The Balay Kahimsog is now ready for bookings for seminars, recollections and other group activities.
The Balay Kahimsog is a concrete two-storey building located at the top of the hills of Barangay Cambanac, Baclayon, overlooking the quiet sea on one side and the magnificent mountains on the other side. Surrounded by trees, vegetables and flowers, it is reached by any vehicle about 15 minutes ride through scenic rolling hills from the main highway of Baclayon, about seven kilometers from Tagbilaran City.
It is owned and managed by the Visayas Primary Healthcare Services, Inc., as part of its endeavors to promote primary health care in Cebu and Bohol. It was constructed through the efforts and support of the Fil-Am Center for Community Health and Development (FACCHD) based in Pleasanton, California, U.S.A.
The FACCHD supported the construction of a dormitory in the second floor last year. Earlier, it had also supported the construction of a dining hall and three comfort rooms and bathrooms in the grounds. Aside from these, its present facilities include a spacious open-air conference hall that could accommodate 150 persons in the second floor, another dormitory, an air-conditioned room for three persons, a kitchen, a living room and a reading area in the lobby.
Profits from the bookings of the center shall support the various programs and services of the VPHCS to build community-based health programs and offer health services in marginalized communities in Cebu and Bohol.
The vision of the Balay Kahimsog is that it is a conduit center of VPHCS that promotes physical, mental, emotional, spiritual wellness, advocates indigenous alternative medicine and contributes to the advancement of primary health care.
Its mission is to provide an environment that offers skills and services which enhance total well-being, use indigenous alternative medicine and develop knowledge and provide training on primary health care.
Its goals include the following, namely:
1. To offer trainings for community health workers of community-based health programs.
2. To offer health awareness through fora, seminars, trainings and related activities to interested persons and groups.
3. To develop alternative medicine including propagation of herbs, herbal medicine processing and dispensing, ventusa, acupressure, yoga, diet therapy, music and arts therapy, massage and other forms of alternative healing.
4. To generate revenues from the use of the center facilities by offering it to other organizations for their seminars, trainings and other gatherings to sustain the programs and services of the organization.