Stories of doctors who have worked for Fundación Visión

Dr. David Ramón Jure Vallejos, Paraguay, Universidad Nacional de Asunción
The opportunity that Fundación Visión gives me to be able to prepare myself in an excellent academic environment with a marked emphasis in the social services to the most underprivileged sectors of our country fills me with satisfaction because it will help me grow not only professionally but also personally.




Dr. James Jeisson Castro Loayza, Perú, Univ. Nac. Pontificia San Francisco Sucre, Bolivia
I am the new member of the staff of first year residents at Fundación Visión. I am very pleased to feel like part of the family from day one and to have the opportunity to grow professionally and to be available to the neediest people.




Dr. Clovis Jorge Fernández Velazco, Perú, Universidad Católica Santa María de Arequipa
Today I have a great feeling of satisfaction and responsibility to be a member of the family of  Fundación Visión because of the growing international prestige of the Fundación Visión year after year since its founding and the confidence of acquiring and sharing knowledge and skills that will be very beneficial to my personal and professional development. I am sure that I will share everything I have learned in my beloved country.




Dr. Christian Boris Rodríguez Nava, Bolivia
It is a great joy for me to know that I will finally be able to achieve a much desired goal, that of being an ophthalmologist. It is a great opportunity for me as a professional and I hope to meet the expectations which the project has of all of us that are beginning our training today, only striving for the wellbeing of our people that we owe them as healthcare professionals. At the same time, I want to wish good fortune and success to our classmates who are now finishing this stage of training.




Dr. Daniel Cardozo
To try to express, or simply sum up my experiences in these 1,126 days becomes impossible, I would need five magazines to tell about a small part of all that I lived. I have learned a lot, I have grown professionally and as a person, I had the opportunity to find the lost side of myself, I refer to treatment of the community, to treat the most needy,those whom the indifference of people or of the government has them lying down, suffering from various illnesses with no one to turn to, almost without hope. Never in my life have I been able to feel something so immense and profound, to treat low income patients, blind and sometimes without hope, then to operate on them and see them recover their sight was an experience that I will never forget. I always knew that God had something special reserved for me, that something special was to have formed part of the family Fundación Visión and I say family because I have spent more time with my “heart” family than my biological family, I have laughed, I have provoked laughter, I have seen crying, I have cried, I have sweated and we have sweated together…I never would have been able to arrive alone, I had the support of many people who selflessly helped me walk the difficult road of the doctor in residence, and I will take some time here to describe how I arrived at the fundación… One day in January, 2004, I had just arrived from Brazil, I had tried to do my residency in that country, the law allowing foreign students to practice their residencies in that country had changed, it had become tougher, I was disillusioned, frustrated, and didn’t know where to go when Mrs. Malelí de Villarejo appeared in my life and told me about a Foundation that was located behind the Baptist Hospital. One day she brought me almost “at gunpoint” to ask for information, I submitted my resume, took the entrance exam and had the corresponding interviews, the last of these on a Wednesday in February, that same day I arrived home and my mother asked me how it had gone … my answer: I honestly don’t believe that they will call me (there were almost 20 of us competing for one spot and all of us were very qualified with very good GPAs)…. That was when I received one of the most important phone calls that would change my life, the phone call from Dr. Lansingh, I couldn’t believe it, it was almost an impossible dream, I was walking on air…I still am. THANK YOU GOD, thank you family especially Dad, thank you family Visión especially Zulma Díaz, thank you friends, thank you patients, thank you Sra. Malelì y thanks to all you who formed part of this journey.
MANY THANKS TO EVERYONE; I WILL MISS YOU ALL VERY MUCH.




Dra. Lorena Quiroga
To describe these three years of residency in a nutshell is not an easy job, but perhaps one word can reflect what they meant to me: challenge. This period of training brings with it many changes that for the brand-new recently graduated doctor constitute a type of adventure in change to reach a new goal. I started out with my classmate (Dr. José Daniel Cardozo) with a backpack full of desire to learn and grow as a professional in the service of others. The first steps were full of changing sentiments: the fascination of discovering the new world of ophthalmology and the anxiety of learning every new thing, frequently I was afraid (and surely my classmates will understand it also) of not knowing the answer to a question or the humiliation of being corrected by a professor. In the end everything led to more dedication and effort and, without realizing it, we acquired the self-confidence that we needed. Today perhaps with even a sense of pride we can call ourselves ophthalmologists, not only because of the knowledge that hours of study have proportioned to us, but also because of the spirit of service and the desire to give it our best that we cultivated during this time. These three years were a period of continuous growth due to the many challenges we had to overcome every day in the examining room, in surgery, during trips and during classes…To grow is wonderful and we had the good fortune to do it accompanied by wonderful people! Thank you always to those who lent us a hand, and to each one for allowing us to learn from you.