Story of Adriana, a recent graduate fromUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma who successfully managed the birth of a very young migrant off the coast of Trapani

August 7, 2016 - Passion, skills and heart: decisive ingredients for every doctor. Especially if you are called to ensure that a young migrant, just gathered off the Trapani coast, and the baby who has just given birth on the immense deck of an Irish military ship, in the middle of the Sicilian Channel, can reach safely the mainland. It is the story of Adriana Gianno, 26 years old, until a year ago a student in Medicine and Surgery at theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma. Since last June 15th, Adriana has been in the Continuity of Care service of the Provincial Health Authority of Trapani, on the island of Marettimo. Area daily affected by the landing of immigrants fleeing wars, violence and poverty.

Among the fugitives, a few weeks ago, a 23-year-old in an advanced state of pregnancy crossed paths and fates with Adriana, who recounts:

"The Port Authority contacted the garrison at approximately 20.00: it was necessary to assist a woman who had just given birth on a military ship. I rushed right away, with me also a resident midwife on the island, who volunteered to help me. The Coast Guard took us by raft to the ship. Get on board, we reached the bridge, the migrants were all there. Even the young new mother. The birth, fortunately, had taken place in the utmost naturalness, both she and the baby were fine".

Quickly, the young doctor takes matters into his own hands and, together with the midwife, carries out all the necessary monitoring interventions to avoid possible complications. Then, he arranges the assisted return by dinghy to the coast.

 

A potentially complex situation even for expert healthcare professionals, which however does not seem to have disturbed the new doctor too much. “Thanks to the excellent collaboration with the Capitaneria and 118 – says Adriana – we landed without problems in Marettimo and we arranged the necessary for the transfer of the two patients to the Sant'Antonio Abate hospital in Trapani”. It's just after 23.30 pm, the surgery ended happily. For her, however, that was not a shift like the others. “I had an unparalleled experience, a gift from the medical profession, especially from a human point of view. Seeing so many people in those precarious conditions, bewildered and at the same time full of hope, cannot leave one indifferent. Each with its own story and with a fortitude not even remotely imaginable".

Adriana's ability is the fruit of the 'school' of the Campus Bio-Medico. She confirms it herself: “One of the most important experiences for me was the attendance of the Internal Medicine department with Prof. Costantino, certainly a great master of professionalism, as well as an exemplary model in the doctor-patient relationship”. Adriana's mission is enclosed entirely in a sentence that she, she wants to say, is not hers, but she has been able to make her own: "Let us always remember that we are human".