FLORENCE, ITALY (April 6, 2020) – Global health activist Donato Tramuto, in partnership with Kerry Kennedy, President of Robert F. Kennedy Italia, is leading an international effort to support Italy’s frontline medical workers as they battle the Covid-19 pandemic that has impacted every region of that country.

Tramuto has enlisted support from his two non-profits, Health eVillages, an international medical technology organization and the Maine-based Tramuto Foundation, in partnership with RFK Human Rights Italia, to launch the RFK Italy Coronavirus Emergency Fund campaign with an initial pledge of $55,000.

Tramuto is a small business owner in Ogunquit, ME, owns a home in Florence, Italy, and maintains his Italian citizenship. “The tragedy in Bergamo and beyond is unbearable,” he said. “I called a friend, who is also a teacher there, and she told me that everyone has lost someone — a friend, or a relative.  The cemeteries are full, corpses are brought outside the city by the Italian Army and stocked in a common area to be cremated, not buried.  People are dying alone. They go to the hospital and families don’t receive news for days or weeks and cannot see them. Doctors haven’t the time to inform families. It is such a tragedy.”

As of March 31st, 105,000 Italians have tested positive for Covid-19, with more than 12,000 deaths. Nearly 70,000 residents remain sick from the virus. The most affected Italian city is Bergamo and the most affected region of the country is Lombardy. RFK Human Rights – Italia reported that the hospitals are filled to capacity, and doctors and nurses are working round-the-clock and cannot see their families since the majority of them have contracted the virus. As in the United States, the most fragile patient population in Italy includes the elderly, people with suppressed immune systems and the incarcerated.

“Heartfelt thanks to Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Board member Donato Tramuto, chairman and founder of Health eVillages and the Tramuto Foundation, for the organizations’ $55,000 grant to the RFK Italy Emergency Fund,” said Kerry Kennedy, President of RFK Human Rights. “These funds will be used to acquire ventilators for Intensive Care Units across Italy, to house doctors and nurses at our RFK Center office in Florence, and provide organizations in the nation’s hardest-hit areas with emergency support. 

“It is through the generosity of Donato, and so many others, that we experience true community in this relentless war to stop the spread of Coronavirus,” Kennedy added. “It is in times like these that we come to fully understand my father’s words – “that each time a man stands up to improve the lot of others he sends forth a ripple of hope that knows no bounds, crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current.” ”

The Italian Civil Protection Dept., the government agency coordinating Italy’s response to the pandemic, is overseeing the emergency fund. Donations will be used to distribute emergency support and supplies, including food, to organizations throughout Rome and Lombardy, along with desperately needed ventilator systems for hospital intensive care units. In addition, the offices of RFK Human Rights in Florence will be converted to temporary housing for doctors and nurses working in nearby hospitals.

To donate to the RFK Italy Coronavirus Emergency Fund, please visit: rfkitalia.org