Hollywood and the Italian community honor Dr Gino Strada

But sometimes cinema chooses to focus on true stories, and this is what American director Kief Davidson has just done. His Open Heart, produced by Cori Sheperd, was among the five candidates running for an Oscar for Best Documentary; the short film follows the journey of eight Rwandan children who have to undergo heart surgery. “The disease of poor people” they call it, as it is often the consequence of untreated conditions. The structure that will host them is the Salam Center for Cardiac Surgery of Karthoum, Sudan, created by Dr. Strada’ s non- profit organization Emergency, currently the only specialized and completely free-of-charge facility in an 11.5 million square kilometers area.

 

Gino Strada is an Italian cardiologist and a war surgeon. It was 1994 when he and a group of colleagues decided to put together a team to create hospitals where there was none.“The right to healthcare is one of those things that should be given for granted in our society,” he said at the evening the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles has recently organized in his honor. “But we are still far from that, in poor or war areas as well as in some wealthy Countries.” A very clear message; it’s easy to speak of civil rights, but if there are no structures, no conditions or no people able to perform the necessary treatments, or if people are not given the possibility to access those treatments for economic reasons, the world “right” means nothing.

 

Emergency is now present in many areas to provide free, high quality medical and surgical treatments to the victims of war, landmines and poverty; horrors that, in war terminology, are known as “collateral effects”. “I refuse this terminology”, says Strada. “It’s a way for the western world to differentiate first class and second class civilians. They are people, not collateral damages.”

 

Many times since the establishment of Emergency Strada was accused of giving political messages; his comments on war, economy, and healthcare are not easily digested by some Governments and politicians. His actions, like the support to a campaign of years ago to end the production of landmines in Italy, had often brought emergency to the attention of the media. “Civilians are those who pay most for wars,” he says. “Within the cancer that is war, landmines are one of the most horrifying things I’ve seen. They aredesigned to look like toys, so that children pick them up; and they are not meant to kill, but to wound. They are mass destruction weapons, as they don’t have a target: they destroy lives and entire societies.”

 

The experience with landmines has led Emergency to extend its service with rehabilitation and social integration centers. “Surgery is not enough,” says Strada. “Imagine people who live in very poor areas and have lost a limb for example. What are the chances for them to find a job? Practically none. We try to organize workshops, teach them certain jobs, and set up cooperatives where they can be employed.”

 

Since its establishment Emergency has given free healthcare to over 5.200.000 people in 16 countries, gaining respectability even among the “war lords”, as the Italian surgeon calls them. “We have shown our neutrality, and that’s why in most cases they let us work in peace, which is exactly what we want.”

But the project has expanded in these years, and in order to keep structures operative and create new ones, Emergency needs support. “Financial support comes primarily from individual donations”, said Strada. “The rest comes from other organizations. We do not accept money from Governments, or from organizations connected to the production of weapons. Besides the financial support, there’s always need for help. There are a lot of people helping us all over the world. You don’t need to be a professional; everyone can find his own way to help. But we also have an urgent need for nurses, doctors and surgeons to operate on site.”

 

Strada has explained many times: if the world were informed and aware of what goes on in some areas, there would be less need for Emergency. “But media do not work in our favor,” he says. 

Open Heart has received positive critics and will be soon aired on many TV channels, explained director Davidson. Hopefully, that will bring Emergency to the attention of more countries and more people.

More info on Emergency, his activities and for donations go to: www.emergencyusa.org