Sardinia's emergency services (118) will be extremely busy this summer, with over 53,000 operations recorded from June to August, a slight increase of 5% compared to the same period in 2024.
Areus is the one to reel off the data, drawing up a balance of the interventions carried out by the Sardinian Emergency Service during the holiday season just ended.
As mentioned, approximately 53,000 emergency calls were handled by the two 118 operations centers in Cagliari and Sassari , which operate respectively in the southern Sardinia regions (Cagliari, Carbonia-Iglesias, Oristano, Medio Campidano) and central-northern Sardinia (Sassari, Olbia-Tempio, Nuoro, Ogliastra).
"The two centers," Areus explains, "coordinate emergency response for calls filtered by the Single European Emergency Number 112, which geolocalizes the location of the call and activates 118 if the emergency is medical. Operators assess the emergency by assigning a severity code and evaluating the availability of resources in the area, dispatching the most suitable and/or closest vehicle. Red codes accounted for around 10% of interventions, while yellow codes accounted for over 66% of the total."
HELICOPTER RESCUE – The helicopter rescue service provided by the three AREUS helicopters stationed at the three heliports of Cagliari-Elmas, Alghero, and Olbia also performed well: in the three summer months, the aircraft intervened 709 times to support the road rescue network.
Furthermore, 26 extra-regional flights were carried out to transfer patients to specialist hospitals on the peninsula, while 20 rescue operations in remote areas were carried out, mainly in the areas of Baunei, Dorgali, Urzulei, La Maddalena and Aglientu .
The main causes for helicopter rescue are trauma (43%), neurological pathology (22%) and cardiac pathology (21%).
"This year," Areus continues, "the emergency network has once again been able to count on the expansion of emergency services throughout the region, as envisaged in the Summer Enhancement Plan promoted by Areus and activated thanks to the availability of the Volunteer Associations and Social Cooperatives, already affiliated with AREUS. The 24-hour extension of operating hours, especially in coastal areas where it already operates year-round, and the activation of new nursing stations have allowed the 118 Operations Centers in Sassari and Cagliari to cope with the high influx of tourists to the main seaside resorts."
"The summer expansion plan, which will continue until September 30th, has seen a major organizational effort by the Regional Emergency Management Agency in terms of human, financial, and material resources," explains Special Commissioner Angelo Maria Serusi. "We nevertheless intend to continue activating new facilities throughout the region, operational year-round ," Serusi announces. He concludes: "Areus' strategic planning also includes the identification of new helipads located in particularly disadvantaged areas , the construction of a fourth helibase in Central Sardinia, and the expansion of the one in Southern Sardinia, bringing the Elmas helicopter operations to 24/7."
(Unioneonline/lf)
