It took place on Wednesday 26 November, at the Villafranca military base (Verona), home of the 3rd Wing of the Italian Air Force, the presentation of a new Point of entry Toilet, a unique deployable capability nationwide, designed for emergency prevention and management, as well as joint training and research with the academic world. At the ceremony, presided over by the Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force, Air Force Corps General Antonio Conserva, numerous civil and military authorities from the local area took part, including the Head of the Civil Protection Department, Fabio Ciciliano and the National Inspector of the Italian Red Cross Volunteer Nurses Corps, Sister Emilia Bruna Scarcella. The event was opened by a welcoming address from the Commander of the 3rd Wing of Villafranca, Colonel Francesco Russo.
It POE It is a modular field structure capable of accommodating up to 92 patients, divided into areas dedicated to triage, intensive care, inpatient care and isolation, designed to ensure the separation of clinical pathways and maximum staff safety. Equipped with advanced ventilation, filtration and biosafety systems, the POE can be deployed in both military and civilian contexts, representing a plug-and-play asset ready to support the National Health Service and Civil Protection. Born as part of the measures to relaunch and modernise national health facilities conceived in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the project constitutes a strategic investment in the nation's health resilience: a flexible and immediately deployable capability, capable of being redeployed at various national airport hubs.
Thus said the Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force, Air Force Corps General Antonio Conserva: «Today we are delivering to the country a new, tangible and immediately deployable capability. The Healthcare Point of Entry is a tangible demonstration of how the Italian Air Force knows how to evolve and put its expertise at the service of the community. This is a capability that integrates and complements those of the other Armed Forces, contributing in a synergistic way to strengthen the entire Defence healthcare system. In a global scenario where threats are not only military, but also health-related, our Armed Force continues to be a safeguard of security, innovation and operational readiness.»
«The genesis of this capability is rooted in the experience gained during the COVID-19 pandemic – as the Head of the Medical Service explained, Chief Inspector General Pietro Perelli, regarding the genesis of the capacity – when the need to boost military healthcare services clearly emerged. It was in that context that the Air Force General Staff felt the urgent need to develop a medical Point of Entry also at Villafranca, so as to support the main POE at Pratica di Mare and ensure a more balanced coverage of the national territory. This centre represents the result of that lesson: a facility that strengthens our rescue and air transport capacity, which the Italian Air Force is making available today to the entire Country System to tackle future health emergencies with greater promptness.»
It Brigadier General Emanuele Garzia, Head of the AM Health Service, explained how «The Villafranca POE is a modern, modular and rapidly deployable Treatment Center, designed according to WHO standards to manage patients and the injured, including in biocontainment. Operating in close coordination with the Pratica de Mare POE, it acts as an advanced air entry point, equipped with triage and CBRN decontamination capabilities and capable of activating an integrated operational flow: from air transport with dedicated assets to ground stabilisation, right through to sorting towards civil and military hospital facilities. This facility is also a training centre, where – thanks to collaboration with universities and research bodies – joint training, research and innovation activities will be developed to further strengthen the national healthcare response.»
The Head of the Support Service of the Logistics Command, Brigadier General Massimo Cicerone, underlined how «The strength of this capability lies in its full deployability: «The Sanitary Point of Entry is an air-transportable asset, designed to be rapidly deployed wherever needed while maintaining high healthcare and logistic standards. Positive pressure areas, high-efficiency filtration systems, advanced diagnostics and autonomous oxygen production guarantee a safe and immediately operational clinical environment. It is a platform that combines mobility, technology and resilience, allowing us to bring complex healthcare capabilities directly to the places where intervention is required.»
The demonstration activities, illustrated by the Head of the Corps Infirmary of the 3rd Wing of Villafranca, Colonel Paolo Marcatili, began with the arrival of an autonomous ground drone, used for the controlled transfer of a “patient zero” to the triage tent, where healthcare personnel carried out the initial clinical checks and sample collection, digitalising the entire process via a platform Medical Cloud. Subsequently, an unmanned aerial vehicle collected the samples and transported them to the “Magalini” Hospital in Villafranca, simulating a rapid and safe evacuation chain in potential contagion scenarios. At the same time, multiple patients with compatible symptoms were managed, simulating the evolution of the emergency through triage, identification, and routing along dedicated care pathways. The deterioration of patient zero allowed for the demonstration of the application of advanced clinical procedures and subsequent transfer in biocontainment. The demonstration continued with an acute health emergency simulation and a subsequent CBRN-type scenario, highlighting the staff's ability to operate in highly complex contexts. The visit concluded with the presentation of the Virtual Reality asset, used to immersively reproduce training protocols and procedures.
It 3rd Wing of Villafranca, which has always been the logistics reference point for the Armed Forces, will play a central role in personnel training, experimentation and the ongoing operational readiness linked to POE management. The exercises conducted within the facility will make it possible to maintain a high level of readiness and to consolidate medical and logistical procedures even in complex scenarios.
