Alberto Luís de Mello Rosatto (photo), the presidente of the Board of Directors of the Américo Bairral Spiritist Foundation, in the Brazilian city of Itapira (in São Paulo state), is our guest this week. He has been a Spiritist since 1966 and gives us a wide perspective on the well-known organisation, which is a reference for the whole country and probably for the rest of Latin America.
When was Bairral Institute founded?
The hospital was officially founded on December 31st 1937, when its first statute was approved. But we have evidence that it began working informally before that date. The information we have is that Dona Gracinda saw patients in her own house. The founders are Onofre Batista and his wife, Gracinda Batista. They donated the property where the hospital was founded. Other family member, including their son-in-law, also played a crucial role. What is interesting is that neither Onofre nor Gracinda Batista had proper education. He was a builder and she was a housewife. But she trained as a nurse in the city of São Paulo and began not only treating patients but also training other nurses.
How did the idea of founding the Institute come about?
It came from the need to give shelter to mental health patients, who at that time were either locked up in jail or thrown in the basements of public hospitals. Driven by the urge to do charity, as advocated by Spiritism, Américo Bairral and his companions had the idea of founding a hospital to treat people in that condition.
Who was Américo Bairral?
He was a civil servant working in Itapira and a renowned Spiritist leader. He founded the Luiz Gonzaga Spiritist Centre and a home for the elderly. But he passed away before realising his dream of founding a hospital, or sanatorium, as psychiatric hospitals were known then. His companions took the idea on and there you are: Bairral is now a great, highly regarded hospital. Its many units take an area of 400,000 sq metres, with 824 beds, 511 of each offered for patients from Brazil’s national health system (SUS). One of our main challenges is to continue treating patients from the public health system, which is a loss-making operation. We have a wing for private patients. That helps us compensate for the spending with the SUS patients.
What are the main achievements of the Institute since it was founded 80 years ago?
It is the great progress we have achieved. We started with two small houses and we now have a vast health centre without, unique in Brazil and probably in Latin America. We have invested not only on the facilities, but also on the development of qualified professionals. We have 150 professionals working here. Our Residence programme for psychiatrists is now one of the best in the country. Another service that deserves praise is our new Child Psychiatry unit, with an innovative project of diagnosis and therapy that is probably unique in the country. It is a pioneering initiative, which will prevent many future mental health problems.
What is the best memory you have of your work in the Institute?
From a personal perspective, it was undoubtedly my election as president of the Board of Directors in 1998. I realised then I was taking on a huge responsibility, having been in the Board at the time for only three years. But with the help of all my companions here, I think I have been able to cope with the responsibility, as I have been re-elected as president ever since.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I would like to say that the opportunity to serve is extremely gratifying for all of us, directors. We are honoured to be part of the history of this model organisation. That is a source of “pride,” so to speak. And we know we have the duty to pass on to our successors a hospital offering the same level of services, or even better, than those we have received. As we celebrate the 80th anniversary of foundation of the Institute, all we can ask for is for help from the Spiritual Benefactors to help us take the right decisions, so that the Bairral Institute may continue to fulfil its goals as unit to help our brothers and sisters facing this most difficult challenge, mental health.
