“Why Villablino, if it’s cold and far away?” says Rocío Álvarez, who has been asked by different people all these past days. Due to her determination to work as a doctor in the Laciana region of Leon. “Because I know it, I have family roots in the area, it’s not so far away and it’s almost as cold as where I come from.” That place he is referring to is Argentina, specifically the pre-Andean plain.
These are some of the arguments of this young Argentine doctor, who on Saturday the 26th completed her first working day attending to emergencies at the Laciana Social Health Center, one of many places in emptied Spain where it is difficult to find doctors to care for an increasingly older population. To defend his decision to accept Sacyl’s proposal for daily contracts for emergencies in Villablino, with a commitment to provide him with four monthly guards and some other additional service.
“In 2016 and 2018 I was already in Laciana to visit to meet my family”, his father is originally from Caboalles de Arriba. That is why when she and her husband Daniel Álvarez decided that they were coming to Spain in search of new opportunities “and also new experiences of places and people”. She never ruled out the idea of ending up settling in Villablino.
It has been more than two years since they made that decision firmly, “the pandemic greatly deteriorated economic conditions in Argentina and that led us to reaffirm our idea of coming here, we had even already bought a plot to build a house and we have built it there.” left”.
He requested the homologation of his academic degree, a process that took 25 months to resolve and once achieved, “with some friends we came to Malaga.” Life on the Costa del Sol is expensive “and it is very hot”. Looking for alternatives and opportunities, she enrolled in the “Arraigo” program.
The first offer they proposed to her was for a town in Palencia to also work as a doctor, but the idea of Laciana was still in her mind, so she declined that offer and insisted on coming to León. From the ‘Arraigo’ project they put her in contact with the managers of the León Provincial Council project, ‘Repuebla’, a project to settle the population in rural areas. From there to the councilor of Villablino, Pilar Carrasco, and with her to the Sacyl, “where I learned of the need for doctors and they offered me what I accepted.”
Last week, he traveled to Ponferrada, the headquarters of the reference hospital, to receive the first lessons and instructions on the operation of the health services that he will attend. When we talk to her and her husband, they explain to us the arguments they have been giving to those who insistently asked them “And why Villablino?
I know him and I have a family, “thanks to those of us who at the moment have a place to live.” It is cheaper than other areas, “like Malaga”. It’s not very hot, “which I don’t like very much.” And it is well located, “close to Oviedo, León and Ponferrada”.
This last argument, incomprehensible to many, who see these cities as far away. But not for them who are used to large spaces and great distances. The Argentine province of Mendoza (148,827 km2) is almost 10 times larger than the province of León (15,581 km2). And its continental-type climate is almost extreme in summer, with temperatures reaching up to 40 degrees and winters somewhat less cold than those of Laciana, with temperatures rarely below zero degrees.
What Rocío does not lack is desire and illusion, to begin this new phase of her life. “Rural medicine attracts me, because I like being close to people, being able to follow the processes with people.” She therefore arrives at the ideal place.
A few reasonable doubts
Rocío’s arrival has been celebrated in a notable way by the Villablino municipal corporation, aware of how difficult it is to get staff for this end of the province of León, a declining mining basin. In the process, the personal decision of the doctor to personally choose León has weighed heavily, incidentally questioning the model due to the lack of somewhat more desirable and continuity contracts, which create a loyalty bond between the parties, to avoid the risk from his departure to other places or private medicine to a better opportunity.