In the context of their institutionalization process, a group of academics from the Community Health Center at the University of Playa Ancha (UPLA), led by their general coordinator, Natalia Montes Silva, visited the Teaching and Research Assistance Center of the University of Magallanes (CADI-UMAG) to learn more about the operation of the facility and how it relates to the educational processes of the students.
The Rector of UMAG, José Maripani, who led the meeting, provided context for the university initiative, emphasizing that it emerged as a territorial demand through the Special Development Plan for Extreme Zones, thereby becoming part of a health hub in the region along with the Magallanes Clinical Hospital and the “Cruz del Sur” Lions Club Rehabilitation Center. The academic authority highlighted that this plan was continued as a National Policy for Extreme Zones, which supports investment in various aspects of regional development.
The general coordinator of the UPLA Community Health Center, commented that the visit aimed to learn from the CADI UMAG experience to see how “the academic and formative processes of the students are carried out and how this contributes to curricular and professional practices, looking at the CADI model to potentially replicate it at the University of Playa Ancha,” she said.
The UPLA Community Health Center (CCS) is a project under the General Directorate of Community Engagement (DGVM) UPA 2195, which aims to contribute to reducing chronic morbidity rates in Zone 4 of Cerro de Playa Ancha through complementary primary care and mental health actions. This initiative involves the five programs of the UPLA Faculty of Health: Occupational Therapy, Kinesiology, Speech Therapy, Nursing, and Nutrition and Dietetics, along with Psychology from the Faculty of Social Sciences.
Montes explained, “Our main goal is to contribute to reducing chronic morbidity rates in Zone 4 of Cerro de Playa Ancha through complementary primary care and mental health actions for the community, and from there, through bidirectionality, respond to the educational processes of our students.”
Regarding the experience, the UPLA academic emphasized that the initiative’s contribution and impact on the professional training of students “have significantly enriched the development of transversal skills in these new generations, who are quite different, and, moreover, the impact of how the university takes responsibility for its territory and the needs of our neighbors.”
For her part, the Director of CADI UMAG, Karena Espinoza Saavedra, commented that various state universities had been working for several months to develop collaborative work methodologies to provide guidelines for assistance teaching and the development of research and applied social sciences in health with a biosocial focus. “Last month, I visited the University of Playa Ancha in Valparaíso, and now the people from the Community Health Center have come to learn about our Center to establish collaborative work guidelines between both public institutions and how we can strengthen what we do in our students’ education with the work they have developed,” she stated.
Additionally, the professional indicated that “we also want to expand opportunities for our students for potential exchange experiences, volunteer work, and other community engagement activities, considering the diverse characteristics of the territories.”
Regarding the main similarities currently shared by the university health centers, she said that they are responding to the health needs and gaps of their respective territories. “We have managed to identify the gaps and needs of the communities and territories alongside the needs of health and social sciences programs, specifically programs like Psychology and Social Work, and we have also linked to Education. So, we share the common goal of diagnosing the territory, but we also want to highlight the fundamental work in health in training our students, which is the interdisciplinarity among different health professionals to deliver health and well-being to the population,” she concluded.