Given the nature of Cieli Azzurri’s work within the world of pediatric and neonatal surgery, it is fairly common for us to come in contact with Organizations whose goals align with ours. With time, these interactions have led to various kinds of collaborations, allowing us to build strong relationships with these Organizations.

The “Mario Bedussi” project was born with the intent of leveraging these relationships to start collaborative initiatives on a bigger scale, collecting them all under a single project.

These initiatives may take on various forms, but in general they will fall under one of two categories:

• Initiatives aimed at supporting other Organizations in realizing some of their projects, given that their overall goals match the ones defined in our statute.
• Full-fledged collaborative projects started and carried out together with other Organizations, always within the context of our overall goals.

For years, initiatives of this sort were undertaken sporadically, often under the umbrella of one of our main projects, “Children Without Borders”. The creation of this new project is meant to give these initiatives the right exposure, allowing us to also manage them better from an administrative point of view. In order to give you an idea of the kind of activities that this projects aims to spark, we can mention some examples from our Organization’s recent history.

For an idea of initiatives that fall within the first of the categories listed above, we can look at our collaborations with Organizations such as “Lega del Filo d’Oro”, “Elice ONLUS” and “AGPD”. For example, in 2018, we worked with “Elice ONLUS”, an Organization offering, among other things, various rehabilitative services for patients of all ages affected by serious psycho-mobile issues. In this specific case, our role was to contribute to the funding of a rehabilitative treatment for a child affected by mental retardation and Down Syndrome.

For examples of projects that fall within the second of the categories listed above, we can look at our collaboration with the “Flying Angels Foundation”, an Association which provides plane tickets in cases where there is a strong urgency of operating a child. This can mean moving the young patient to a facility which can offer the proper care, or alternatively, helping specialists of international fame get to the facility where the patient is hospitalized. In 2015, we collaborated with this Organization to bring to Milan Professor Alberto Peña (of Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital). He was able to carry out a complex operation on a child affected by a rare and serious anorectal malformation.

In terms of the first steps that will be undertaken as part of this project, it is our intention to build a direct relationship with some of the Organizations cited above (“Lega del Filo d’Oro”, “Elice ONLUS” and “AGPD”). Specifically, we intend to establish policies and parameters for our collaborations with each of these Organizations, so that initiatives such as the ones mentioned above can be part of a clearer structure. Furthermore, with time we aim to build an even larger network of Organizations with which to establish these policies, thus expanding our horizons even further.

It is important for us to highlight that the “Mario Bedussi” Project is so called in honor of the former President of our Organization. Dr. Bedussi was long a point of reference for Cieli Azzurri, taking on the role of President between 2003 and 2010, years that were fundamental for the growth of our Organization. His work laid the foundations for our current structure, and this seemed to be a perfect opportunity to honor his memory.

If you would like to contribute to this new initiative, we invite you to visit the “What You Can Do” section of our website. In case you were to decide to make a donation, we kindly ask that you specify “Mario Bedussi Project” in the form so as to help us direct the funds to this project.