Healthcare services hold a truly special place and historical legacy within these walls.
The Optomed Eye Care Center is located in the building known as Bračko Villa (Bračkova vila). The building was commissioned between 1933 and 1936 by the Marcon family, about whom relatively little is known. Mr. Ivan Marcon is believed to have worked as a banker or lawyer. The Marcon—later Bračko—Villa is also valuable from an architectural perspective, representing a relatively rare surviving example of interwar modernist villa architecture in Škofja Loka. The exterior is designed in the style of its era, featuring a facade that combines classic plaster with decorative exposed-brick corners. (Summarized from the findings of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Regional Office Ljubljana, prepared by Senior Conservator Marija Ana Kranjc, B.Arch.).
Following the post-war expropriation of its original owners, the house became the home of Dr. Marija Bračko, a physician and pioneer of public healthcare in Škofja Loka. She began practicing medicine in Škofja Loka in 1945, at a time when only two doctors served the entire area. The local authorities assigned Dr. Marija Bračko a five-room apartment in the Marcon house, which she partially converted into a consultation room and waiting room. Clinic hours ran from early morning until the last patient was seen—often ranging from sixty to one hundred patients a day. In addition to her clinic practice, she made house calls and assisted with childbirths. For seven years, she was the sole doctor covering this vast territory. She administered mandatory childhood vaccinations, conducted the first preventive check-ups for schoolchildren, and performed minor surgical, traumatological, and dental procedures. She spearheaded the construction of the Škofja Loka Health Center (1946–1952) and became its first director. Thanks to her efforts, the health center acquired an X-ray unit, a laboratory, dental and specialist services, and an emergency medical service. Until 1979, she also served as a physician at the Škofja Loka Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, laying solid foundations for primary healthcare in the region. For her selfless work, she received numerous awards and was named an Honorary Citizen of the Municipality of Škofja Loka in 1992. (Source: Irena Prevc Hajdinjak, Dr. Marija Bračko, Železne niti, Vol. 13, pp. 133–140, Železniki 2020).
Dr. Marija Bračko during her pediatric residency in Vienna. Photo: Meta Bračko archive