The initiative in collaboration with the Regional School Office
20 April 2017 - A packed auditorium, this time not by university students but by middle school children in Rome. Accompanied by their teachers, over 400 of them arrived at theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma to be welcomed by an audience of specialists, on a day dedicated to prevention and education on a correct lifestyle.
At the heart of the initiativeSeeds of present', promoted in collaboration with the Regional School Office, the issues related to the risk of cigarette smoking as well as the issue of alcohol abuse. Specialists like Pierfilippo Crucitti e Antonio Picardi, respectively head of the Thoracic Surgery and Hepatology units of the University Hospital, together with the pulmonologist Simone Scarlata and the pediatrician Pietro Ferrara, weaved an interactive dialogue with the very young people who showed interest and participation in the questions.
"Does the e-cigarette hurt less?”, “Why is it possible to buy harmful products such as cigarettes?”, “Is it true that you can drink a glass of wine a day and if so, how do you measure the right amount?”. Doctors have responded to these and many other requests by warning of the concrete risks that unfortunately we already run as children if we approach the known vices on the market. "85% of lung cancers are caused by smoking," warned Dr. Crucitti who has been promoting 'A breath for life' for years, free screening campaign aimed at detecting lung cancer as early as possible.
The testimony of a boy who was the victim of a road accident after driving after drinking was effective from a prevention perspective. With emotion Andrea he recounted his 50 days in a coma, the eight months of hospital stay and the difficulties he still encounters today due to the damage suffered following the accident.
During the awareness day, with the contribution of Roberto Sacco, head of the Neurodevelopmental Disorders Service UCBM, there was also talk of the other addictions that concern the delicate phases of the child's life, from telephones to video games through gambling and drugs. There was also a parenthesis on nutrition and sport by the gastroenterologist UCBM Sara Emerenziani and by the teacher of Sports Sciences at the University of Magna Graecia of Catanzaro Gian Pietro Emerenziani, followed by a focus on the risks and possibilities of the Internet illustrated by the deputy commissioner Emanuela Napoli and the deputy commissioner Marco Valerio Cervellini.
To crown the morning of the little students the musical performance of children's choir of the Istituto Comprensivo Largo San Pio V together with the Band of the State Police Corps. On the notes of the Italian and European anthems, the eventful meeting ended and continued with a picnic in the Decima Malafede park in which the university structures are immersed.
