Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, September 16 2019 – The “Grandpa Listen to Me!” tour returns to Milan again this year. - The Hospital in the Square”, the campaign of free hearing and balance checks promoted by the non-profit organization of the same name and which, for the tenth consecutive year, brings the topic of prevention throughout Italy.
The doctors and technicians of the IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico Foundation, led by Professor Umberto Ambrosetti, UOSD director of Audiology, will be present on Sunday 22 September from 10am to 19pm in via Luca Beltrami (MM Cairoli) to carry out the free heart rate check. hearing and also a vestibular examination to identify the risk of labyrinthine pathologies which, together with other clinical conditions, can lead to the risk of falls.

The tenth edition of the "The Hospital in the Square" campaign starts on 22 September and the program runs over five Sundays (until 20 October) involving hospitals in 36 cities in 16 Regions, with specialist doctors and hearing technicians who an entire day are available to citizens in the relevant squares where there will also be local sports and recreational associations present to entertain all age groups, with activities and advice dedicated to health.

A potential user base of over 10 million citizens throughout Italy will be involved, who will be offered the opportunity to carry out free hearing checks in the tents made available by the Red Cross and Misericordia, thanks to the commitment of national and local partners and with the collaboration of 50 hospitals, 150 doctors, 300 hearing aid specialists and audiometrists and a thousand volunteers.

“The Milanese – declares the councilor for social and housing policies Gabriele Rabaiotti – are increasingly attentive and sensitive to issues relating to prevention. The Administration, for its part, has the task of supporting this inclination and making all the necessary tools available to citizens, starting with the commitment to an increasingly widespread diffusion of places responsible for healthcare in every neighborhood of the city. Furthermore, thanks are due to all the associations that, like Grandpa Listen to me, work every day to spread the culture of prevention. The Municipality, in a spirit of collaboration with the Region, which is entrusted with the management of healthcare, must guarantee them maximum support".

“Our commitment – ​​explain Mauro Menzietti and Valentina Faricelli, respectively founder and president of “Grandpa Listen to me!-Udito Italia Onlus” – is to bring healthcare closer to people. Our campaigns have grown enormously, demonstrating that people need to be properly informed. Hearing is a very important sense, yet it is often underestimated; so every day we risk compromising it with incorrect behavior. Finally, a useful recommendation: it is not advisable to resort to improvised solutions or, worse, do-it-yourself. A visit to the otolaryngologist or audiologist is always necessary, as they are the only specialists truly able to identify the cause of hearing loss and establish the most effective solution."

According to the WHO, 5% of the world's population lives with a disabling hearing loss and adolescents are particularly at risk, so much so that the WHO underlines that by 2050 over a billion young people could cause permanent hearing damage due to improper use of audio devices. In Italy over 7 million people have a hearing disorder (1 in 3 of the over 65s) and 47% have never had a hearing check. However, there is a positive aspect: 50% of cases of hearing loss could be avoided with adequate information and health education.