Introduction
The Galatea Foundation was created in 2001 by the Consell de Col.legis de Metges de Catalunya (Catalan Medical Association) with the aim of promoting the health, physical and mental wellbeing and quality of life of the medical fraternity and, by extension, of all health professionals, thereby also providing a greater guarantee of health to the population that they serve.
It is a well-known paradox that many medical professionals do not themselves follow the health advice that they extend to their patients.. It is a profession that implies a strong social commitment but which is increasingly submitted to pressures of all kinds that can negatively affect the mental state and psycho-emotional balance of these professionals- the precise faculties which are of key importance to them being able to help their patients effectively.
A series of factors strongly affects the professional practice of physicians: the long, often stressful, period of intensive training they undergo; the need for continuous professional development and retraining; the growing demand for better healthcare services on the part of users - who are becoming better informed and aware of their rights; and the growing complexity of healthcare organisations. These factors and others bring more demands on health professionals, causing many of them suffer from physical and mental exhaustion, as well as other psychological and psychosomatic problems. In such situations, professionals do not always look for, or find, the necessary help to be able to carry on working with full use of their faculties.
It is therefore with this noble aim of helping health professionals that the patrons of the Galatea Foundation assume a firm commitment of service, which in the long term will also be to the benefit of society as a whole.
Jaume Padrós i Selma
President of the Board
