The stretcher comes from Abruzzo, as well as the nurse call bell or the famous technique for sheet change without moving patient out of bed. Also the nurse end-of-shift report sheet comes from Abruzzo, as well as the shift work itself or ventilation and lighting of hospital wards and the “commode”, that is the w.c. chair. In other words, the modern nursing assistance comes from Abruzzo because the inventor of all these things, Saint Camillo de Lellis, comes from this region. And to this Saint our Foundation is dedicated.
Camillo de Lellis was born in Bucchianico – Chieti on 25th May 1550. He became a soldier of fortune and an inveterate gambler and led a dissolute life. After conversion, he revolutionized the concept of health service especially with his ingeniousness, concreteness, and passion but also because he reintroduced in hospitals charity towards the sick, irretrievably cancelled by Renaissance Humanism (end of the 15th century and beginning of 16th century). The big priest sometimes yelled to the nurses assisting the sick, plague-victims and derelicts: “Put more heart, more of your souls in your hands!”.
To fully understand Camillo de Lellis it is important to understand the heart of men as thirst for happiness and truth which moves anyone. Well, the greatness of Camillo de Lellis, the patron saint of the sick, is that he forcefully and without compromises said yes to Jesus, the only one who can fully satisfy the heart of men. The words of a friar from San Giovanni Rotondo changed his heart on 2nd February 1575, when he was 25 years old, bringing about his conversion. Since then, he devoted mind and heart to the sick and suffering that he considered his “lords and masters”.
He died in Rome on 14th July 1614, and he was canonized by Pope Benedict XIV. He is the patron saint of the sick, nurses and hospitals, together with Saint Giovanni di Dio. He is also the patron saint of the Italian Military Health and the patron saint of Abruzzo region, together with Saint Gabriele dell’Addolorata.
il il 14 luglio 1614 e venne canonizzato nel 174614 luglio 1614 e venne canonizzato nel 1746