Doctors take time off to treat poor Pinoys.

Asia Africa Intelligence Wire
 | November 21, 2002 | Copyright
(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Byline: Mei Magsino, San Juan, Batangas
DR. BERNIE Palomares and wife Elba, both pathologists, packed their suitcases for a month-long vacation in the Philippines. They have been working in Loris Hospital in South Carolina since 1974 and have their own clinic in the United States.
When their plane landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Nov. 8, the couple did not take any connecting flight to Boracay or Palawan, or any tourist spot in the country.
They met with four fellow doctors from the US and the coordinator of the medical mission in San Juan District Hospital in Batangas, where they were scheduled to do major and minor surgeries for free.
Nine Filipino doctors from Manila joined them in San Juan, four of them from Batangas.
The medical mission was a joint project of the Rotary Club of San Juan, the Winthrop Harbour Lion's Club (Chicago, Illinois, USA), and the Batangas Crown with the support of the Lion's Club International Foundation.
From Nov. 9 to 15, more than 200 patients, some of them coming from the neighboring town of Lobo flocked to the medical mission in this town.
On the first day alone, the mission performed eight major surgeries and 15 minor operations. The surgeries involved hysterectomy, ovarian surgery, thyroid surgery, goiter operation, cataract operation, and cyst and myoma removal.
"After this mission, it's not even a vacation yet," Bernie Palomares said. They were supposed to have three more medical missions.
"We've been doing this for 16 years, and always, after helping my fellow Filipinos, it never ceases to give me that kind of satisfaction," he said.
Bernie could have been earning big bucks in the US for a 30-day work, or he and his wife could have been basking on the beaches. But they chose to take time off to go to the Philippines and give free medical services to Filipinos.
"There is more need in the Philippines," he added, "We could go somewhere else, but I prefer to help my fellow Filipinos. Here, I could empathize more, relate more, and help more."
Psychic satisfaction
Dr. Robert Gormley, an ophthalmologist from Niagara, got a call from Dr. Jeffrey Zervos and Dr. Palomares, his friends who have been giving free medical missions in the Philippines.
"I packed my bags and just came here," Gormley said. "There's the need here. And if the people think they're lucky to have us, they're wrong. We're the lucky ones because we, doctors, get some kind of psychic satisfaction in doing this."
Gormley said doctors like him have been doing medical missions all over the world.
"It's like payback time," Gormley said. "We, doctors, have been blessed to get to where we are now. And we need to give back something to the people."
Dr. Jeffrey Zervos, an ophthalmologist from Minnesota, said the medical missions have been giving doctors like him the incomparable satisfaction that some people are still alive now or will live longer because of their free service.
"It feels so satisfying to know that somehow, you have made a difference in the lives of these people and they would remember that for as long as they live," Zervos said.
It was Zervos' third time in the Philippines doing free medical treatments and surgeries to poor patients.
He has known Brenda Yonzon, the medical mission coordinator for two years. He said the two of them have been helping each other plan the mission.
But why choose the Philippines?
"I see the need here is greater," Zervos said, "and my wife, Marichu, is a Filipina. She's from Bauan town, also in Batangas."
On their first day, Zervos already performed three major surgeries.
"People here are very appreciative," he added. "And it feels good to help people and asking nothing in return."
Volunteerism
For surgeons Dr. Robert Sy and wife Dr. Marissa Sy from the Chinese General Hospital, the medical missions have been giving them an uplifting feeling of having helped people from the remote areas of the Philippines.
Like the American doctors, they also took a vacation leave to join the medical mission.
"We've been volunteer doctors for decades now," Marissa said. "And we have encountered so many difficulties in the past. Sometimes, we perform a sensitive operation inside a schoolroom with no lights on, just a flashlight, or just under a sampaloc tree. But we have to make do with what is available. We volunteered for it. But after the operation, it feels so good to be hugged by the people whom we have helped."
"If we don't do this, who would?" Robert said, "If there are no medical missions, sick people who can't afford to pay the hospital bills won't have another chance at life. And in the Philippines, there are so many people who need medical attention but don't have the money."
The couple brought their own anesthesiologists from the Chinese General Hospital, hospital equipment and medicines to the San Juan District Hospital where the mission was held.
Robert recalled the time when a former patient from Nueva Ecija came to the hospital to give him three pieces of macapuno. The patient said those were the first fruits of his macapuno tree that he planted after his surgery.
"He said he wanted me to have the first fruits of his labor after I saved his life when I operated on him for free," Robert added.
"For me, it's not the gift that counts, it's the gesture of the people whom doctors like me have helped that gives me the kind of satisfaction you get nowhere else."
Amazing
"These doctors are amazing," Rotarian Mariquit Reventar said, "they come from as far as the United States and give people a second chance at life but they ask for nothing in return."
During the week-long medical mission, where the Rotary International and the Lion's Club joined forces for the first time to help the people, hundreds of patients got another chance to live a healthy and longer life-courtesy of the doctors who decided to make a difference.
"I believe in medical missions which perform surgeries as this one," Reventar said. "They create a bigger impact on the people's lives," she added.
Belen Sevilla, a 78-year-old cataract patient who had just been operated on, said she has never lost faith in God.
"God sends us angels," she said. "And I'm going to see again because God has sent one to make me see the world again."