Teresa Basurte: “The Espriu Foundation represents co-operative healthcare at both a national and an international level”

Teresa Basurte has presided over the Espriu Foundation for the last eight years. Her appointment as CEO was no small matter; it was the first time that a woman, and also a representative of the users’ cooperative, had been made head of the institution. In this interview for ‘Compartir’ magazine, she highlights the achievements of the Foundation throughout its 30-year history and takes a look at the milestones that have marked her time as CEO.

The current CEO of the organisation, who has recently announced that she will be stepping down in June, looks back on the years during which she has got to know the Foundation more directly, and how “the previous CEOs, doctors Ivorra and Orce, thought it would be a good idea for a user to preside over the Foundation, and proposed this to me.”

Teresa Basurte is not only the first user to preside over the entity, but also the first woman to do so. In her case, as she herself points out, “two factors were at play: I’m both the first user and the first woman to preside over the Espriu Foundation.”

She also takes this opportunity to look back on the origins of the Foundation:

On creating the users’ cooperative, Doctor Espriu saw the need for a body that would unite and protect all the healthcare cooperation’s institutions, and so, the Espriu Foundation was born

And of course, we must not forget the important evolution and accomplishments of the institution throughout its 30-year history:

We have achieved an important international position as founders of the International Health Cooperative Organisation, over which we currently preside. We have also gained a significant role within the International Co-operative Alliance

Lastly, Basurte dedicates a few words to the person who will taking over from her in June, maintaining that “my successor, doctor or user, man or woman, will, without a doubt, be a worthy candidate, who will pour their heart into the Foundation just as I have done.”

Access the complete interview with Teresa Basurte in Compartir magazine (pages 34 to 36): click here.