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9th Surgical &
Medical Mission was more complex... (1st draft)
2007 Surgical
& Medical Mission focused on serving the needy in Metro Manila
partnering with
Danny Paragas, Rotary Club of Pasay MIA and
Joint Effort of Pasay Rotary Clubs
(Jeprocs) and Makati City. FAMI also partnered with
Maj.
Raphael J. Ronas, President, PAFR Philippine Eaglecom Society
with Dr. Philip Cruz coordinator a day clinic in Liam Batangas.
FAMI Surgical Partner is Makati Medical Group headed by mission
veteran Victor Gisbert.
In
our 9th mission, FAMI served over 6,500 patients and performed 81
major and 120 minor surgeries (including Batangas). FAMI brought
equipment, medical supplies and medicines almost a million
dollars including cardiac monitors donated to charitable
institutions. The major surgeries were as follows
Thyroidectomy – 29, Hernia Repair – 15, Gall Bladder Surgery
– 5, Major GYN TAH / BSO – 3, Mastectomy – 2, Breast Mass
Excision – 2, Cleft Lip Repair – 2, Parotidectomy – 13
Fistula Repair – 5, Hemorrhoidectomy - 5.
Our
major recipients of our equipment, medicines and supplies are:
Manila
Adventist
Medical
Center
, Rotary International District 3810 (as conduit), Ospital Ng
Makati and Philippine Eaglecom Society Inc. Other recipients
include: Mu Sigma Phi of College of Medicine of the University
of the
Philippines
, Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary Medical / Dental Missions,
Luyahan Barangay Health Committee, Barangay Maugat in
Batangas,
REYES
H.E.L.P.
CENTER
, Locsin Foundation. Arroyo Foundation, Muntinlupa Prison
through Ms. J. Elizalde and
Makati
Medical
Mission
.
FAMI with
veterans and inspiring leader Niles Perlas with her dedicated
board, Gayle Lara, Bennie Muldong, Sony Mabacquiao, Ignie Ocampo,
Romeo Reyes,
Linda Gamboa, Amy Piquerra, Dr. Lestrino Baquiran, Miriam Kho,
, Maria San Agustin business executives who are also
administrators for FAMI Leus Perlas and Tony Lara had everything
under control.,
FAMI
volunteers included Dr. Sharon
Barlizo, Joanne Coronel, Judy Echavez, Todd Fogel, Dr. Adam Fox,
Amelou Ivory, RN, Dominique Ivory, Anita Mani, PA,
Crispina
Nabua, RN, Teresita Pastrana, Alexis Perlas, Dr. Tyler Phillips,
Kevin Pittman, Dr. Thomas Quinn, Tara Quinn, Justin
Quinn, Hanzel Sering, Louise Strickland, Sharon Udy-Janczuk, RN,
Delia
Baquiran traveled from the US. FAMI Philippines
included Marietta Santos, Maite Santos, Irene Carpo, Mario
Rocha, Arlene E. Carranza, RN, Aurora D.
Soyangco, RN, Yoly Salvatiera, RN, Lucila Agustin, RN, Pamphie.
Quiazon, RN, Aida Mudlong, RN, Dr. Judith Llorin, Mila S. Reyes
with UP Team of Dr.
Philip Cruz; Dr. Jhonas B. Aguinaldo, Dr. Arthur E. Alban, Dr. Ryan
Albert N. Boquiren, Dr. Omar John B. Mejia, Dr. Gerardo M.
Briones Jr.,Dr. Michael Vincent C. Saniel, Dr. Hans Erich
Pediapco, Dr. Catherine Teodoro and Baby FAMI Dr. Ovidio
De Leon, Dr. Rene Luce, Dr. Adamar
Alvarez completed the team.
Our
surgical team included Victor Gisbert and the
Makati
Medical Group Names with Dr. Mike Padlan as the coordinator.
8th Surgical &
Medical Mission was more complex...
FAMI’s 8th
Surgical & Medical Mission to Nueva Ecija was a homecoming
for some of FAMI’s Board Members. The Nueva Ecijianos,
Bennie Muldong, Treasurer (
Cabanatuan
), Romey Reyes Velayo, Travel Coordinator (
Gapan
City
), Marietta Santos, Philippine Coordinator (
San Jose
) and Niles Perlas, Chair (Gen Tinio) were delighted to serve
the people of Nueva Ecija after seven years of missions in
various other places. FAMI Missions have crisscrossed the
Philippines
from as far north as Laoag, Ilocos Norte to
Bago
City
in the southern
province
of
Negros
.
