Medical Mission Chronicles
By Dr. Jazmin Parcon Sandoval

January 21, 2008: The two buses that were provided by the SM Foundation arrived early at the Traders Hotel in Manila to take the volunteers to the first mission site: Pangasinan. After a brief inauguration of the addition to the hospital in Mangatarem, the group proceeded to quarters outside Dagupan, Leisure Coast became the respite center after a full day’s work at six different sites: Pangasinan Provincial Hospital, San Carlos (major surgery), Urbiztondo Town Proper and the Rural Health Clinic (consultations, minor surgery and dental surgery), Binmaley (medical consultations and dental surgery), Santa Barbara (medical consultations) and Bayambang (consultations and minor surgery). The Vinluan family hosted an evening of entertainment to thank the volunteers on the last day of the Mission in Pangasinan.

Medical consultations 2,289, major surgeries 22 (three turned out to be cancer cases), minor surgeries 75, dental surgeries/teeth extractions 250, eye surgeries 42.

At San Carlos, a patient with a huge disfiguring tumor of the jaw was offered help by Drs. Romero and Long. Details of this aid will be announced soon.

After two days in Pangasinan, a group of nine volunteers separated from the main group and ventured south to the island-province of Guimaras. This group was met at the Iloilo city Airport by two Milwaukee volunteers, a Manila pediatrician/academician, and a retired nurse from Texas. Two additional local volunteers were waiting at the port: a Camillan cardiologist/priest from Calbayog, Samar, and a resident in internal medicine from Cebu.

January 25, 2008: The first mission site was the island of Panobolon, a small remote island off the southeastern tip of the main island. An initial boat ride took us to about half a mile from the pier. We were then transferred to smaller boats that carried us above waist-deep waters to the concrete pier. Clinics were held in the village square. 26 sacks of rice were ordered by a volunteer before the mission through local contacts and transported to the island-barangay that same morning. The mission served 179 adults and 149 children at this site.

January 26, 2008: The second site was Sitio Dungcaan, in the village/barangay of Guiwanon, town of Nueva Valencia. Consultations were again done at the village square, which was only a short walk from fishponds that bore traces of sludge from the oil spill that greatly affected the livelihood of fisher folk. 226 adults and 183 children were seen.

January 27, 2008: The Guimaras group traveled to the town of Malay in Aklan to meet up with the group from Pangasinan. The venue was the Aklan Baptist Hospital and our hosts were Stanley and Gretchen West, a retired couple from Maryland, who worked closely with Dr. Rachel Hilada, the hospital medical director. Medical consultations 1044, dental extractions 122, major surgeries, 7, and 24 minor surgeries. Medical Mission 2008 was composed of: primary care physicians, internists, pediatricians, general surgeons, anesthesiologists, surgical sub-specialists; including ear, nose and throat surgeons, a urologist, gynecologists, a neurologist, a psychiatrist, dentists, a chiropractor, a local Eye Team, surgical techs, nurses, a pharmacist, educators, a Pfizer rep, social workers, as well as volunteers who served as translators, coordinators, and facilitators. Total patients served in 2008: 4,760.

The medical missions are conducted every even numbered year by the Rizal MacArthur Memorial Foundation (RMMF) with main support coming from PMAW. This year extra medications were supplied via donations from the Association of Philippine Physicans in America Auxiliary through its immediate past-president, Mrs. Virgie B. Vinluan, and from Drs. Johnny and Volette Singson. Ed Sandoval donated the rice.

February 3, 2008: Mission volunteers returned to Milwaukee. Next Stop: La Carlota, Negros Occidental in 2010.