What should you do if you suffer an injury or medical emergency while staying in rural Le Marche? Living on our hill in Ripa brings endless joys, but late-night country mishaps still happen.
It all started when Stefan spent a third consecutive sleepless night fighting off relentless mosquitoes. Sitting outside in the dark with an anti-mosquito candle positioned between his legs, exhaustion got the better of him, and the flame severely burned his foot.
It hurt. Badly. First priority was to use all the water available to make sure nothing was burning, then Stefan woke up Sam to tell him he would be alone for the hours to come.. Stefan needed to find himself medical care.
At that time, we didn’t even know Ripatransone had its own local Centro Medico. The hospital of San Benedetto, at that time of the day a 20-minute drive, was Stefan’s destination.
After 5 minutes of driving, Stefan passed our favorite water point in Villa Santi. It must have been around 3 o’clock in the night, about 15 mins after this all happened. Stefan stopped, putting his foot below the running water, taking off the candle wax sticking to his flesh.
Stefan then continued the road towards San Benedetto, passing the farmacia in Cupra Marittima. Here, he stopped at the vending machine to find himself something to protect. This vending machine, containing about 60 different products, was stuffed with condoms (any size, any form, any taste), diapers, baby milk.. but nothing for first aid. He found himself an after-sun cream to go for. Now, halfway through the drive, sleep hit more than pain. Things felt stable enough to head back home for the night.
The next morning, in daylight, the burn looked far worse than he thought it would be – completely black and severely damaged. When he called Gaby, she was very clear to him: “You should go to a hospital, or at least a pharmacy.”
So, Sam and Stefan had breakfast at Tiki Bar and googled what to do. We found out that Ripa has a local health center, Azienda Sanitaria Unica Regionale Marche 5, or just the Centro Medico. When we arrived, the doctor immediately sprang into action and Stefan’s foot ended up in all kind of bandages. Next stop: the local pharmacy, Farmacia D’Angelo. Here we were welcomed warmly and the local pharmacist took all the time needed to understand the situation. She was (perhaps literal!) a lifesaver in the weeks to come.
For the next few weeks, we returned every three to four days for treatments at the Centro Medico. The doctors and nurses were exceptionally warm, attentive, and thorough. For the next 4 weeks, Stefan was wearing thick socks and couldn’t go for a swim.
Today, two months later, the burn has healed completely without leaving a single scar – a true testament to the incredible care hidden right in our hilltop village.