BRAZIL: New health center provides specialist services
New Auxilium Health Center in Araçatuba provides centralized specialist outpatient services and medical training for UniSalesiano students
BRAZIL
(MissionNewswire) Thanks to the collaboration between the Municipality of Araçatuba in Brazil and the Faculty of Medicine of UniSalesiano, the Salesian University in Araçatuba, the city has a new health center called Auxilium. The health center is centralizing specialist outpatient services to ensure efficient, systematized and patient-centered health care.
The health center will have doctors available who specialize in cardiology, urology, otolaryngology, orthopedics, and angiology. There is also a multidisciplinary team made up of professionals in the areas of physiotherapy, nursing, nutrition and social work, along with programs to treat patients with Hansen’s disease and those undergoing ostomy. A gynecology clinic is equipped for all minor tests and surgeries.
The facility will also host the Reference Center for Workers’ Health, which provides medical and nursing assistance; and new equipment dedicated to physiotherapy.
The agreement also provided restructuring of the former municipal emergency room, located in the Santana district. This restructuring enabled practical training for UniSalesiano medical students at the health center.
Various religious authorities, politicians and professionals took part in an inauguration event on June 16, which was broadcast on the municipality’s social media channels.
“May this place be a source of blessing for many people and may it express efforts in favor of the common good in this way,” said Msgr. Sérgio Krzywy, the bishop of Araçatuba, before proceeding to the blessing of the premises.
Secretary for Health of Araçatuba Carmem Guariente thanked the Salesians for the successful collaboration, which began in 2017, and assured “this is the first of many to come.”
Fr. Ricardo Carlos, Salesian provincial of the Brazil-Campo Grande Province and UniSalesiano chancellor, stressed the importance of collaboration. He said, “Society needs to look at these good examples. I congratulate all the people involved who, in fact, contributed to this center being reborn, and that there are many other initiatives like this and that our society is the great beneficiary.”
Mayor Dilador Borges also expressed a similar sentiment. “This agreement with UniSalesiano will bear many fruits. We shall have many health professionals who will pass through here and will remember the institute that trained them.”
Brazil is an important agricultural and industrial power in the region. Just over 15 percent of Brazilians live in poverty, with the majority living in the rural northeast of the country, according to the World Bank. While Brazil is making positive changes, there are still large gaps between the poor and the rich, and issues of income inequality and social exclusion remain at the root of poverty.
Inequalities also exist in access to education and educational efficiency. These inequalities are greatest for children and youth who are poor, live in rural areas or who have an incomplete compulsory education. Salesian missionaries working with poor youth and their families in Brazil develop programs and provide youth opportunities for furthering their education and skills.
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Sources:
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ANS – Brazil – Salesians inaugurate new “Specialized Health Center – Auxilium” in Araçatuba
Salesian Missions – Brazil
World Bank – Brazil
