Ravenna

Father Pietro Gandolfi is the Port Chaplain to the Italian port of Ravenna. He describes how he and his team nursed a sick seafarer back to health.

Fr Pietro with seafarer Warren Rebelo

“The port chaplain and his team have a duty to those seafarers who have the misfortune to be taken to hospital. Stella Maris Ravenna has had its share of day-to-day care of seafarers. The most recent case was in July, for an Indian seafarer, Mr Warren Rebelo, from the ship Star Sea.

He was taken to Santa Maria Delle Croci hospital with severe pneumonia. After a five day struggle for his life, he was saved. “A miracle” the doctors said. But, with all the medication prescribed to him, he lost his memory and his appetite and his weight fell to 35kg. Despite my repeated offers, he refused to take food.

Eventually, having considered every other possibility, I thought that maybe chocolate would ease the situation. Well, after several attempts, he opened his mouth to swallow his first “Baci Perugina”. The plan had worked beautifully. Next I tried Indian take-aways which I bought from a restaurant near the hospital. But this solution did not last long and was not at all satisfactory.

I was becoming seriously worried. I explained the matter to his doctors who were not fully aware of the situation. For a while we were at a loss and then I thought of another solution: those products with a high vitamin content on sale in pharmacies for people with health problems. Luckily, they were also available in the hospital.

This alternative “treatment” was begun immediately, repeated three times a day. At last we noticed a change as he began to gain weight. I was lucky enough to find a Canadian lady, Gail Carter, who was willing to give me a hand. It was necessary for someone to be there every day during mealtimes to encourage the seafarer to eat. We looked after him in this way for more than a month. And thus, our friend Warren returned home, safe and well.”