“We are actively proposing vaccination” at home and in places of care but “it is difficult, for an ASP like ours, to reach all elderly people. We can “try” to intercept them through the general practitioner, who however is already overwhelmed “with many activities. Precisely for this reason, “an information booklet that the doctor can distribute to the elderly person who goes to his clinic” can be useful. This is how Martino Rizzo, health director of the Provincial Health Authority (ASP) of Cosenza, explains the initiative carried out with the non-conditioning support of GSK and the collaboration with the Maya Ideas agency, which led to the distribution, in the territory, of 5 thousand copies of an information leaflet on the vaccination of frail and elderly subjects which takes up the indications contained in the 'Vaccination offer for subjects belonging to categories at risk for pathologies' protocol of the Asp Cosenza itself.
“We started from an assessment of the population – continues Rizzo – The over 65s are starting to be an important percentage of the population: we are at over 23%, therefore approximately one person in every 4. Furthermore we have a ratio between over 65s and the 0- population 14 years which is higher than the national average. Older people generally have chronic conditions. About 40% have at least 2 pathologies, the others have a higher number. In these subjects, an infection such as the flu can make the situation worse. We are therefore trying to direct our efforts with a series of initiatives dedicated to the elderly population – he adds – The most important are vaccinations against pneumococcus, which is responsible for serious pneumonia, and against Herpes zoster, known as shingles Antonio, which is particularly painful and with even serious complications due to possible ocular involvement or cornic pain from post herpetic neuropathy”.
“We must also consider that, especially in our territories, there may be fragilities also due to social problems”. Currently “we are actively offering” vaccination “with the home care service – explains the Cosenza health director – It is offered to those who are taken care of by integrated home care (Adi). The other sector in which we are working are nursing homes and residences for the elderly (RSA)”, where there was already a path activated for anti-Covid.
“It is an ongoing activity – reflects Rizzo – but good information is essential, also to overcome resistance towards vaccinations whose benefits”, however, “are amply demonstrated, if we consider how once deadly infectious diseases have disappeared” In this regard, the information leaflet distributed in general medical clinics is designed to “raise citizens' awareness of the need to protect themselves from certain infections, arouse interest, provide them with a starting point of information on which they can then ask their doctor for any clarifications”. general medicine – he specifies – But the project, to disseminate information as much as possible, also involves the involvement of local mass media and the online network”.
Meanwhile, the digital flyer was published in March on the Maya Idee Sud website. Access is possible for both healthcare workers and patients after registering on the site. “But the brochure works better in the elderly population – observes Rizzo – It is a job that is expected to take quite a long time and it is a job that must be repeated annually because, if some are vaccinations that are administered 'one-off', on the flu shot – he concludes – we must always insist, every autumn, to reduce the damage” in terms of hospitalizations and deaths “that occur every year due to the complications of the flu alone”.
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