2023-09-25 01:22:16
It would have been said to be eternal. Last October he had turned no less than 103 with his lucidity intact and the only annoyance of hearing loss that prevented him from making conversations from a distance.. When they handed him the phone, he immediately recognized my voice (although we hadn’t met for more than three years) and thanked him with his usual enthusiasm: “I’m glad you called me!” Now the news has just come that he left us Fortunato Benaím, the father of burn medicine in Argentina.
At 99, he had spent several months in intensive care for a liver abscess, but As soon as he recovered, he launched four projects: develop a healthcare network throughout the country so that in any town or city the patient can access excellent care; create a master’s degree in burns; found a Latin American scholarship so that young professionals can train in centers in other countries and carry out an epidemiological study of burns in the country.
He continued to participate in medical conferences via Zoom, even in the early hours of the morning when they were held in distant countries, always neat, in a suit and tie. “Martita” [Fernández]his wife, described him as a very persevering man, who “when he sets his mind to something, he doesn’t stop.”
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Originally from Mercedes, province of Buenos Aires, where he was born on October 18, 1919, Benaim was the son of a merchant and a housewife.. He attended high school at the National School in his city and then enrolled in the UBA Faculty of Medicine together with his brother, José, who was 11 months older than him and who would later dedicate himself to neurosurgery. His other brother graduated as an engineer and dedicated himself to hospital maintenance. A family marked by health care. Of his ten uncles on his mother’s side, two were doctors, one was a musician and the others were merchants.
In Benaím both music and medicine converged. To cover his expenses while studying, he joined a typical orchestra as a violinist. (one of the bandoneon players, Osvaldo Ruggiero, later joined Osvaldo Pugliese’s orchestra and was one of the creators of the Tango Sextet).
It would be impossible to summarize in a few lines the multiple and invaluable contributions he made throughout 80 years of work as a doctor, hospital director and, later, from the foundation that bears his name. His beginnings, somewhat fortuitous, were told many times. In 1948, when he was already a surgeon at the Argerich Hospital, a family in La Boca suffered a serious fire. They arrived at the hospital guard and there was no one to attend to them. Arnaldo Yodice, head of the service, called him and told him: “Doctor Benaím, take care of the burned people.”.
He accepted the challenge that would guide his life and to which he continued to dedicate himself without fainting. He was director of the Burn Institute for 28 years, the only one by competition (in which he was unanimously selected among 25 colleagues, some with several decades of seniority), until he retired. He also introduced the most modern techniques and quickly implemented the scientific advances in his specialty, while training dozens of disciples, in the country and abroad.
A few months before being forced to retire, at 65, he created the Fundación del Quemado. From there he launched the first skin bank and the first laboratory for skin culture for severe burns from the patient’s own tissue, he founded a scientific journal that is the only one in Spanish, and numerous study programs and scholarships. .
In 1997, through an agreement with the German Hospital, He promoted the Cepaq (Center of Excellence for Burn Care) in this area, providing it with specialized equipment that he himself designed.: to facilitate the transfer of patients, who must be treated frequently, and to lighten the work of health personnel, he devised a special bed, “which has a superimposed stretcher that is separated from the bed thanks to an electrical system that is activated by pressing a button, with which the sheets can be removed and the mattress turned over without touching the patient. That bed with the stretcher is taken out to the hallway, where there is a rail with a crane, it takes the stretcher with the patient, moves it to take it to the surgical area and returns it. The prototype is available to those who want to use it,” he said a few years ago.
He displayed enviable vitality. Towards the end of his life he taught himself to play the piano. He had two children, five grandchildren and one great-grandson. When asked for the recipe for having a long and full life, he recommended: “Have a woman with whom you understand each other. It’s the best thing that can happen to you right away, but if not, you have to look for it.. It cost me three marriages. And I’ve been with her for 40 years now. And secondly, have projects and carry them out.” He had them, he carried them out and leaves an invaluable legacy.
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