Rendering of Progetto 3000, the new CasAmica structure that will be built in Segrate (Milan)
In the last three years, one million Italians living in the South and on the islands have been forced to move from their region of residence to undergo medical treatment. This is what emerges from the survey Study on health migrants created by EMG Different for casAmica, the voluntary association that has been taking care of health migrants and their families since 1986. The phenomenon of “health migrants” is constantly growing, just think that in 2023 alone CasAmica recorded a 25% increase in requests for support. «Last year we offered 43 thousand nights of hospitality», he says Stefano Gastaldigeneral manager of CasAmica. «The disparity in access to care is an injustice that we can see first-hand every day with the guests of our homes, often forced to face journeys of hundreds of kilometers and long stays away from home several times a year with heavy emotional and economic consequences”.
Precisely to meet the needs of health migrants, CasAmica is building a new facility in Segrateon the outskirts of Milan, which will be able to host up to 80 people per day. A very important project because the difficulties of those who have to travel for treatment are evident, from the cost of travel to accommodation, without considering the sense of loneliness in a moment of life already tested by the disease. The new structure, called Project 3000, will consist of 4 floors for a total of 3 thousand square meters with 21 rooms and mini-apartments, some of which are reserved for particularly fragile patients who require separate hospitalization. «The project includes 30% spaces for interaction, between common rooms, kitchens, spaces for children and an auditorium. The needs are many and the sick cannot be left alone: just being together is therapeutic”says the general manager again.
“Over the years I have seen so much suffering, an endless line of pilgrims that no one wants to see,” says Lucia Vedani, founder of CasAmica. Our thoughts go to the 110,000 people welcomed in almost four decades by CasAmica. What changed the life of this energetic and sensitive woman was, in the mid-eighties, the meeting with a man who, getting up from a bench in Milan on a foggy November morning, was walking towards the Istituto dei Tumori for treatment. From there the choice, always supported by her husband Vincenzo and then by their four children, not to turn a blind eye to so much suffering and, instead, to try to accompany the sick and their families on the path to treatment far from home. “I always say, there is no greater joy than seeing the smile on the lips of someone who suffers and being able to say “I’m here, I’m with you”. It’s a joy that cannot be bought”, Vedani repeats again.
The first stone of Progetto 3000 – the seventh CasAmica structure in Italy – will be laid by the end of the year, while the inauguration is scheduled for 2026. The operation will amount to a total of 3.5 million euros, supported by fundraising among companies and private individuals. It is possible to contribute with a donation through the website https://sostieni.casamica.it/.