Wines, classic cars and good books get better with age and this select group of things can enter the institutions loved by the people, as happens to the public Hospital of Pereira.
This note could begin, like so many others, with May 6, 1906… But it is better to show the love and gratitude with which doctors, mayors and managers who do not reach middle age speak of this place. For example, how in San Jorge, there is the entire life of the mayor of Santa Rosa, as Dr. Paulo Gómez himself tells it.
Like the director of the Santa Mónica Hospital and director in charge of San Pedro and San Pablo de La Virginia, Dr. Juan Carlos Marín, who returned to remember his time there and be grateful for all the experience acquired.
History about history
In Pereira, great works and civility are one thing, this is how the Cathedral, the Matecaña Airport, the Olympic Village, the La Libertad, Plaza de Bolívar and El Lago parks, Avenida 30 de Agosto and of course, the San Jorge Hospital, this is how it was remembered yesterday morning when all those who carry this entity in their hearts gathered to give thanks for the achievements in a Eucharist and talk about future plans.
This is how manager Alejandro Gaviria expressed it: “In all these works there has been the indelible mark of a vigorous and enterprising race that has never spared efforts to make its dreams come true. The history of the Hospital began to be written around 1887, when General Valentín Deazza donated the lot located on Carrera 5 and Calle 24. It was handed over for public service in 1905 and a year later, on May 6, it was consecrated to Saint George ”.
This is San Jorge, more or less around the 1940s, according to photographer Álvaro Camacho, who provided this image.
Day by day
“Although these 118 years have not been free of difficulties and risk situations that have been overcome with solvency. The present Hospital is traveling along positive paths of recovery and goals achieved, both from a financial point of view as well as opportunity and quality in service with a human sense. We firmly hope that better times will come for everyone, especially for our users,” Gaviviria said in the main speech.
The San Jorge, according to the manager, is classified as the largest in the Region and where the most cases are resolved. Regarding the future direction, he answered that “we are focused on accreditation, which means having better quality standards, we work to provide better services with humanization and patient safety. We have work with the national government to strengthen ourselves in terms of growth projection and we will be closely allied with the High Complexity Regional Hospital.”
This year’s celebration focused on recognizing the work of all officials, showing that in a symbolic way everything blooms at San Jorge, for this reason each manager and collaborator duo by floor or specialty were given a flower and a button which reads: ‘Here we all flourish. Your loving and delicate care nourishes the growth of each individual. Thank you for everything they do!’. “The most important thing is to recognize that despite all these years the Hospital continues to grow, strengthen and work 100%,” Gaviria concluded.
Family members, patients, officials and users in general are the reason for the Hospital to exist and continue.
Very special guests
Just as aunts and good godparents are the first guests at children’s birthday parties, the San Jorge Hospital, although quite grown, is still spoiled by all the directives in the health field that make codependence in care or treatments to the patients and left their congratulatory messages:
“Very happy to be here celebrating the birthday of this place that saw me grow as a doctor, here I did my internship, my internship, my first births, my first surgeries, it has all my love. My wife trained here as a doctor and my mother was a nursing assistant in this Institution, so there are plenty of reasons to celebrate,” said Dr. Paulo Gómez, mayor of Santa Rosa.
The manager of the Santa Mónica Hospital and the manager in charge of the San Pedro and San Pablo Hospital in La Virginia, Juan Carlos Marín said: “Happy to be here, this is my home, here I studied, I spoiled myself and I had the first opportunities in the educational part. A very special greeting to the beloved Hospital that has improved in services and the financial part.”
María Teresa Romero, manager of the Risaralda section of the League Against Cancer: “Thank you Hospital, thank you Javier Alejandro with your empowerment, for what you have done for the city, for the Region and even for the Country. 118 years very well run, with pride and love, let’s continue in alliances and working together for the health of the Department.”
As a gift, a room full of peace
On birthdays there are always people present and for this occasion, Dr. Eddier Gallego was in charge of giving the new Peace Room an invaluable contribution of humanity, as the manager expressed it. There are three works that were captured on the walls and that represent the three stages of life: a dawn, which expresses birth, the splendor of nature as the fullness of life and the sunset that expresses the end of days upon the earth. At the inauguration, after cutting the ribbon and before sprinkling the holy water, the priest and the attendees read Psalm 23 in unison.
“The Peace Room is a special place in our hospital, we no longer have a morgue, but a very special place where the people who accompany the beings who die can be calm and comfortable, while they go to the funeral home,” Javier pointed out. Alejandro Gaviria.
Javier Alejandro Gaviria, manager of the San Jorge Hospital. Fact
The Hospital was managed by the sisters of the Vincentian community, who lived there and among them was Sister Emilia Silva, considered the first anesthetist who practiced in the Hospital. In 1950, Dr. Santiago Londoño donated the first radiotherapy equipment.