Gresini Racing donates simulators for medical training
Gresini Racing has used donations gathered in memory of late team principal Fausto Gresini to provide medical simulators to the Emergency Department Training Center of Bologna’s USL (local healthcare unit) Company.
The three 'Advanced Life Support' mannequins featuring technologically advanced accessories will help train medical personnel as if they were dealing with a critically ill patient.
The presentation of the equipment was made at the Maggiore Hospital where Fausto, 60, was treated in intensive care from December 30 until passing away on February 23, following complications linked to Covid-19.
“I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart all the healthcare personnel of the ICU operative unit working at the ‘Carlo Alberto Pizzardi’ Maggiore Hospital in Bologna, and in particular the primary physician Nicola Cilloni for his utmost professionalism, humanity, continuing presence and constant moral support he gave Fausto and our family during his long hospitalisation due to Covid-related complications," said Nadia Padovani Gresini, team owner & team principal of Gresini Racing.
"Unfortunately, the progression of his clinical situation did not go as we all hoped. During his hospitalisation, Fausto had expressed the wish to donate to the department to support the healthcare personnel… Me and my sons thought it was really important to carry his will forward and we immediately started working in order to create a bank account to gather all the donations in favour of the hospital and in the memory of our beloved Fausto, who gave so much to all of us and to the motorsport world.
"I would like to thank everyone who contributed to making possible the creation of a training and simulation room at the Maggiore Hospital, because with their donations we were able to purchase a series of computerised mannequins and classes to train the hospital personnel in patient-related emergency/urgency scenarios.
"This simulation room has been named after Fausto Gresini: we are all very proud and honoured of it, as I think everyone who made this highly specialised area possible is. This thank you is not just from me, but also from my sons Lorenzo, Luca, Alice and Agnese."
Nicola Cilloni, manager of the COVID ICU Unit Of Maggiore Hospital and friend of Fausto, added:
“Doing everything we can sometimes is not enough to save an ill patient’s life. When I started working in the hospital words – as a young doctor – I thought my job was to save lives. As the years went by, I understood that the goal had to give people care: to listen to them, to cry, to joke, to live even the last moments of their battle to survive at their side.
"This is what me and the whole medical-infirmary staff – whom I’m representing - have tried to do while remaining by Fausto’s side. But he – who for me was not only an ill patient but also a friend with whom I was sharing the passion for MotoGP – has taught us more than any of our efforts could.
"He taught us to remember that beyond pain, beyond sufferance, there was his team: his family, his employees, his riders… He, until his last breath, was asking about them. He was talking about them.
"To know that they wanted to leave us a tangible sign of all the good things he did here is helping us overcome the unsuccessful use of medical science on Fausto, as well as on all the patients we were unable to save during this pandemic.
"The charity effort started by Fausto and his family is a true relief for the wounds inflicted by Covid on us healthcare professionals. Our thank you will not be enough compared to your wonderfully curing gesture.”
