University of Valparaíso – Academics make documentary “Milestones of public health, a contribution from the Valparaíso Region”, which highlights the legacy of UV Medicine teachers

Behind great ideas there are always men and women who are leaders, persevering, with a high capacity to overcome adversity and not give up, and who value and promote teamwork, because they understand that it is the only way to make a dream come true. Ten of these dreamers and their respective contributions to public health, both at a regional and national level, is what is collected and valued in the documentary “Landmarks of public health, a contribution from the Valparaíso Region”, produced by the academics of the Department of Public Health of the UV School of Medicine, Katherine Cuevas Lang and María Elizabeth Guerra Zúñiga, together with the audiovisual producer of the Medical Education Office, Ricardo Veragua.

The documentary highlights doctors Gustavo Ríos for the creation of pediatric ICUs starting in 1981 in different hospitals in the region (formerly Hospital Deformes, Van Buren, Fricke, Ciudad del Mar and Clínica Reñaca); Sergio Santibáñez for the creation of the Family Medicine specialty at UV; Mario Parada for the creation of the Master’s in Public Health at UV, the second in the country and the first in the regions; Laura Neira for strengthening pediatric oncology care at Van Buren Hospital; Heriberto Pérez for the creation of the Emergency Medical Care Service (SAMU) for pre-hospital medicine in Chile; María Emma Navarrete for the support of the UV Virology Clinical Laboratory during the 1976 influenza pandemic; Rodrigo Vergara for his participation in the global clinical trial of the rotavirus vaccine; Verónica Chamy and Aníbal Scarella, for their contributions to equitable access to human reproduction treatments, and Verónica Delgado, for her contribution to Chile Crece Contigo for the early stimulation of neurodevelopment in boys and girls.

The premiere ceremony of the documentary was presided over by the vice-rector Cristian Corvalán, the dean of Medicine Antonio Orellana, the director of the School Catherine Soto, together with teachers, officials and family members of the filmmakers.

The creators explained their motivations for creating this audiovisual work: “Although this project was created with an academic objective, we believe that we managed to capture inspiring experiences for future generations of doctors at our university and that the material can undoubtedly be used in our courses, contributing to further strengthening the graduate profile,” said Katherine Cuevas.

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“We wanted to make visible the excellent professional work carried out or carried out by academics in Medicine to applaud and admire their legacy for public health in the region and the country, and also to show that medical specialization does not conflict at any point with the discipline of Public Health; on the contrary, each medical area is potentially a space to deploy skills to serve human groups with needs not yet resolved by our health system, academia or public policies,” added María Elizabeth Guerra.

After the screening of the documentary, Cristian Corvalán thanked the medical professionals for their time and dedication to the academy and the region. “On behalf of the University, I tell them that we love and value them very much. When we see this, we realize how much we have done for the country,” he said.

He stressed that one cannot be a professional without the rigor of the technical knowledge necessary to start, even if these are not the final ones. He highlighted the openness that everyone had to think differently, to open up to new possibilities, to learn from others, and finally he highlighted the teamwork and leadership of each of the recognized.

“When we look at this, many of these tasks reflect the connection with the environment. This is where the bidirectionality lies, this is what the University has to do to connect with the environment and contribute to improving the quality of life of people in the territory,” he said.

The Dean of Medicine, Antonio Orellana, valued the idea of ​​the audiovisual: “They are the pillars on which the development of not only the University itself is based, but also the city, the territory, because each one of them did something for the population in their surroundings. This School has a very long history. There is a lot of knowledge that has been developed in Valparaíso in a very pioneering way and is born from academic work.”

The School Director, Catherine Soto, indicated that this is a time to recognize and thank the time that professionals have dedicated to the School of Medicine: “It is a very nice job that recognizes the people who work day to day within the School and whose activities they carry out have a great impact on public health.”

Interviewees

For the documentary’s protagonists, this was an invitation to redefine what they have achieved in medicine and their contribution to public health.

This is the case of Dr. Heriberto Pérez, promoter of the Emergency Medical Care Service, after learning about the French system. “We introduced a powerful concept of equity in care, in the sense that the more or less complex resources of the emergency systems come closer to the user and begin to provide care from the moment it is required. Under a global and network view, a new concept was introduced to emergency medicine, which opens a new window for requesting help through 131, where the patient is received, evaluated, categorized and given care.”

Mario Parada, manager along with a team of teachers of the second Master’s in Public Health and the first at the regional level, commented that they started with the master’s in 2003, “after a two to three year academic and administrative preparation process, considering the accumulated experience base of the Department of Public Health, the arrival of professionals with higher academic degrees and the experience in training hospital managers. We turned twenty years old last year 2023, we have twelve versions and more than 200 professionals who have been trained in this postgraduate course.”

For Dr. Verónica Delgado, a physiatrist, participating in this documentary was a wonderful experience to share information about the investigation and early intervention in childhood development disorders. “I did my specialty in Europe and when I returned I introduced Vojta therapy, in which parents are trained, who function as co-therapists for premature babies or those with psychomotor development disorders. In this way, they are prevented from developing cerebral palsy, since they are one hundred times more likely to have cerebral palsy. If you investigate in time, it can be avoided,” she explained.

Sergio Santibáñez promoted the creation of the Family Medicine specialty at UV after an internship in Israel. “We created the first nutritional center in the country, with which we obtained the Prize of the Medical College of Chile. After that, they sent me on a scholarship to Israel, where they were developing a 24-stage family medicine model. I returned with that idea, but it was not easy here and there is still resistance to the Family Medicine specialty among professionals, teachers and even the community,” he commented.

Note: Daniela Di Prima

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