One family, one house António went to the hospital afraid but hoping to be healed. When he entered he underwent a rigorous medical examination that included an exhaustive photographic record of the disease injuries. A huge questionnaire on symptoms, family history and economic and social conditions, whose answers were filled out by nurses, doctors …
One patient, two diseases Artur was admitted to the Hospital Colónia Rovisco Pais in 1957, was 58 years old, single and lived alone, and on what he cultivated. Born and resident in Fafe, he was identified by a Medical Brigade. His health status was worrying from what is described. In 1964 his clinical case …
Alzira, external patient Alzira was born in 1910 in Parada de Cima and lived in Calvão (Vagos). The first symptoms of the disease were the feeling of numbness in the feet, but she didn’t know what it was. In November 1948, she was tracked by a Medical Brigade at the Hospital Colónia Rovisco …
Ana, a life in the hospital Ana was born in Monção – Viana do Castelo, in 1935. She lived with her mother in a house without a bathroom and without piped water and basic sanitation. She did not know her father, who had died of leprosy. The mother never had symptoms. Ana started having …
Mário, from kid to nurse Mário Bexiga memories go back to his childhood, when he lived near the hospital and jumped over the fence to watch the open-air cinema that was shown to patients. Fate reserved him to be nurse at that health unit. He entered the Hospital in 1970 and the first place where …
Lucy, the twin Lucy * and her brother were twins. The mother had three twin pregnancies and only in that both babies survived. They had months of life when the social workers at Hospital Colónia Rovisco Pais welcomed them into the Preventório, with their parents’ agreement. The family lived with enormous needs and the mother …
Elias, nursing on wheels Elias Paiva graduated from the School of Nursing Dr. Ângelo da Fonseca in Coimbra, in 1964. He was in the troop in Vila Franca de Xira until 1968 and after having worked at the University of Coimbra Hospitals, he started working at the Hospital Colónia Rovisco Pais, in 1969. At …
Memories of a doctor Dr. Saudade Gonçalo developed her professional activity as a doctor at Hospital Colónia Rovisco Pais between 1965 and 1980. She started as a second assistant and ended up as head of service. In an initial phase she lived in the neighborhood of employees that existed near the hospital. Before going to …
Rodrigo’s happy memories Rodrigo*, his mother and brothers arrived at the Tocha in March 1964, at the end of the day. The trip was long and on the way, from his home to the Hospital, the Brigade had picked up another patient. He was five years old and from the moment he arrived at the …
Olinda. A decade, many memories Olinda * lived somewhere in the Serra de Montemuro. The father had “the disease” since he was 18, as she said “he lay down on the green grass, then he passed the shadow and he was taken away from the hands”. But it was only when his son asked to …
