Rosa Mystica Health Mission: 2015 February: Rosa Mystica Health Mission in Tacloban

Thursday, April 23, 2015

2015 February: Rosa Mystica Health Mission in Tacloban

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Venue

The mission was held at the Tacloban City Convention Center, popularly known as the Astrodome. The office of the City Mayor generously waived the rental fee and allowed us access to electricity.

Patients

Three thousand, nine hundred and thirty two patients were served in various departments within eight days of mission work. Because of the free laboratory and diagnostic tests and free surgery (as needed), very many patients lined up but we had to turn down many of them because we could not serve everybody.

Medical Services

There were three doctors at the pediatric section: Dr. Emely Lagare from General Santos City, Dr. Loan Phan from the United States of America, and Dr. Ma. June Viray from Iloilo City. Each of these doctor had an assistant who also served as interpreter.

The pediatric pharmacy served by French volunteers and two interpreters.

The pediatric pharmacy was manned by

Magali Burguburu, HR Manager from France

Ombelline Burguburu, Nurse from France

Claire Garnaud, Nurse from France

Anne Maelle Bouillaud, Teacher from France

Caroline Vergez, Nurse from France

and interpreters: Floralyn Ghela, Rostillen Callo, Rosmar Ordovas, Ralph Brieva, Rose Ann Magcuro

At the Adult Section, there were three general practitioners:

Dr. Maire Nesta Nic Gerhailt from Ireland, assisted by Ronielyn Lagdamen from Tacloban

Dr. Patrick della Bianca from Switzerland, assisted by Sheryll Castor from Quezon City and Joward Ibuyat from Quezon City

Dr. Jean-Pierre Dickes from France, who came with two French physician assistants Dr. Roxane Losco and Dr. Nancy Steinfeld

Paulo Niccolo de Veyra - Nurse from Taclobn and Sunshine Isla - Nurse from Manila - acted as interpreters for Dr. Dickes

A neurologist: Dr. Didier Genoud from Switzerland, assisted by

A dermatologist: Dr. Rob Casquejo from the United States of America, assisted by Elizabeth Lopez - Nurse from the USA and Marguerite Pardoe - Nurse from France

An ophthalmologist: Dr. Elaine Baens Araneta from Manila, assisted by

An orthopedic surgeon from the Philippine Army came to lend a hand at the last day of the extension clinic.

At the Dental section: Dr. Nelda Nisperos.

She was assisted by a dentist from the Philippine Army for a short while.

Dr. Nelda Nisperos at the Dental Section.

The adult pharmacy behind the mission altar.

Faithfully serving the adult pharmacy were
Brigitte Coulange, a Doctor of Pharmacy from France
and her assistants:
Bernadette Dickes, Nurse-Midwife from France
Romaine della Bianca, a Nurse from Switzerland
Sophie Challan-Belval, a Secretary from France
Melinda Khor, a Businesswoman from Malaysia
and two Filipino interpreters from the Philippine Army

Spiritual Dimension

Volunteers

The foreign volunteers were exemplary in their patience and endurance. First, food was exotic. And many suffered abdominal problems due to the food. Also, there was a problem with the toilets, although the condition was much better than the previous year. The toilets at the basement of the Astrodome were already accessible, so the primitive portalets were thankfully rendered unnecessary. However, there was a problem with the water supply. There were plastic drums with stagnant water that was used to flush the toilets but there was no water for hand washing. Bottles of alcohol placed in the lavatories for hand sanitation had a magical way of disappearing. And the person in charge of monitoring the sanitation of the toilets often got sidetracked with other tasks.

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Care of the Sick on the Missions

.... We [...] wish at this point to pay the highest tribute of praise to the care taken of the sick, the infirm and afflicted of every kind; We mean hospitals, leprosaries, dispensaries and homes for the aged and for maternity cases, and orphanages. These are to Our eyes the fairest flowers of missionary endeavors; they give us as it were a vision of the Divine Redeemer Himself, Who "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed." (Acts 10:38)

Such outstanding works of charity are undoubtedly of the highest efficacy in preparing the souls of non-Christians and in drawing them to the faith and to the practice of Christianity; besides, Our Lord said to His Apostles: "Into what city soever you enter, and they receive you... heal the sick that are therein and say to them: the Kingdom of God is come nigh upon you." Luke 10:8-9.

However, the brothers and nuns who feel that they are called to undertake such work must, before leaving their own country, acquire the professional training and knowledge which are today required in these matters. We know that there are nuns with full professional qualifications who have earned well-merited recognition by the special study of loathsome diseases, such as leprosy, and by discovering remedies for them. These and all other missionaries who are giving their service so generously in leper hospitals have Our paternal blessing, and their exalted charity compels Our admiration and praise.

With regard to medicine and surgery, however, it will certainly be advisable to enlist the services of laymen, provided not only that they have taken the necessary degrees for this work, and are willing to leave their homeland in order to help the missionaries, but also that in the matter of faith and morals they leave nothing to be desired.

Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Evangelii praecones, June 2, 1951.

The Social Mission of the Country Doctor

“The Christian doctor, any doctor whose honesty is worthy of this trust, can do much to raise the moral level of the people...”

“Your virtues, your goodness, will not be denied the noblest recompense. God will reveal Himself more fully to you if in the loyalty of your heart you correspond faithfully to His invitations.”
________________________________________

Accustomed as he is to a life of exhausting effort, the country dweller who cultivates the soil can usually bear discomfort and illness much longer than the city dweller, so that when he calls the doctor, the sickness is, generally speaking, serious, and the pain well-nigh intolerable. Sometimes, too, the elementary and inept remedy which he has ignorantly tried before summoning you has simply aggravated the evil.

And then to your science and ability, your heart must add the balm of delicate understanding, for the very person who in health seemed coarse and hard, perhaps, often becomes in sickness as sensitive as a child, and like a child, feels the need for moral comfort. After the priest, no one better than the doctor can provide this. And thus he earns the confidence of the sick person and of the family, and by that very fact acquires over them and over the whole population a deep influence, and one which is eagerly accepted.

The Christian doctor, any doctor whose honesty is worthy of this trust, can do much to raise the moral level of the people, in restraining or repressing abuses, vices and habits which conscience reproves. The delicate task of preparing the way for the ministrations of the priest, of dissipating prejudices and unreasonable and disastrous apprehensions, not rarely falls to him.

And yet this task, so beautiful for the good it does to your neighbor, is very hard on you. It offers not only a frequent but a continual occasion for self-denial, for troubles and discomforts, often devoid of due appreciation, without gratitude, without equitable recompense. Not rarely, too, the country doctor while dedicating himself wholeheartedly to the sick, feels a sense of loneliness, especially if he cannot have his family with him, if he cannot ensure, in the little out-of-the-way town to which he is perhaps bound, suitable instruction and formation for his children. We therefore express the wish that your just aspirations in the moral and economic orders may receive due satisfaction, to your greater advantage, and that of all to whom you so assiduously lend your service.
And now, beloved sons, look up to heaven, and you will feel the comfort and the light of the divine Doctor of humanity. Your virtues, your goodness, will not be denied the noblest recompense. God will reveal Himself more fully to you if in the loyalty of your heart you correspond faithfully to His invitations.

Allocution to country doctors, September 18, 1950, Pope Pius XII.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

2015 February: Rosa Mystica Health Mission in Tacloban

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