The “Polo di Formazione Universitaria Papa Giovanni XXIII”, is the result of a joint project between the University of Milano-Bicocca and the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, was inaugurated today in the city of Bergamo. Maria Beatrice Stasi, Director General of the Papa Giovanni Hospital, together with Giovanna Iannantuoni, Rector of the University of Bicocca, welcomed the doctors, nurses, health professionals and lecturers present at the inauguration ceremony, as well as other high-ranking officials, including Piera Molinelli, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bergamo, Claudia Maria Terzi, Councillor for Infrastructure and Public Works of the Lombardy Region, Marcella Messina, Councillor for Social Policies of the Municipality of Bergamo, Alessandra Gallone, Councillor to the Minister for Universities and Research.
Located in via Nini da Fano in Bergamo, in the immediate vicinity of the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, the new campus, with a surface area of over 4,000 square metres, is housed in a building belonging to the ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, which has undergone extensive modernisation and functional and regulatory upgrading, and is equipped with the most advanced technological resources for teaching, thanks to contributions from the Hospital for the structural aspects and from the University of Bicocca for the major technological innovation work. The building houses the three-year bachelor's degree courses of the University of Milano-Bicocca (Physiotherapy, Nursing, Midwifery and Medical Radiology Imaging and Radiotherapy Techniques) and the single-cycle master degree course in Medicine and Surgery, also of the University of Milano-Bicocca, an innovative international course taught in English, inter-university with the University of Bergamo and the University of Surrey (UK).
The building, designed in the 1960s by the famous architect Vito Sonzogni, a leading figure in Bergamo's post-war architectural and urban planning scene, has three floors in a horseshoe shape. Used as a high school until 2009, the building became part of the Papa Giovanni heritage following an exchange agreement with the Municipality of Bergamo in 2010, in exchange for the "Women's Observation" pavilion in via Borgo Palazzo (currently housing the municipal social services). Thanks to the proceeds from the sale of the former Red House pavilion in the historic Largo Barozzi area to the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (now the headquarters of the Guardia di Finanza Academy), the building in via Nini da Fano will be renovated from October 2020 to the summer of 2023. The refurbishment has preserved the building's distinctive architectural features, including the brick and terracotta cladding of the external façade and the prismatic skylights. The new centre now houses 17 classrooms, 4 lecture theatres, 7 study rooms, 5 changing rooms, a meeting room and several offices. Outside, a parking area for cars, motorbikes and bicycles and a garden with dehors and street furniture have been created to facilitate outdoor teaching.
The works were carried out by a temporary grouping of companies between Coedil Costruzioni Generali S.p.a. of Milan (for the construction part) and AR.CO. Lavori S.c.c. of Ravenna (for the plant engineering part), for a total cost of approximately EUR 8 million, while the investment for the furnishing and technological equipment of the classrooms and offices was borne by the University of Milan-Bicocca.
The design of the project was carried out by the MYTHOS s.c.a.r.l. consortium of Turin, while the supervision of the works was carried out by arch. Edi Vuillermoz and Dr Luigi Bovisio.
The refurbishment work involved a general reorganisation of the internal spaces, the new construction of all the building services and the internal insulation of the entire building envelope," explains Alessandro Frigeni, architect, director of the ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII Technical and Patrimonial Management SC and sole project manager. All the external windows and doors have been replaced, all the internal finishes have been completely redone and the external areas have been redesigned.
The building has been transformed into a very energy-efficient building, fully insulated and equipped with district heating and photovoltaic panels.
"The connections between the different levels have been improved, also thanks to the installation of 2 new lifts, the entrance area of the building has been enlarged and the acoustic, lighting and thermo-hygrometric comfort conditions of the interiors have been improved", adds Mauro Sertori, engineer and collaborator of the single project manager.
The new classrooms have been equipped with the most advanced technologies to guarantee teachers maximum versatility in teaching and the possibility of implementing the most innovative forms of didactics, also facilitating the integration of engineering aspects in medical training, thanks to the contribution of lecturers from the University of Bergamo, another aspect of innovation and openness to the future. Lectures can integrate the widest range of didactic contributions, from the most traditional to the most innovative, ensuring the extension of the classroom beyond physical limits with the remote participation of both specialists and students. All classrooms allow streaming and recording of lectures to ensure continuous support for students throughout their training process.
This new “Polo di Formazione Universitaria Papa Giovanni XXIII” is an important sign of the synergy between the University and the Hospital in the attention given to the training of medical and health professionals in the region, and underlines the commitment of the institutions to the recovery of disused real estate. There is a strong commitment on the part of the hospital and its affiliated institutions to make the social and health facilities available for all practical training for students.
