A project dedicated to telemedicine
helps patients with complex illnesses during the COVID-19
pandemic, such as children suffering from neuromuscular
pathologies. The initiative is part of "Contactless, No Place Is
Far Away", a scheme started by the Agostino Gemelli Policlinico
University Foundation in Rome.
The project emerged at the second ANSA INCONTRA session on the
theme of women and neuromuscular pathologies, published on
ANSA.IT. The initiative is part of the Donnenmd project, a
training and information scheme promoted by Rome's Nemo clinical
centre in collaboration with the Agostino Gemelli Policlinico
University Irccs.
"Families who have patients with neuromuscular diseases at home
are much more afraid of COVID because the respiratory issues are
very important", says Marika Pane, clinical director of the
paediatric area of the Nemo Centre. "What we advise them to do
is to follow the contagion prevention norms very well". "In the
emergency phase, we tried to keep up life-saving, experimental
and necessary therapies," Pane added. "But for chronic patients
who did not have an urgent need to go to hospital, we started
the project 'Contactless, No Place Is Far Away', with which we
created a telemedicine service in various steps".
"We contact the family on an app created by the Gemelli
Foundation, guaranteeing our presence at a distance, according
to the patients' needs and demands. Furthermore, we have created
more than 80 educational videos for families in order to teach
them how to do the physiotherapy," Pane went on. "We absolutely
did not want our patients to feel alone, and that is why we
believed this project could make them really feel close to our
continual help".
"We have activated a process of remote 'parent training'," says
Daniela Chieffo, a psychologist and psychotherapist in the
hospital psychology service of the Agostino Gemelli Policlinico
University Irccs, as well as general psychology lecturer at the
Università Cattolica. "Each time we meet the families we address
specific issues. By sharing, we find a good fit with them. The
ability to express one's own emotions is helping to interpret
the COVID experience".
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