Last september 21st, The President of the Autonomous Region of Madrid, Ms. Esperanza Aguirre, inaugurated the new public hospital in Torrejón de Ardoz. This is the first hospital experience out of the Valencian Autonomous Region.
It was a really exciting day. I had the chance to greet a lot of important public figures in healthcare sector who wanted to join us in such an important day for us. It was a highly emotional event, because next day, that magnificent building that the President was inaugurating in that moment, would become a hospital that never will close the doors. 24 hours, 7 days a week.
When you’re living a moment like that, then you remember the key points which made the project came true, as the bid preparation, the start of the works and the progress in a record time, the recruitment process… Too many memories while we were waiting for the Authorities.
A journalist friend of mine, remind me an interview in 1999, when I was the Manager of Hospital de la Ribera, in ALzira. He asked me: “Tell me a dream”. I replied: “Building a hospital in Paseo de la Castellana”. I made a 20km mistake. The opening of the Hospital in Torrejón is the final stage of a cycle which started in Alzira in 1999.
The event was really amazing, nothing to do with the typical inflexible ceremonies. The President, a politician very close to the people, was very nice and pleasant to everybody. I could share a lot of anecdotes (most of them have been already told by the journalists who were covering the event), but I’ll choose one of the gestures that I think it shows the personality of one of the most important public figures of the spanish political environment. During our visit to the Hospital, she went in a room which was not on the schedule, as she said “the President must see everything”. Afterward, she discussed with the Chief of Gynecology Service about the breast-feeding, encouraging the staff to promote it, without impositions.
But the charming memory of the day was when she sang “happy birthday to you” to the Chief of HHRR, together with the retinue of journalists and photographers.
Today, Torrejón de Ardoz has a new Hospital. Last September 22nd, the outpatient services were opened, and some days ago, the Emergency Services. We’re proud of this project, and we’ll work hard to make the citizens to be proud of it as well.
New projects are under way, new challenges, but the Hospital de Torrejón will be always a special hospital for us, and particularly for me.