STATEMENTS
Maria Beatrice Stasi, Director General ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII
"Today, a project is becoming a reality, not just a construction project, which we have been working on for a long time with all our partners in a climate of strong synergy. Over time, the partnership with the University of Bicocca, of which we are an integral part of the training network, and with the partners who are involved with us in the training of health professionals, has been strengthened. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the technicians who have made it possible for Healthcare Training to have a new, functional, modern and very welcoming home, in the green heart of this splendid city, a stone's throw from the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital. A pole that will further consolidate Bergamo as a reference city in the field of care and health, investing the skills of its doctors and hospital professionals for the benefit of future generations. Investing in human capital is a strategic factor for the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, which has a long and excellent training tradition in its DNA".
Giovanna Iannantuoni, Rector of Bicocca University
"With this innovative and multifunctional centre that will support the training of our students, we are adding a new element to the commitment that the University has made in recent years to design the University of the future: open, sustainable and integrated into the environment. We are proud to be the protagonists, in synergy with prestigious partners such as the ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII, of a major modernisation of the buildings that will guarantee teachers maximum versatility in their teaching, thanks to the use of the most advanced technologies. With the aim of giving back to culture physical spaces embedded in their territory and with a strong international vocation. The building will house five of our courses, including the single cycle course in Medicine & Surgery, which has just seen its first graduates cross the finish line, trained not only in medical disciplines but also in bioengineering and technological skills applied to healthcare".
Prof. Piera Molinelli, Deputy Rector, University of Bergamo
"This new House of Knowledge represents an important point of convergence between the worlds of medicine and engineering, a synergy based mainly on the single cycle course in English called School of Medicine and Surgery. Thanks to the involvement of experts in the field of biomedical engineering from the University of Bergamo, in synergy with the University of Milan-Bicocca, students acquire fundamental skills related to the use of technologies in the context of medicine of the future. Thanks to the commitment of the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, these students will have the opportunity to experience the application of these technologies in various medical fields during their studies. Today's inauguration demonstrates our University's commitment to meeting health needs and contributing to innovation in prevention, treatment and medical care. In fact, the University is committed to the health sector by activating programmes that combine cutting-edge research and teaching in response to the needs of the local area, such as the three-year and masters courses in biomedical engineering and the postgraduate course in the diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders, to name but a few, the agreement signed with the National Innovation Centre for Ageing in Newcastle in the field of personal health and wellbeing, several Master's courses dedicated to health, and the research activities within the ANTHEM project, led by the University of Milan-Bicocca and involving the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital itself. These efforts are aimed at developing expertise and innovative solutions to improve care and promote the health and well-being of people and communities.
Claudia Maria Terzi, Lombardy Regional Councillor for Infrastructure and Public Works
"The inauguration of the 'Papa Giovani XXIII' University Training Centre is a fundamental step in the mission to provide quality healthcare and train future generations of healthcare professionals. Papa Giovanni Hospital has long been actively involved in the training of future professionals and we are confident that this new centre will give students the opportunity to enhance their skills, learn from the best professionals and contribute to further improving the quality of healthcare in our region. I would like to thank all the staff of the Papa Giovanni Hospital and all those who have contributed to the realisation of this extraordinary project, which is destined to become an invaluable resource for training and research in the health sector'.
Marcella Messina, Councillor for Social Policy, Municipality of Bergamo
"An efficient social health system, that is, one that consistently responds to the citizens' demand for health, is based first and foremost on the quality of people, both professional and human. There is no care without listening; there is no service without meeting needs; there is no quality of service without quality of presence.
We all saw the importance of this very clearly during the tragic experience of the pandemic, when doctors, nurses and health care workers called on their personal vocation, even more than their professional skills, to deal with what was happening.
We all experience this in our daily lives as citizens, and I personally experience it in the area for which I am responsible, such as the social sphere, where the boundary with the health dimension is often very thin and therefore the continuity of care becomes a shared and common experience of reality. In this context, training and education, especially at university level, which the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital will provide in synergy with the prestigious University of Bicocca, are the key elements of good care, good service levels and good care pathways.
I therefore hope that this important new project, dedicated precisely to the training of health professionals, will be the 'home' for the acquisition of the best culture of care for all of us and, in particular, for our territory".
Alessandra Gallone, Advisor to the Minister for Universities and Research
"From the collaboration, from the vision of so many, a new pole of professional and university training in health care is born in Bergamo. Papa Giovanni and Bicocca Universities, the Ministry of Universities, the Lombardy Region, hospital units, directors. A choral collaboration to create a new training system directly applied to care. A very important objective. A beautiful, technologically advanced facility that will have a virtuous effect on the territory and will train fundamental figures for the health of citizens: nurses and midwives, physiotherapists, radiology technicians. It will be a very important high-level training centre for essential health professions. I am very happy to be able to bring the greetings and, above all, the closeness of the Minister for Universities and Research, Annamaria Bernini, to the inauguration of such an important structure for the city of Bergamo and for Lombardy".