Gloria González, one of the founders of the Santa Fe Foundation, died

On the afternoon of this Saturday, November 9, 2024, the death of Gloria González de Esguerra was announced, who made the construction of the Santa Fe Foundation possible, one of the most prestigious private health institutions in Colombia, by donating the land. for its construction.

The idea behind the creation of the Santa Fe Foundation arose when Gloria returned to Colombia with her husband Alfonso Esguerra, another of the founders of the Foundation, with the goal of building “a hospital similar to the one we left in this country (the New Haven Yale Hospital ).

This desire was strengthened amidst talks that Esguerra held with Dr. Hernando Sarasti about the situation of medicine in Colombia and the need for a center that will improve health care standards in the country.

With this mission in mind, Dr. Esguerra summoned nearly 40 doctors to his home in Bogotá and announced that his wife, Gloria González, would donate land for the construction of a hospital that will improve patient care in the country.

After a long process, the hospital opened its doors in January 1983, that is, 11 years after the project was announced. Dr. Sarasti said, in an interview with the National Academy of Medicine of Colombia , that “the foundation was something that was not known if it was going to work or not, whether or not there were resources to do it, it was very much in doubt. “I personally never had any doubt that this was a need for the country, it was a need for medicine, it was a need for the Colombian medical body, and I firmly believed that sooner or later we would get ahead.”

The purpose was for this private, non-profit institution to offer an innovative approach by selecting a group of doctors, preferably the best in their specialties, to work full time. Furthermore, one of the main objectives was to create a university hospital, which combined quality medical care with the academic training of future professionals.

For her actions in allowing the creation of the foundation, in 1992, then- president César Gaviria presented Gloría González with the Philanthropy award for her efforts to improve the health infrastructure in the country. This was one of the many recognitions he received for his work with the Foundation.

The death of Gloria González comes two weeks after the death of her husband Alfonso Esguerra Fajardo, a renowned Colombian radiologist. Esguerra co-founded three philanthropic institutions and was active in seven others, including the Community Development Corporation. He was a member of the Latin American consulting team of US AID and author of several books and articles that address health and social development issues.