Venice Code Red

Published: 2008 - August/September, Venetian Itinerary

Like arrows hovering on the Lagoon. Water ambulances, with heir load of hopes, are the fastest boats navigating the canals of Venice. To tame the 200 hp of these boats, equipped for mobile accident unit on the lagoon, able pilots are needed, who are perfectly familiar with the morphological structure of Venice and its lagoon, and who are capable of taking to destination medical personnel at any time and under any type of weather.  
Marco Citon is the coordinator of the Suem team, medical urgency and emergency Service at the hospital of Venice. “After having been a pilot for 20 years, for the past eight I have been overseeing handling of personnel and coordination in cases of  major events, like the Historical Regatta, Carnival of Venice, Redentore, but I go back to piloting – points out Marco – in case of needs or emergency.”
 Suem responds to the operating center of “118”, the medical mobile accident unit similar to the American “911”. “The layout of Venice is a particular one and to find the exact point it’s necessary to know calli, names of bridges, as well as all the rii, for this reason my suggestion to the tourists – states Citon – is to seek help from a Venetian, without being shy, in contacting 118. At the same time, as soon as arrived in the city, is important – continues Marco – to seek information on hospital services, especially for those who suffer from particular pathologies.” One-one-eight are then the digits to dial when, in the historical center of Venice and surrounding islands, the intervention of an ambulance becomes necessary; a mean that in the lagoon must, obviously, travel on water: Marco Citon and other pilots of the Venetian water-ambulances are, thus, the “captains” of a fleet at the service of citizens.   

“One of the major risks – explains Marco Citon – is the wave motion: a good pilot, even in the presence of urgencies, must be able to know when to run faster, not to capsize the gondolas or other small crafts.” The chosen route may vary based on the weather conditions: “A Suem pilot must be able to select the best route, which sometime may be the longer one, running through inner canals, rather than to run across, which in bad weather may be risky.” A variable to keep in mind is the tide, which if too high or too low makes it difficult, for the stretcher bearers, to transport the patient who, however, is always in safe and secure hands. 
On board the water-ambulance, in addition to the pilot, board two stretchers-bearers and a professional nurse, while for “code red” interventions, a doctor is always on duty 24 hours a day. The water-ambulance is equipped with the same equipment as the land-side ambulances, but there is an additional instrument: the radar screen, which allows navigation through the fog and in case of low visibility. “On board – explains Marco Citon – we have a spinal board and sagging mats, which immobile the traumatized subjects on the stretcher, defibrillator, back-pack with all the items needed for handling breathing tracts, and drugs; obviously on the lagoon we don’t have road accidents, but there may be falls from roofs by workers, various accidents and boat accidents, which may cause serious traumas.”
The requests collected from “118” can be assigned with various levels of urgency: “code green”, for the ordinary admission; “code yellow” in case of urgency or imminent problem; “code red” if a life is in danger. “Attribution of a specific code involves the need of adjusting the speed of the water-ambulance: with code green we must respect the speed limits provided; we can instead exceed them in case of code yellow or red, as long as all cautions are implemented and sirens and flasher activated.” “In about five minutes – points out the Venetian Suem coordinator- we are able to reach any point of the Venetian historical centre.” Distance covering times hardly matchable anywhere else: Venice, thus, even from this standpoint, proves to be safer than many other cities.