Before you, the Dr. Juan A. Fernández Hospital is easy to spot: a modern, white building with large bay windows and black letters proudly displaying its name above the main entrance, flanked by a ramp and steps where healthcare workers in white coats circulate.
Imagine yourself in late 19th-century Palermo: no honking cars yet, just dusty streets with willows hovering over vacant lots and scattered houses, quite far from the city center. A mysterious, somewhat forgotten place where what would become the Fernández Hospital was established. In 1889, it wasn't yet called that, but 'Dispensario de Salubridad y Sifilicomio Municipal' - admit it, it's a mouthful, but it made sense! It primarily dealt with contagious diseases at a time when syphilis was rampant in Buenos Aires. Here, it wasn't about gentleness, but rather caution and a touch of fear. It seems that back then, this institution was 'flat and dark,' quite the opposite of what you see today!
Over the years, the neighborhood transformed. In 1893, under Mayor Miguel Cané, the place was renamed 'Hôpital du Nord' (North Hospital) and specialized in housing homeless women, 'victims of abominable contagions.' Let's just say its reputation wasn't stellar! Then in 1904, the hospital received a new name and a new ambition, honoring an exceptional man: Dr. Juan Antonio Fernández, nicknamed 'the Argentine Hippocrates.' This pioneer was a professor, surgeon, founder of the first national academy of medicine, and even dean of the faculty.
From 1907 to 1910, jackhammers went wild: new surgical rooms, a maternity ward, childcare, and then X-rays, which at the time were scarier than a horror movie. Later, in 1937, it was déjà vu: a full-fledged reconstruction was decided upon. The work stretched until 1943, the date of an inauguration worthy of the grandest celebrations, and for good measure, the hospital nearly tripled its specialties between 1948 and 1953.
And, you know what? The Fernández Hospital never stops: children's clinics, dreaded (but admired) emergency services, divisions for toxicology, infectiology, traumatology. And it's here that generations of doctors are trained, thanks to its partnership with the university. In 2018, the Konex Prize recognized all this work, the cherry on top of the medical cake!
So, the next time you pass by, think of all the sighs, hopes, cries of life, and stories that circulate here, between the white walls and the windows looking out onto today's Palermo!
