Finalborgo in northwest Italy is considered one of the most beautiful villages in Italy and the pearl of Western Liguria. It is in this splendid medieval village that a momentous gathering took place on 31 January. This was a celebration attended by the very people who were being celebrated – the community that had worked together to make this picturesque part of the western Ligurian Riviera the first Angels Region in Italy.
Silvia Ripamonti, Angels team leader for Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Italy, presented the regional strategy and congratulated the hospitals, schools and EMS on reaching the goals that took Savona to Angels Region status. Region status requires that hospitals and EMS in the stroke network meet the minimum standard for an ESO or EMS Angels Award, and sets targets for FAST Heroes implementation. Elisa Salvati, the Angels consultant responsible for the region, is on the left.
Angels co-founder and global project lead Jan van der Merwe (here with Angels consultant Elisa Salvati) thanked the big and small heroes in the audience for their role in making Savona a safe region for stroke.
The Angels Regions strategy is informed by the idea that “if one doesn’t do it, no one can do it”. Or put another way, for one to succeed, everyone must succeed. Everyone in the Auditorium di Santa Caterina had played a role in achieving Angels Region status for Savona. These included more than 50 children and their teachers along with mayors and municipal councillors, directors of neurology and neuroradiology departments, doctors and nurses, EMS, coordinators of the regional stroke network and of the Italian Stroke Association, and the president and representatives of the stroke patient association, ALICe.
Students from the schools Dottor Sordo, Papa Giovanni XXIII and Primaria Borgio Verezzi sang the FAST Heroes song about stroke symptoms and the “magic” number 112 to call an ambulance.
Papa Giovanni XIII is second on the FAST Heroes leaderboard for Italy. Here they enjoy a moment of the celebration with their teachers and the president of ALICe, Andrea Vianello.
A special moment for proud teachers Gloria Fossati and Livia Pastorino from Dottor Sordo and Papa Giovanni XXIII in Pietra Ligure, and Barbara Parodi from Borgio Verezzi. With them on the right is Andrea Vianello, president of the stroke patient association, ALICe.
The EMS team 118 Savona Soccorso achieved diamond status in the EMS Angels Award in quarters two and four of 2024. Here their director, Dr Danilo Cimolato, receives the award from Jan van der Merwe. Angels consultant for the region, Elisa Salvati, is on the right.
Dr Tiziana Tassinari (second from right) is director of Neurology and the Stroke Unit at the Santa Corona hospital in Pietra Ligure. Since 2020, her hospital has won six gold and two platinum awards. She is joined by (from left) Elisa Salvati, Jan van der Merwe and Silvia Ripamonti.
Dr Giuseppina Manno is head teacher of the Istituto Comprensivo Pietra Ligure, one of six schools that helped the province of Savona become an Angels Region.
From left, Elisa Salvati, Jan van der Merwe, Andrea Vianello of the patient association ALICe, Dr Tiziana Tassinari, Director of Neurology and the Stroke Unit at the Santa Corona hospital in Pietra Ligure, , Silvia Riaponte and Prof. Massimo Del Sette, coordinator of the Italian Stroke Association (ISA-AII) Liguria.
They made it happen. Living proof of the power of community are Barbara Parodi, Livia Pastorino, Maria Luisa De Giorgi, Caterina Maffongelli, Danilo Cimolato, Cinzia Finocchi, Tiziana Tassinari, Riccardo Padolecchia, Elisa Salvati, Silvia Ripamonti, Jan van der Merwe, Mauro Boetto, Michela Vignone, Veronica Aicardi and Luigi De Vincenzi.
