Youth cardiology screening with "Proxy Young" as part of the project Proximity Care: from Monday, Oct. 23, the new session begins among second and fifth grade students of ISI Garfagnana, in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana (Lucca)

Introduced at the ISI Garfagnana (Secondary Education Institute) in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana (Lucca) the new cardiology screening session, to detect arrhythmias and prevent possible cases of sudden death, aimed at adolescents and young people in the Serchio Valley (Lucca), scheduled between Monday, October 23 and Friday, October 27 at the ISI Garfagnana Secondary Education Institute in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana. The screening is part of "Proxy Young", the line of activities of the "Proximity Care" research project proposed by the Sant'Anna School and supported by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca, to combine proximity and innovation of health services in the inland areas of the province of Lucca.

The cardiology examinations, involving second- and fifth-year students from the Institute of Higher Education in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, are carried out by the health team of the "Proximity Care" project, composed of doctors and nurses from Sant'Anna School, Monasterio Foundation and ASL Toscana Nord Ovest, coordinated by Alberto Giannoni, Associate Professor of Cardiology at Sant'Anna School and Cardiologist at Monasterio Foundation.

The goal of "Proxy Young" is to cover the school population of the Serchio Valley, which is part of the screening sample, so as to map all cases of arrhythmic risk. Activities began last school year at the ISI in Barga (Lucca). The availability of the two schools (in Barga and now in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana) and the collaboration of Fondazione Monasterio and Cardiology of Castelnuovo di Garfagnana are the strengths of the action, which will continue for the next three school years, until 2026.

"Our presence here in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana aims to make kids and parents feel safer. With this new screening campaign," comments Alberto Giannoni, "more girls and boys will be evaluated through questionnaires and electrocardiograms. Girls and boys who present a clinical suspicion of a heart disease associated with dangerous arrhythmias will then be referred to a dedicated outpatient clinic at the cardiology department of the Santa Croce Hospital in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana with the support of the person in charge, cardiologist Pier Romano Mariani.

Cover Photo: a moment of the presentation of the new cardiology screening campaign for "Proxy Young," at ISI Garfagnana in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana. (Photo from the ISI Garfagnana Facebook page).