Verona: an app and a digital oncology desk for Breast Cancer launched.

To give people who are fighting their own battle against breast cancer as many tools as possible to face it positively. This is the aim of a dual social support project, conceived by La Cura Sono Io, which has led to the creation of an APP and a Digital Oncology Help Desk, promoted first and foremost in the Verona area and from this year also at a national level.

Two digital services which aim to support those who fall ill – women and men -, but also designed to educate the population about prevention.

The Municipality of Verona, the Catholic Foundation, the Apollinare&Cesira Veronesi Foundation, Rotary International, and AMMI Donne per la Salute contributed to the realization of the projects.

The digital solutions were presented yesterday by the deputy mayor and councilor for Gender Equality Barbara Bissoli together with the city councilor with responsibility for projects of the Italian Healthy Cities Network (OMS) Annamaria Molino. Present for “La Cura Sono Io” were the president Paolo Bon and the vice president Maria Teresa Ferrari, Giovanna Romanucci director of the Breast Unit ULSS9 Scaligera, Francesca Pellini director of the UOC Breast Surgery and coordinator of the hub Breast Unit AOUI Verona, Carlo Rugiu president of the Order of Surgeons and Dentists of the Province of Verona, Paola Fiocco councilor Federfarma Verona, Adriano Tomba Secretary General of the Catholic Foundation.

“A fundamental initiative for those who fall ill with breast cancer – he underlined Deputy Mayor Barbara Bissoli –, which combines oncological treatments, the exclusive responsibility of health institutions, with further support for other services that the person needs. The goal is to take care of the patient in the round, never leaving him alone. A special focus is dedicated to culture and beauty, because it is important to maintain self-respect and be supported in this path of care and change”.

"Breast cancer is the leading cancer in the world - specifies Councilor Annamaria Molino - and that's why there is so much attention. There are so many women affected, 1 in 8 face this diagnosis. In Veneto we have about 5 thousand cases and 900 in the province of Verona. It is important to underline three things: the first is the enormous improvement that has occurred in treatment and healing. The second is the importance of the quality of life given to those affected, not only in terms of overcoming the disease. The third is the will of the many associations to work together in favor of those who are sick. A great wealth that generates extraordinary results".

Digital Oncology Desk of Verona and Province

The service, created to help women with breast cancer – and their families – to deal with cancer, but also to educate people about prevention, it embraces the “treatment of the disease” and the “treatment of the person”.

The help desk aims to be a valuable information tool available to patients and their families, making it easier for cancer patients to access those essential services after a cancer diagnosis while remaining safely at home.

The project, active on the La Cura Sono Io website – lacurasonoio.it, is sponsored by the Municipality of Verona, AOUI Verona (Verona Integrated University Hospital), the Order of Surgeons and Dentists of the Province of Verona, Federfarma Verona and the collaboration of the Breast Unit ULSS 9 Scaligera and Breast Unit Verona AOUI.

What to Expect

Through the site – lacurasonoio.it – the patient can find answers to many of his questions thanks to the services offered: fisco and rights at work through the ACLI patronage with which an agreement has been activated, patient rights thanks to ethical consultancy, haircuts and wig consultancy/donation through the “Taglia e Dona” project, oncological aesthetics advice in collaboration with APEO (Professional Association of Oncological Aesthetics), wellness (info on courses and seminars on gymnastics, yoga, mindfulness, immersion in nature and appointments with art and culture, a panacea for personal health and well-being, expressive reading, cultural entertainment), in addition to the services offered by the two Breast Units (AOUI Verona and ULSS 9 Scaligera) in the Hospitals of Verona and the Province. Since November, the desk has also been enriched with a free psychological support service created in collaboration with the Consultorio Verona Nord.

Ample space is given to the sections related to well-being and culture, because culture is a real “medicine”, capable of generating essential energies to cure illnesses of the body and mind and, once healed, to resume one's life with vigor.

The cancer patient can contact the professionals of the individual sections directly (for example: lawyers, accountants, beauticians, hairdressers), via whatsapp or email, and find answers to their requests and questions. The help desk does not replace the doctor-patient relationship, but wants to strengthen it.

The App is the cure for me

The idea for the APP La Cura Sono Io was born during the pandemic, when for many patients it became even more difficult and complex to manage their daily lives.

The APP, in line with the indications contained in the "National Oncology Plan: planning document and direction for the prevention and fight against cancer
2022-2027 ″, is at the forefront of the standards used in Italy for telemedicine and promotes healthy lifestyles and psycho-physical well-being aimed at self-care.

The wealth of services envisaged by the APP LA CURA SONO IO is contained in two sections: the first section concerns the useful SERVICES envisaged by the Help Desk and listed above;
the second section, MY DIARY, includes tests of services related to nutrition, symptoms, drug intake and much more.

What to Expect

The APP can be downloaded from the Apple and Google stores.
The APP offers a report, always “at hand”, of symptoms, drugs and foods taken during post-operative phases, chemotherapy and subsequent monitoring periods.

MY DIARY provides additional support for patients and family members to record symptoms, medications taken, nutritional data, physical activity and other information to use in the discussion of the medical visit. Accurate management of medical outcomes is of significant importance to both the patient and the physician, but also to cancer research.

Generating a “report” of what is entered in “My Diary” over a certain period of time is certainly the most important feature of the APP. Thanks to the app, we will always have all the clinical documentation with us – as well as photos that we can take and store or send on the spot – which we can view in real time wherever we are and send to our reference doctor and more.

In fact, it is possible at any time to produce, for yourself and your doctor, a
report of what has been entered by selecting the start date of the period that interests us
document and the end date. Data that is shared with the referring doctor and
contribute to improving the problem of patient-doctor communication and the current underestimation of adverse events by the care team. All of this was done on the basis of the international standard Pro – CTACAE Outcomes, developed by the NCI, National Cancer Institute.

Both the counter and the App do not replace the patient-doctor relationship, but rather aim to strengthen it.

The APP, which can be accessed from digital stores, it is paid for all those who can afford it, free for people in financial difficulty who will be reported to La Cura Sono Io by organizations, associative realities and structures of the territory.

The Cure Is Me

La Cura Sono Io, a Social Promotion Association, transformed in 2023 into a non-profit Social Enterprise, founded by Maria Teresa Ferrari, Today supported by numerous public and private entities, it has increasingly gained ground in Verona and is beginning to spread throughout Italy.

The La Cura Sono Io website offers free services, information and advice for women with breast cancer, keeping his heart in “healing beauty”. All services are now also available at a national level. Thanks to the renewed support of the Municipality of Verona, the site has expanded the Oncology Desk of Verona and the Province, enriching it with useful information, linked to the various associations in the area and to initiatives and events that are promoted.