A brand-new operating theatre, provided with the latest keyhole-surgery equipment, is now available to surgeons at the Santa Maria della Scaletta hospital of Imola. This 280,000-Euro facility has been fully financed by Sacmi, confirming the company’s attention to the needs of the community and underlining the truly cooperative nature of our enterprise.
The inauguration took place on 21st October, even though the facility had already been fully operative for some weeks and some fifty operations - mostly breast and video-laparoscopy- had already been completed. Featuring highly advanced technology, the operating theatre will largely be used for complex surgery procedures, mostly in the laparoscopy or long-duration fields. New keyhole surgery techniques allow for faster patient recovery in that they are less invasive, yet they do require the highly advanced instruments and specialised personnel.
The socio-economic and health sectors of Imola “might seem worlds apart”, points out Imola’s Local Health Authority Manager, Mario Tubertini, “yet the truth is that they can be mutually advantageous. A good health service requires good local socio-economic conditions, while the latter itself benefits from an efficient public health program”. The concept of “community-based quality”, is just as dear to Imola’s health councillor, who stated that “Sacmi’s donation enhances the quality of our hospital. Today, quality is a vital element in any modern health service and must not be the reserve of a few but a benefit to all”. Thanks to this new facility, the Local Health Authority goes on to note, there is a double dose of benefits: firstly, surgical services can now be improved and differentiated to include the most modern operating techniques and, secondly, this “latest arrival” will act as a welcome relief facility when the existing five operating theatres are renewed.
For Sacmi, this latest community commitment also means continuity. Back in 1989, when the hospital had just been opened, the Group donated the first CAT scanner. “So when, in 2004, we celebrated the cooperative’s 85th anniversary”, Sacmi’s President Domenico Olivieri proudly tells us, “this latest donation - which meets the hospital’s need for a new operating theatre - seemed like a natural progression”. Sacmi is just as attentive to its workers’ health as it is to the community: members and employees (past and present) all get regular check-ups and the in-factory safety and environmental regulations are second to none. “We’re proud”, adds Olivieri, “of the fact that, while we’ve grown enormously, we’ve stayed faithful to the concept of cooperation and the principles that led nine unemployed mechanics to found our cooperative in 1919”.