Medical-Dental-Surgical Mission and Health Education in Cebu

DESPITE the bad weather in October 2000, volunteers from the Office of the First Lady and MARE Foundation, Inc. visited Cebu to render free medical services to the underserved communities.

Most of the communities that we serve had no access to advanced health care. Anyway, we all know that health remains to be the primary problem in the country.

The Excitement of Being a Volunteer

I joined the Medical-Dental-Surgical mission and Health Education in Cebu last October 24- 29, 2000. We were a total of 55 medical volunteers - doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists from Philippine General Hospital Medical Center, and graduates of UP College of Medicine who were waiting for their residency training. Every- one was excited when we boarded the military plane together with the presidential guards in the early morning of October 24.

Upon our arrival at the Cebu Airbase, the team was divided into two groups - the medical-dental team and the dental-surgical team. We were met by some of the staff from the office of the Mayor of Talisay. They promptly took us to the mayor's office for a courtesy call and had our lunch there Orientation/briefing was conducted before we were deployed. The surgical team was billeted at Talisay Resort, while the other team had to travel to far-flung communities

I joined the surgical team. That same afternoon, we went to Minglanilla District Hospital, a 20-minute drive from our base of operations for a courtesy call. Then we started our patients' rounds and toured the entire hospital. We were impressed with the cleanliness of the premises, particularly the hospital's proper waste disposal and clean and safe water supply. There was, however, only one operating room with three operating tables. As a result, the hospital also had inadequate facilities and equipment. The doctors there were no longer performing surgical procedures for the past six years.

We brought our own major sets and two anesthesia machines. We posted the operating room patient's schedule for the following day.

Saving Lives

Second day in Cebu, the first day of the mission. Everyone was so excited. We started with the rounds while the nurses had to set up the operating room. The major surgery was done in the operating room while the minor surgery was performed outside the major room. But there was a problem. We didn't have the set for minor cases

We asked the nurse (I never thought she was already the

chief nurse. She was never introduced nor did she

introduce herself to us) to provide us with some

instruments that we can use for minor cases. We only

had one set. Unfortunately, she did not allow us to use

the hospital instruments. We asked for assistance from

the administrative office since the chief of the hospital was not around. Finally, the chief nurse's attention was called. After the short discussion, they allowed us to use the minor sets. We performed all the cases that were decked for the day even with-

out the cooperation of the chief nurse. We finished late in the afternoon. Then they invited us for dinner. It was the administrative officer's birthday. Third day. Everything went on smoothly, except there was one patient with a thyroid nodule. She was so happy to hear that the First Lady is visiting Cebu. Our internist examined her and series of laboratory tests were done before she was referred to another hospital. The Vicente Sotto Hospital lacked instruments, and the patient had unstable blood pressure and needed further work up. The staff accompanied her, but the hospital referred her back to us and recommended surgery.

The patient insisted that we perform the surgery. She had been carrying this problem for a decade, but she had no money even to pay for the consultation. It was her first time seeking medical assistance. We had to explain the advantage and disadvantages of the procedure and conditions.

When we started, everyone had to assist in monitoring the blood pressure since it would sometimes drop. Indeed, we were all sweating; blood loss and blood infusions were done. One surgeon even donated 500 ccs of blood. It was an emergency, the patient was intubated.

We don't want morbidity and did everything to revive the patient. Close monitoring was done. After an hour, we sent her back to Vicente Sotto. There, she was given emergency measures. It was a good thing she was our last case for the day. We took turns monitoring her at the Vicente Sotto hospital until she became stable. We visited her every now and then during our stay in Cebu. In the end, she had no regrets. She was grateful and thanked us for what he had done to her. We even celebrated her recovery.

During our three days of work, we were able to complete 200 cases of major surgery and 80 cases of minor surgery. These cases include thyroidectomy, herniotomy, gyne, cataract extraction, pterygium, and minor incision/excision

Smiling Faces

In this mission, we actually encountered a lot of problems. It was more on political issues since the local government was not supportive of the Estrada administration. It was so hard dealing with local officials. It was quite frustrating. We were there to help and share with them our medical expertise without expecting anything in return.

Still, we did what we are supposed to do and were able to meet our goals: to provide a quality healthcare system in the undeserved communities through an information campaign and free medical services. The most valuable reward was

seeing our patients' smiling faces. As benefactors, we learned to be humble, grateful, and appreciative that we are able to create a positive relationship with them.

We went back to Manila in the afternoon of 29th of October on board a military plane with pride and looking forward to working with them again in the future.