Intesa Sanpaolo educational programme for long-suffering children

The Intesa Sanpaolo educational programme for long-suffering children was born in 2016, stemming from the experience of a Group colleague who asked for help for her little girl Giulia, hospitalised since birth due to a serious illness and deprived of the chance to mingle with her peers and learn in an educational setting.

The Bank responded straight away and, after identifying the scale of the need, used this small spark as the focal point to establish a series of actions that would grow, in the following years, into a programme that today involves eight outstanding hospitals throughout Italy.

With its programme for long-suffering children, Intesa Sanpaolo provides children aged between 0-3 years and affected by onco-hematological disorders educational activities on the wards in which they are hospitalised, through the use of PAN-branded nursery services whose quality is certified at European level.

The aim of the nursery service is to help the children overcome the social and psychological isolation caused by their illness, intense treatment and long-term care, promoting their cognitive and emotional development through an appropriate curriculum taught by qualified teachers in the most comfortable and nurturing setting possible.

This well-established experiment has yielded remarkable results: in the project’s partner hospitals, 100 per cent of the children aged 0-3 have been enrolled in the nursery service for long-term patients. From its inception to 31 December 2023, the project has involved over 660 children.

Today, the programme is running at the Regina Margherita Children's Hospital in Turin; the A.O.R.N. Santobono Pausilipon in Naples; the Ospedale San Gerardo in Monza; the Azienda Ospedale - Università di Padova in Padua; the IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero - Universitaria di Bologna Policlinico di S. Orsola in Bologna; the Istituto Giannina Gaslini of Genoa; the Policlinico di Bari Ospedale Giovanni XXIII in Bari and the IRCCS Materno Infantile Burlo Garofolo in Trieste.

The Intesa Sanpaolo educational programme for long-suffering children was the focal point of an event at the Policlinico di Bari Ospedale Giovanni XXIII on 4 October 2022, involving health workers, educators, representatives of public institutions and leading representatives from the non-profit sector.

This Programme has been established in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda. For more information, visit the Sustainability section.