The Village of the Child in Bari, seat of the Emporium of health
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The Health Emporium is born in Bari for the collection and distribution of drugs that are still valid and no longer used, to be allocated for social purposes. The initiative is the result of an agreement between the Municipality of Bari, diocesan Caritas, the Order of Pharmacists, Federfarma, the Pharmaceutical Bank and the “Rogazionisti – Cristo Re onlus” solidarity association. In times of coronavirus pandemic, the initiative has an important solidarity value in terms of assistance for all those people in difficulty. THEThe experimental phase project, lasting one year, has as its objective the recovery of drugs no longer used and properly stored in city pharmacies or donated by private individuals. Their reuse has humanitarian and health care purposes in favor of users of social services and charitable organizations who live in a serious situation of economic and social hardship. In fact, the recovery of still valid drugs represents an educational tool which, if on the one hand it teaches citizens to recognize the ethical value of medicines, on the other hand it allows to help those who do not have the possibility to buy them, to save the cost of disposal. and to reduce the resulting harmful effects on the environment. “People forced to live on the outskirts of our city can experience the face of a society that all tends to be a ‘supportive mother’, to take up a happy expression of Pope Francis – underlines Don Vito Piccinonna, director of the diocesan Caritas -. my hope is that the store can show further attention in this sense “.
Numerous city pharmacies have already voluntarily joined the program, although at first about ten will be placed in the special containers for collection, with the “Recovery drugs still valid not expired for the Health Emporium” logo in the foreground together with those of the partners of the project. Citizens who wish to make a donation, at the time of placing the medicines in the special container, will receive the collaboration of the pharmacist who will carry out a first check on the donated medicines, verifying whether the requisites and conditions for distribution exist. The collection of medicines from pharmacies will be organized by the “Ideando” association identified by the diocesan Caritas in collaboration with the Order of Pharmacists, Federfarma and the Banco Pharmaceutical Onlus Foundation. At least once every 15 days a person in charge of the association will collect the medicines present in the containers. “I am particularly satisfied with the protocol signed in total synergy which represents a further step towards the opening of the first public health and social center for prevention – declares the councilor for Welfare of the Municipality of Bari, Francesca Bottalico -. This is how our commitment to ensure that access to treatments and medicines is a right for everyone, especially the most vulnerable people. The Emporium of Health is a project of solidarity and social innovation that meets new needs, growing especially in this period of health emergency , and which strengthens the plan of actions and structures to combat extreme poverty that we have created in recent years as a councilorship. We believe that it is essential to work ever more deeply to prevent the risk of new forms of inequality and marginalization “. The Health Emporium is located in the premises made available within the Village of the Child by the “Rogationists – Cristo Re onlus” association, identified by the Municipality through a tender in the context of co-planning for the strengthening of local networks for the fight against food and pharmaceutical waste. “We are honored to host the store – says Father Vincenzo d’Angelo, director of the Village -. This has always been a place devoted to helping others and all those in need. Now let’s add Sant’Annibale to the social canteen, already in operation , a further response to basic needs such as nutrition and health, put even more into question by the terrible pandemic we are experiencing “. Medicines for children will instead be collected in the multipurpose center, the “House of girls and boys”.
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