Posthumous Recognition of Joan Calafat: Honors for a Businessman and Health Communicator

One year and just over two months after his death, Joan Calafat continues to receive the honors that his long career as a businessman and health communicator undoubtedly deserves.

A few dates ago, the founder and director of Salut i Força was posthumously distinguished with the ‘Health Defender’ award, awarded by the Hospital Vilanopó, in Elche and belonging to the Ribera group.

The event, which coincided with the thirteenth anniversary of the creation of this young and thriving hospital, was attended by the administrator of Salud Ediciones, Beda Trinidad, in turn, Joan Calafat’s widow; the current director of Salut i Força, Carlos Hernández, and José María Codony, a personal friend of the honoree and a person who has always shown his firm and unconditional support for this editorial project.

During the award ceremony, the director of Communication, Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility of the Ribera group, Angélica Alarcón, perfectly defined the personality and spirit of the creator of a project of the dimensions of Salut i Força: “Joan Calafat was a person with an immense charisma”, he affirmed.

And so all of us who had the fortune and pleasure of knowing and dealing with him can attest to this, including the speaker herself, who for many years was at the forefront of the exponential growth of the Salut i Força brand in the Valencian Community.

The president of Ribera, Alberto de Rosa, also intervened in the act, through a videoconference. In an emotional message, the main executive of one of the most solvent companies in the health sector, nationally and internationally, did not hesitate to describe Joan Calafat as his “brother from Mallorca”.

It is the best summary that can be made of the more than 20 years of professional relationship that united both of them and that began when Alberto de Rosa had the opportunity to explain, in an interview with Salut i Força, the main strategic axes of the so-called ‘Alzira Model ‘.

From this rostrum, we can only thank Ribera, Hospital Vilanopó and the Valencian Community as a whole, and, of course, in a personal capacity, Alberto de Rosa and Angélica Alarcón, for granting this posthumous recognition to which it was, and he continues to be from wherever he is, our leader, mentor and human and professional reference.

Since his death, in April 2022, this is already the second distinction that Joan Calafat has received for his immense and unfathomable task in favor of the dissemination of health and science. It should be remembered that, last October, the Institute for Research and Social Development of Rare Diseases awarded him the national award in the category of Best Health Communication.

Assures the saying that no one is a prophet in his land. But this assertion, which is usually inexorably fulfilled, will have, and so we want to believe, its exception in the case of Joan Calafat. We are convinced that his tremendous work, which has not gone unnoticed in the Valencian Community or in many other territories, will also be recognized, over time, on the island where he was born, Mallorca.

For the moment, as we have been informing our readers in the most recent issues of Salut i Força, the Joan Calafat awards, organized by Salud Ediciones, are already a reality, and the names of the winners will soon be announced in the different categories that are part of this contest: the best Final Degree Projects in Medicine and Related Sciences, and the awards for Doctor, Nurse and Pharmacist of the Year.

Shortly after the first anniversary of his disappearance, these awards constitute what should be the starting signal for successive recognitions of the titanic task carried out by Joan Calafat, and which shone with its own light in the field of medicine, science and the investigation.

Thank you very much, Ribera; Thank you very much, Hospital Vilanopó; Thank you very much, Valencian Community; Thank you very much, Alberto de Rosa and Angélica Alarcón.

We are convinced that, from somewhere, perhaps even much closer than we might suspect, Joan Calafat’s heart overflows with satisfaction, joy and pride at seeing that his efforts to create a healthier society have not been taken in vain. .

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