Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-12-07)

57

GENERAL DIRECTOR

STEFANOFAGIUOLI,

DEPARTMENTOFMEDICINE

DIRECTOR

HEAD OF PREVENTION AND

ALBERICOCASATI,

TECHNICALANDASSET

DIRECTOR

BERGAMO,ITALY●Workersatthehospitalrisked

theirlivestotreatpatientsduringapandemicthat’s

seenmorethan60,000medicalworkersinItaly

contractCovid-19,partofaglobalonslaughtthat’s

killedover7,000health-careprovidersworldwide.

WhenthecoronavirushittheWest,thehospital

workersofNorthernItalywagedthebeachhead

battles.Amongthehardest-hithospitalswas

PapaGiovanni.OnFeb.21,thedayit recorded

itsfirstCovid-19case,it had 48 bedsforinfec-

tiousdiseasepatientsandanintensive-careunit

withonlyeight.Withinweeks,PapaGiovanni

washousingabout 550 Covidpatients,including

100 in anexpandedICU.AssickenedItaliansover-

whelmedtheemergencyroom,thevirusspread

amongstaff.About 400 outof4,500workersat

thehospitalandnearbysatellitefacilitiesfellill.

Italy’snationaldoctors’guildhastalliedmore

than 200 dead;countlessnurses,cleaners,and

food-serviceworkershavealsolosttheirlives.

Globally,duringthefirstwave,about14%of

Covid-19caseswereamongmedicalworkers,

accordingtotheWorldHealthOrganization.

At Papa Giovanni, the numbersof Covid

patientshadtickedupfrom nearzerointhe

summertothemid-double-digitsin lateOctober,

whenBloombergBusinessweekinterviewedstaff.

Hereareeditedexcerpts,translatedfromItalian,

ofthestoriestheytoldaboutthosedesperate

firstdays.�GiulioGhirardiandVernonSilver

RIZZI:It wastiring.It wassad,

becausemanypeoplewere

dead.Butwehadourmecha-

nisms.Onewastotakea walk

throughtheemergencyroom.

Whenyousawtheexplosive

situationintheemergency

room,themotivationcame.

STASI:Itwasterribledays,

withreallystrongemotions—

firstly,becauseI livedpartof

theexperienceathomehaving

contractedCovid.

Nomanagementschool

canteachhowtoconfront

whatwewentthrough.Youfind

energyyoudidn’tknowyouhad.

FAGIUOLI:Inthemiddleofmy

dutiesorganizingtheresponse,

I alsobecamesick.Fora week,

I wasworried,becauseI didn’t

knowhowit wouldgo.When

I understoodI wasfortunate,

thatit wouldallgowell,I got

increasinglyangryaboutnot

beingabletoreturnquickly

tothehospitaltohelpmycol-

leagues,whowereswamped.

LORINI: We constructed

thismarvelous“cathedral”:

100 ICUbedsofpatientsall

intubatedatthesametime

and 500 patients in the rest of

the hospital.

I’m sure we’ll have a vac-

cine and return to a world

that’s pretty normal—until the

next pandemic.

FERRARI: There was enor-

mous difficulty getting pro-

tective equipment, and this

hospital needed a lot. For me

and my team, it was a big test

to procure it to deal with the

daily need. Nationally, given

the numbers, we weren’t pre-

pared to manage a pandemic.

CASATI: We feared that the

equipment wouldn’t meet the

needs of the patients and med-

ical staff. We had to manage

the situation continually, min-

ute to minute, and because

there were moments when we

exceeded the limits of the sys-

tem, we had to be careful that

it could all still work.

I tried not to reflect on

what was happening in my

city, the continual wailing of

ambulances.

B Photograph by Giulio Ghirardi