Relationship changes the world

Marina Vanzetta, a woman who does not give up in the face of difficulties and suffering, has been working for years as a nursing coordinator at the Negrar hospital (VR). After her commitment in the ward she continues as a 118 volunteer; precisely because of this determination you are among the new Knights of the Republic. «When I discovered that I had been chosen by President Mattarella - she says - my reaction was one of amazement and I wondered why I was on the Quirinale website as a knight; I did nothing! I just did something that we nurses always do, which is to be close to the patient at every moment of their history of illness ».

In fact, in the terrible first wave of Covid she had been sent to a retirement home to take care of an elderly lady with severe respiratory failure; even if from a clinical point of view nothing could be done, Marina accompanied her to the last breath. «For me it was normal and alive the award as an acknowledgment to the whole nursing profession.

For us, relationship time is a time of care and the relationship also passes through the gaze, the touch, the contact. The virus is imposing something else on us: distancing, avoiding contact ... So ours is an unequal fight, but we have thrown our heart over the obstacle, we have succeeded and we are still managing to be close while staying far away. ".

To those who ask her why she chose to be a nurse, Marina responds with emotion, recalling her grandmother's illness: "My grandmother had her eyes closed, I no longer recognized her, she had changed a lot in a few months, I touched the bed and I was turning to come away and my grandmother called me by name; I approached her, touched her and there I decided that I would be a nurse ».

Marina's story teaches us that our life is the intertwining of many threads that represent our meetings and our relationships, which change us and thanks to which we too can change the world a little.

NP Febbraio 2020

Roberto Lerda