Infoday in Piedimonte presents project progress and new initiatives developed through cooperation between Italy and Slovenia
On Wednesday, 16 September, an Infoday was held in Piedimonte (Gorizia), organised by GECT GO as part of the SANITAS project – Cross-border cooperation for joint action in primary healthcare in the event of natural disasters, co-financed by the European Union under the Interreg VI-A Italy–Slovenia 2021–2027 Programme.
The event provided an opportunity to present the progress of the project to local residents and, above all, to show how the cooperation developed between partners and professional services on both sides of the border is already generating concrete initiatives and benefits for local communities.
Following the opening remarks by Gorizia Municipal Councillor Silvana Romano and GECT GO Director Romina Kocina, project developments were presented by Tanja Dimitrijević from the Municipality of Ajdovščina and Ezio Benedetti from GECT GO.
One of the highlights of the event was the presentation of the first cross-border BLSD (Basic Life Support and Defibrillation) course for Italian and Slovenian citizens, which will be organised in the coming months. The course will result from cooperation between the training services of Zdravstveni dom Nova Gorica and ASUGI and the Podgora Cultural Association. The initiative was developed through the cooperation network established within SANITAS and represents a concrete example of how the project can translate cross-border cooperation into activities directly benefiting local residents, providing them with essential first-aid and defibrillator-use skills.
The BLSD course is part of the wider training activities promoted by the project. At the beginning of the year, Italian and Slovenian language courses were organised for healthcare professionals and firefighters from the cross-border area, with almost 50 participants in total. The aim was to improve communication between Italian and Slovenian professionals who may need to work together in emergency situations. With the new BLSD course, the same spirit of cooperation is being extended to local residents.
The Infoday also presented the first results of the stakeholder engagement activities carried out during the summer. The cross-border workshops brought together healthcare professionals, public institutions, civil protection services and other local stakeholders. The workshops helped identify the main challenges in cooperation between services from the two countries and collect proposals for improving coordination and information exchange in emergency situations. The contributions collected will provide an important basis for the development of the cross-border primary healthcare protocol, one of the key expected results of the project.
The day also included a further concrete initiative for the local community: the inauguration of a new automated external defibrillator (AED) installed at the Podgora Cultural Association with the support of ZKB Credito Cooperativo di Trieste e Gorizia.
Through these activities, SANITAS is gradually turning cooperation between Italian and Slovenian institutions, healthcare services and emergency responders into concrete tools and initiatives with a direct impact on the local area. Training, knowledge exchange, new equipment, cooperation between professionals and the development of common procedures are contributing to a more coordinated response to emergencies and natural disasters and to greater safety for communities on both sides of the border.
