Heart failure

Vall d’Hebron University Hospital’s kitchen serves more than 1,000 meals a day, twice a day, not counting breakfast. A reality that José Parrilla and Carmina Esteban know all too well.From three kitchens to one and from coal to gas. That is how the hospital’s catering service has evolved. A place where the needs of each patient must be taken into account and where there is room for small, juicy anecdotes.

The former head of the Thoracic Surgery Department, Dr. Mercè Canela, recently retired, recalls the important evolution of the Department to become a leader in Spain and a lung transplant pioneer. A task made possible thanks to collaboration with professionals from other departments, an added value in the personal and team environment.

Porters are a vital piece in the hospital jigsaw, including during the night shift. A tough shift, which works at the same pace of the rest of the day, as José Luis Rivas, in charge of the night shift, admits.

Rosalia Moure arrived at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in 1967. She spent her entire working life in the linen and laundry department of the Hospital. Rosalia Moure has witnessed the Hospital’s big transformations, from dictatorship to democracy and from analogue to digital systems.

Dr. Josep Sánchez de Toledo Codina, head of the Paediatric Haematology and Oncology Department, tells us about a Department that has laid the foundations for the specialism in Spain. He also remembers the evolution of transplants from haematopoietic stem cells and progenitors, from the beginning, buying the material at a shop in Barcelona city centre, to the more than 1,200 transplants that have now been performed.

Dr. Francesc Bosch, Head of the Haematology Department, talks about the complexity of the Department, which has turned Vall d’Hebron into a reference centre in haematology thanks to its commitment to transplants and the use of new treatments. The Clinical Trials Unit helps a lot, giving access to treatments for complex patients.

The Master's Degree in Biomedical and Translational Research is an official programme created to train researchers with the requisite combination of scientific knowledge and skills to contribute to the future success of biomedical research.

Its multidisciplinary nature is one of the main aspects of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital Cardiology Department. Its work focuses on fostering coordination between the different professionals involved to achieve care that improves patient quality of life.

Fermín Fernández Álvarez, Porter Coordinator, explains the importance of the role these professionals play in the hospital. After 36 years at Vall d’Hebron, Fermín is a real master of the ways things are done. He says that a porter has to combine humility, discretion and safety with a single goal: that patients receive human and friendly treatment.

Andrés Hinarejos, a patient at the hospital for decades, explains how he overcame the serious accident that brought him to Vall d’Hebron, where he found a second family to help in his recovery.

“The first thing they did was take away my fear”. Journalist Joana Morillas, tells us about her experience as a patient in the Breast Pathology Unit, in the Vall d’Hebron Breast Centre. A very difficult experience, but one during which Joana says she laughed a lot.

Núria and Marta now follow Messi, but when they were born their lives were very different. They were born joined at the abdomen. Their mother, Meritxell Feliu, explains the experience the family lived through, from diagnosis to surgery.