96 97 cerro de pasco The greatest investment of the XXth century A cutting-edge hospital Before the metallurgical complex began operations, the company built the Chulec Hospital to ensure adequate medical assistance for the employees of the Cerro de Pasco corporation. Since its inauguration on February 21, 1921, it established itself as the main medical centre, but two hospitals that functioned as satellites were also maintained, that of Puquiococha in Morococha and La Esperanza in Cerro de Pasco. Chulec, in addition, was the place where the company had located the main camp of La Oroya, where the top management of the company as well as the highest-ranking professionals resided and lived as well, in a residential complex with houses that were identical to a mining camp in Montana. Beyond providing medical assistance and the management of medical emergencies for the company’s employees and workers, in a short time the Chulec Hospital became a professional training centre for nurses and medical students from different parts of the country and in an entity that promoted health education in the region, playing a leading role in the dissemination of knowledge on respiratory diseases (such as tuberculosis) and sexually transmitted diseases. A central figure in the history of this hospital was general surgeon Harold Crane, a graduate of the University of Michigan in the United States. Upon his arrival at the La Esperanza Hospital, Crane was greatly impressed by the future of the city of Cerro de Pasco, which he considered hostile not only because of the weather, but also because of the daily violence and the high levels of alcoholism and prostitution among the poorer sectors of the population. According to the surgeon’s own statements, the most seriously ill patients originated equally from mining accidents as they did from bars. Crane remained as chief of the company’s medical services for thirty years, until his retirement in 1950. During his long service, the surgeon promoted the constant modernisation of the Chulec hospital and made it a space for many innovations in therapy and surgery. He also established a very close relationship with Peruvian doctors and scientists from Europe and North America who visited the hospital and took advantage of the magnificent research facilities it offered. He himself became one of the most recognised authorities in the field of high altitude medicine, as he was the discoverer of a novel form of soroche (altitude sickness), which would later be known as altitude pulmonary edema. In 1927, he wrote an article in which he pointed out that some patients combined common symptoms of soroche with coughing, spitting up blood, and congestion in the lungs. He also observed how quickly these people recovered once they descended to sea level. Shortly after its inauguration, the Chulec Hospital became a benchmark for national medicine, in which the best national and foreign professionals were hired, becoming the most important and advanced medical centre in Peru. Funding for these modern hospitals by Copper allowed doctors access to hundreds of patients, sophisticated equipment and, importantly, electricity in regions that would otherwise have offered extremely difficult conditions for emergency care, laboratory analysis, surgical operations and, as mentioned earlier, for scientific research. The environmental paradox The period of settlement of La Oroya coincided with the so-called Eleven-year Period, the second accession to the presidency of Mr. Augusto B. Leguía. Although he won the election in 1919 over the “Civilista” candidate, Antero THE HOSPITAL BECAME A PROFESSIONAL TRAINING CENTRE FOR NURSES AND STUDENTS AND A PROMOTER OF HEALTH EDUCATION IN THE CENTRAL REGION.
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