Jenny de la Torre Castro
Jenny Ignacia De la Torre Castro (* 1954 in Nazca , Peru ) is a Peruvian-German doctor and founder of the Jenny De la Torre Foundation for the homeless in Berlin-Mitte .
Life
Jenny De la Torre Castro grew up in Puquio ( Ayacucho ) in the Peruvian Andes . She was seven years old when her mother became seriously ill. The only doctor available was called for another emergency in the middle of treatment. Due to the shortage of doctors, she resolved to become a doctor herself one day.
In 1973 she began studying medicine in Peru. In 1976 she received a scholarship in the GDR . Before she could begin her studies, she learned German at the Herder Institute in Leipzig. She then began her studies at the University of Leipzig in 1977 and graduated in 1982. From 1983 to 1990, followed by specialist medical training as a pediatric surgeon at the Berlin Charité .
After completing her studies, she returned to Peru for the first time to work there, but was not given a permit because her previous degree was not recognized. After returning to Germany in 1990, she qualified as a pediatric surgeon at the Charité in Berlin and did her doctorate in Berlin-Buch. She then returned to Peru again, but there were bureaucratic obstacles preventing her qualifications from being recognized, which is why she returned to Europe. From 1991 she worked in various hospitals in German-speaking countries.
She has been a visiting professor at the Charité since 1998 . In 2002 she founded the Jenny De la Torre Foundation for the health care of the homeless with the prize money from the presentation of the Golden Hen, an award she received . According to the statutes of the foundation, she is the foundation chairman for life.
social commitment
During her first years as a doctor, De la Torre advised a project for pregnant women and mothers who were in need in 1992/93.
From 1994 she began treating homeless people at a subsidiary of the Berlin Medical Association at Berlin's Ostbahnhof . Over time, she became “their doctor” for the homeless patients. Jenny De la Torre traveled around giving lectures and raising awareness of the problem of homelessness in speeches and interviews.
Volunteers from various fields increasingly supported the project. To this day, the support of various specialists in the health center for the homeless is particularly important.
She has been honored several times for her social commitment and in 2002 became an ambassador for the Verbundnetz der Wärme , an initiative to support volunteers. With the prize money for the award of the Golden Hen in the same year, she was able to fund her newly established foundation and make her dream come true: a health center for the homeless. A former school in Berlin-Mitte , which had previously been empty for 10 years, was converted for this purpose with donations in kind and financial donations; the opening took place on September 6, 2006. In addition to medical and dental treatment, the center also offers a clothes closet, a soup kitchen, a social service and legal and psychological advice. The house and salaries of the employees are financed exclusively from donations.
Jenny De la Torre defines homelessness as a "social illness" - an assessment that is not adopted in professional circles, as the term illness ignores the social causes of homelessness.
Honors
- 1997: Federal Cross of Merit by Roman Herzog
- 1997: Honorary citizenship of her hometown Nazca
- 2002: Golden Hen
- 2010: Award of an honorary doctorate by the medical faculty of the Humboldt University in Berlin
- 2011: CharityAward
- 2013: Louise Schroeder Medal
- 2015: German Founder Prize of the Federal Association of German Foundations
- 2015: Carola Gold Prize for Health Equal Opportunities
- 2018: Zipfelpreis of the Zipfelbund
literature
- Jenny De la Torre: The juvenile and the aneurysmal bone cyst in childhood: An analysis of the patient population of the pediatric surgery clinic of the Berlin-Buch Clinic in the reporting period from 1968 - 1990. Berlin 1990 (dissertation, Academy for Medical Training).
- Jenny De la Torre: Specifics of wound care for homeless people. In: Surgical General . 12th year, 2011, issue 11/12, pp. 667–670.
- Gabriele Goettle : The doctor for the poor. Visit to Jenny de la Torre Castro in Berlin-Mitte. In: taz . December 30, 2013.
Web links
- Website of the Jenny De la Torre Foundation
- Frauke Lüpke-Narberhaus: Doctor of those who don't shower. In: The time . No. 34, 2010
- Zipfelpreis for the Jenny De la Torre Foundation. Zipfelbund , 2018
- The homeless health center has been in existence for ten years. Berlin Week , September 8, 2016
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jenny de la Torre, Berlin. Website of the Verbundnetz der Wärme initiative , accessed on January 6, 2017.
- ↑ Jenny De la Torre in an interview with Verena Mayer and Saskia Reis: Money alone does not solve the problem. The Berlin doctor Jenny De la Torre has been treating people who have no home for decades. A conversation about the hardships of the street, life under socialism and the difficult question of how a homeless society can be achieved. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, No. 187, 14./15./16. August 2020, p. 30.
- ↑ The health center. De la Torre Foundation website , accessed January 6, 2017.
- ↑ Berlin homeless doctor Jenny De la Torre Castro receives German donor award. Press release Federal Association of German Foundations, May 8, 2015 ( Memento of March 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Torre Castro, Jenny De la |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Castro, Jenny Ignacia De la Torre (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Peruvian-German doctor and founder of the "Jenny De la Torre Foundation" |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1954 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nazca , Peru |