Early this year, the Fil-Am Center for Community Health and Development, Inc.donated funds as part of its continuing support for the Visayas Primary Health Care Services.
In a visit with the VPHCS staff in January 14, 2011 FACCHD President Dr. Lilia Hernandez presented checks worth $ 15,000 raised by the group based in Pleasanton, California, for the medical services of VPHCS.
The services include medical mission endeavors of the VPHCS which involve the physical examination of elementary students in project areas of the VPHCS in Bohol. The physical examination includes the determination of the children’s weights, heights and visual acuity, and check-up of general body systems and dental status. Urinalysis using dipsticks with eight parameters is also done. As a result of the examinations, children with below-normal nutritional status and those with visual, dental, and probable kidney function problems are identified. Those with other illnesses and acute problems can also be properly managed.
The first of such physical examinations was conducted in March 2009 under the tutelage of Dr. Lilia Hernandez. Public elementary students 6-12 years old in Barangay Panaghiusa, Municipality of Trinidad in Bohol were seen at that time. Since then, a series of physical examinations of elementary students was conducted in 2009 and 2010, in partnership with different people’s organizations in Cebu and Bohol.
VPHCS staff, volunteer doctors, nurses and health students joined in the medical missions. These missions also gave opportunities for community health workers to exercise the knowledge and skills learned during trainings by the VPHCS.
Two otoscopes, an instrument for taking the height, Snellen’s charts and two autoclaves donated by the FACCHD are used in such missions.
The areas in Bohol where such physical examination missions shall be conducted in 2011 include the following: Barangay Caluasan in Dagohoy, Sto. Nino in San Miguel, Totolan and Mayacabac in Dauis, and San Isidro and Busao in Maribojoc. The residents in barangays Caluasan and Sto. Nino are mostly farmers and the residents in Totolan and Mayacabac are mostly fishermen. San Isidro and Busao are also fishing communities. The six barangays are currently project areas of the VPHCS. There are active farmers and fisherfolks organizations in the communities.
After every mission, the physical examination findings shall be collated by the VPHCS and recommendations for proper actions shall be drawn and discussed with the people’s organizations.
This year’s donors include Michael and Josie Pometta of The Uncle Mike Foundation, Drs. Jose L. Castro and Vilma Fule, Drs. Bernard and Nitz Cruz, Aida Fusilero and guests at her birthday celebration, and the many generous supporters of FACCHD from Japan, Canada and the United States.
