The SIAARTI Academy (Italian Society of Anaesthesia, Analgesia and Intensive Care) took over 160 delegates for a four-day training event on the island of Lampedusa recently. Issues of emergency medicine were also under discussion.
For this first edition of the SIAARTI Academy, the association and global PCO AIM Group International considered the destination of Lampedusa, one of Italy’s Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean, as an appropriate host, with its recent history of migrant boat landings and major socio-sanitary challenges.
Lampedusa is well acquainted with human suffering and known for its ability to handle emergencies and organisers also wanted to demonstrate that Lampedusa can be home to events, congresses and educational initiatives.
The event closed with a simulation in collaboration with the Coast Guard and the Military Corps of the Italian Red Cross. The sinking of a boat was simulated and field hospitals were situated on the beach. The 100 specialists were divided into groups that played different roles such as the wounded, rescuers and observers. This situation was a test of their ability to implement what they had learned in the previous days.
Organisers said the educational value of bringing the academy to Lampedusa outweighed any logistic complexities, saying “as in many other examples, it is more important to adapt the organisation to the territory”.
Gaia Santoro, project manager for AIM Group International, said: “When in September 2016 we first made our site inspection with the client, we thought that the numbers would be around 60 and that we would need two or three conference rooms. However, much to the surprise and satisfaction of all, 38 of 39 post-graduate schools participated. Now the challenge was to manage a group of over 160 people in 16 small conference rooms and to organise a very large simulation outside. Of course, you have to be visionary and adapt to the situation but participants’ energy, enthusiasm and team spirit made the hard work pay off.”
The SIAARTI Academy was realised thanks to the patronage and support of the Italian Emergency Relief Body of the Order of Malta (CISOM) and the City of Lampedusa.
AIM Group said the event was an example of the meeting industry creating social and economic legacies in the development of a region while contributing to a very worthy endeavour.
