals can no longer escape from. Hence the idea of dedicating the twelfth edition of Venezia in Salute (# VIS2022)which finally returns live after two years of initiatives produced, in fact only virtual, due to the pandemic.
Caring for the Earth, the Environment is Health the title of this edition, organized by the lagoon OMCeO, with its cultural operational arm, the Ars Medica Foundation, the Municipality of Venice and, for the first time, with the Venetian section of ISDE (Italian Association of Doctors for the Environment) .
Born in 2022 from a happy intuition of Maurizio Scassola, in 2022 Venezia in Salute returns to its original format with the scientific conference, scheduled for Saturday 24 September and open to all, and the meeting in the citizens’ square with institutions, structures and the associations that provide health care on Sunday 25 September.
The location, on the other hand, is completely new, albeit always in the heart of Mestre: from Piazzetta Pellicani and via Palazzo, the exhibition moves this year to the area of the M9 Museum. «M9 has always been attentive to sustainability – explains Michele Bugliesi, president of the Venice Foundation – a word now abused, but we are talking about this. This union between environment and health, however, if in some ways it is evident, in others it must be explored with the discipline, with the scientific method. This is why we are happy to host Venezia in Salute which also has a social value: revitalizing the city center ».
“This year – underlines Giovanni Leoni, president of the Venetian OMCeO and vice president of FNOMCeO – we are dealing with the environment, a theme that, although it may not seem like it, recurs frequently in the doctor’s activity because it is an activity dedicated to man, to women and to the community. Venezia in Salute was born precisely to be the reference to good practices and physical exercise ». Among the objectives that have always been declared of the event: health education, a more direct communication with citizens and, to make everyone understand that they are primarily responsible for their own health.
“The bodies and associations – adds Gabriele Gasparini, president of the Ars Medica Foundation, presenting the program of the two days in detail – are the real protagonists of Venezia in Salute, which is made precisely for the fabric of our territory and which wants to be healthcare a showcase, so that the population sees what is there and to ensure that the associations know each other and form a network among themselves “.
The scientific conference on Saturday – also open this year to health workers and citizens – will be an opportunity to get in touch with some of the main issues that bind the environment and health in the Venetian territory: intensive agriculture and children’s health, Pfas and the food chain, the effects of smog, insights that will be illustrated by important speakers all linked to ISDE.
«The purpose of the association – explains the pediatrician Paolo Regini, president of the Venetian section, with whom the Order of Doctors started a collaboration at the beginning of 2022 – is to increase the knowledge and sensitivity of doctors on environmental issues. For this occasion, then, we have proposed to the subscribers a questionnaire, the results of which will be illustrated during the conference, to understand the degree of competence, inclination and interest on environmental issues of Venetian colleagues ».
This year too many bodies and institutions have decided to support the initiative, which boasts the patronage of the Veneto Region, the FNOMCeO, the ENPAM – Piazza della Salute, the Healthy Cities network and the two Venetian healthcare companies, Ulss 3 Serenissima and Ulss 4 Eastern Veneto, always alongside the Order for Venice in Health.
«With edition – underlines Edgardo Contato, general manager of Ulss 3 Serenissima – the doctors start thinking about a fundamental aspect for all of us, they take the ball in hand, they assume a significant responsibility. Becoming promoters of this theme is not a trivial matter. Starting from the origins to do science, culture and health is a great result ».
The environmental factors as health determinants is the aspect, instead, faced by Mauro Filippi, general manager of Ulss 4 Eastern Veneto. “What responsibility – he asks – do we doctors and health professionals have towards these issues? We can transmit information: we must not only cure, but we can ensure that people live better, with education and prevention … And it is precisely this challenge of the relationship between health and the environment. Illuminating this terrain, lighting a beacon on this issue is a great opportunity ».
Very important news this year, then, the expansion to other health professions. # VIS2022, in fact, no longer looks only at doctors and dentists, but also opens up to other professional orders with a view to cooperation and synergy.
Starting with the by now consolidated collaboration with the Order of Nursing Professions (OPI) Venice which, already close to Venice in Health in the past, has played a more active role this year. «This event has become the patrimony of all of us – says the president Marina Bottacin – and it is particularly reassuring for me to see the Orders of the health professions here working together. The theme of this year, then, is particularly significant for us because more and more nurses will be needed to guarantee assistance, for the prevention, management, control of those factors determined by style and living environment, the cause of all diseases. and degenerative that are increasing dramatically “.
The breadth of visions and the new dimension towards which Venezia in Salute is moving are treated, however, by Marina Semenzato, secretary of the Interprovincial Order of Midwives. “The health of a body – she added – of a place, of a planet make everyone live better: working in cooperation is fundamental”.
Among the gazebos that will be set up on Sunday there will also be that of the new TSRM – PSTRP Venice and Padua (health and rehabilitation technicians), established in 2018 and which gathers 19 health professions for a total of about 20 thousand professionals. “We take care of health at 360 degrees – explained the president Andrea Mask – there are technical aspects, we control the elements and environments, waste … But there are also new professions that behave in the rehabilitation of people and who know how to living environment should not be neglected. We will make all these activities known to the citizens on Sunday ».
And in an event that was born with a view to prevention and healthy lifestyles, the space dedicated to sport could not be missing. An integral part of # VIS2022, another novelty of this edition thanks to the collaboration with UISP Venice, is the Run Happy – Walking together is good for us and for the environment, a non-competitive running event, a free-pace race of 5 and 10 kilometers, open to all, scheduled for Saturday 24 September starting at 5 pm at the San Giuliano Park. «You cannot do sport – underlined the vice president of Uisp Venezia Paolo Peratoner – without paying attention to the environment. When we organize events we ask ourselves the problem of measuring the environmental impact, we make compensation actions by planting trees. But that’s not enough: we can play an important role from the point of view of educating people on more compatible behaviors ».
Between the M9 area, its Cloister and via Poerio, gazebos will be set up on Sunday 18 for a total of about thirty organizations, health facilities and associations present. The afternoon will be animated by Nicoletta Codato, social worker and member of the Scientific Committee of Ars Medica, and by the Cafè Sconcerto, who will alternate on the large stage set up in the Cloister for health projects implemented by the protagonists of the Venetian healthcare. Grand finale, at 6.30 pm, with the concert of the Magical Mystery Orchestra The Beatles: from fame to legend.
«Environment and health – concluded Dr. Gasparini – are inseparable, words for fragile realities, but which have many things in common. They are connected, interdependent things. We health professionals do not know the size of the footprint we produce. Everyone is responsible for the environment, but we must be more so. In which direction do we want to go? With this edition of Venezia in Salute we begin to ask ourselves ».
author: Editorial board