Proximity medical posts for people living in conditions of serious marginality
The context
In Italy, the National Health Service guarantees health care to everyone, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion and social class. In practice, however, this universality clashes with situations of social marginalization and economic difficulties that make it impossible to access health services for large sections of the resident population, especially the homeless population.
In Verona there are few other services that offer free health services for disadvantaged categories and for this reason it was decided to create a desk that would be added to the existing ones. It was decided to open the desk at the Convent of the Friars Minor of San Bernardino and the Soup Kitchen of the Friars of Barana as both meeting places for the most fragile sections of the population and therefore easier to use.
Activities
The aim of the project is to offer people in a state of severe marginality easier access to health protection services with a view to the global social inclusion of the individual. The location of the Proximity Medical Post at the “soup kitchen”, i.e. in the same place where homeless people arrive to access services such as showers, distribution of meals and clothing, makes it possible to carry out a practice of proximity aimed at inclusion and bringing the place of care back into people’s social life. This location also favors the approach of people to self-care.
