Province of Biobío community members receive free podiatry support thanks to an agreement between AIEP Los Ángeles y AES Chile

July 15, 2024

• Between May and July, four clinics were held in the province of Biobío, which benefited 40 members of the communities near the Mesamávida, San Matías, Campo Lindo and Los Olmos wind farms.

Within the framework of an alliance between the AIEP professional institute based in Los Angeles and AES Chile, four podiatry clinics were held at the social headquarters of the communities surrounding the Mesamávida, San Matías, Campo Lindo and Los Olmos parks.

These activities, carried out during four weekends between May and July, made it possible to provide free podiatry services more than 40 members of the neighborhood associations of Mesamávida, San Francisco, Las Trancas, Santa Fe, Araucano and Sol de Septiembre at their own offices without the need to move to the urban centers of Los Angeles and Mulchén.

The clinics are part of the training for 30 clinical podiatry students through practical learning in the field.

Felipe Matamala, deputy director of territorial development of AIEP, said that this initiative – which was born from a perspective of collaboration between both entities – “allows us to contribute and contribute to the well-being of the communities, directly impacting the quality of life of people through different interventions, and also support the training process of the students who, through experiences in real environments, further nourish their teaching and learning process, highlighting the social role by which the institution has always been characterized, and which is typical of the connection with the environment.”

Second-year student Fabiola Soto highlighted that “the experience was good and the patients were very kind” and valued that in this way “we have experienced in the work field and it helps us a lot to learn.”

President of the Mesamávida Neighborhood Council, Juan Parra, thanked the teams for bringing the clinic to his neighborhood. “It turned out to be a success. We were able to get our feet treated, including me. It was an excellent initiative that we hope to repeat,” he said.

Benjamín Rengifo, head of Territorial Management and Communities in the Southern Zone of AES Andes, highlighted that this project considers “the delivery of services that allow the residents of our wind farms to improve their quality of life, as well as contribute to the technical-professional development of AIEP students.”

Rengifo added that these initiatives “are of utmost relevance since they allow us to bring these important services to rural sectors where neighbors often do not have access, either due to their high cost, as well as due to the lack of service providers in the location. This allowed us to reach a significant number of older adults, those with reduced mobility, patients with diabetes, among other medical conditions where podiatric clinical care is essential for their treatments and quality of life.”