This 8th
mission in Nueva Ecija was the most hectic five days in FAMI’s
7-year history. FAMI volunteers traveled to five sites in
five days with one day devoted to lectures. We flew 24 hours
straight from New York JFK to NAIA airport in
Manila
, upon arrival we immediately traveled by bus to
Cabanatuan
City
, a metropolis bustling with jeepneys and tricycles. Then
to Gapan, the footwear capital of the north and NE newest city.
Then we split the group into 2, the first group headed for a day
of medical consultation to the northernmost part of the
province,
San Jose
City
and the second group to the local hospital at the
municipality
of
San Leonardo
.
Manila
was the next destination thereafter for a day of lectures at St.
Luke’s Hospital and the last day of the mission was held at
the coastal
municipality
of
Balayan
, Batangas.
Our Surgical
Team led by Niles Perlas CRNA, comprised of among others, Bennie
Muldong RN, Amy Piguerra RN,
Miriam Kho
RN and Linda Gamboa, RN performed 99 major and 225 minor
surgeries in MV Gallego Hospital at
Cabanatuan
City
and Dr. Gloria Locsin Foundation College Hospital at San
Leonardo. Additional minor surgeries were done at Balayan Rural
Clinic.
Our medical
teams, led by board members
Angelica Cu
and Tina Lavarias, RN, included
Ignie Ocampo
,
MT
, Rome Reyes, MT and Marissa Olmos, RN were set-up in five
sites, ably handling consulting and dispensing medicines to a
total of 5,500 patients. Rome Reyes was not only a
volunteer but also a sponsor of the
Gapan
City
mission site.
Our local
partners came from one of
Manila
’s premier hospitals, St. Luke’s Medical Center Volunteers
headed by Dr. Menandro V. Siozon. Our local FAMI volunteers were
the UP Alumni group, headed by Dr. Philip Cruz, the UST group
(also known as Baby FAMI) led by Dr. Ovidio De Leon and Dr.
Joseph Villanueva and of course our Balayan group headed by Dr.
Lani Baquiran (brother of FAMI board member, Dr. Lestrino
Baquiran, NY).
FAMI
volunteers arrived to an empty airport on the day after a “Red
Alert” declared by the President of the
Philippines
. Families of our volunteers were worried about the situation
when cable news broadcasted riots and military troops clashing
on the streets. However, our travel to Nueva Ecija turned out
uneventful with no untoward incident. There were no
visible signs of violence related to the “Red Alert”.
MV Gallego
Hospital was a good place to perform surgeries with spacious
operating room, two OR tables and a well trained staff. When
FAMI arrived, more than 60 patients were already registered for
surgery, they were pre-tested by the St. Luke’s group and by
Dr. Bing Lacson’s staff at the hospital. Two days were not
enough to finish all the cases but our supplies were more than
enough to complete all the cases.
Surgical
Missions are particularly difficult to do in two OR locations,
the setup and preparation can take half a day. However, FAMI was
fortunate to have a good team in place and at 10:00 a.m. on the
third day we started performing surgeries at the
Locsin
Hospital
. This was after full two full days at MV Gallego and post op
visits on the same day by Dr. Lloyd Gayle and Dr. Duzy Le.
In addition
to Drs. Gayle and Le, the surgical staff was composed of Dr.
Cephas Swamidoss, heading the Anesthesia Group, Dr. Joseph
Oxendine, Dr. Catherine Barden, Dr. Adam Fox, Dr. Rajul Seth,
Dr. Michael Ho and Lori Bierman, RN. Operating Room
RNs, Elizabeth Piracha, Asuncion Mabacquiao Amelou Ivory, Ailish
Tomkins, Karen Muldong, Mary Nolan, Pamela Messina, and
Luzviminda Muldong performed an amazing task in assisting in the
surgeries and recovering the patients.
FAMI Medical
was “mobile”, moving across the different cities and setting
up on public auditoriums and at times with two sites
simultaneously in operation on the same day. Each medical site
was certainly a logistical challenge to set up with local
volunteers since it required the process of screening qualified
patients, taking vital signs, patient consultation and pharmacy.
FAMI’s Gayle and Tony Lara, Tony Kho, Raynaldo Mudlong and
Chris Traumer of NYPD helped control the flow of hundreds of
patients at the medical site.
The
“mobile” pharmacy is an essential part of the medical team.
It is however, a potential for bottleneck and thus require speed
and patience in serving the people waiting to get the medicine
prescribed by the FAMI doctors. Our volunteers, Aster Arguelles,
Finnie Lau, Teresita Pastrana, Thanh Vpquy, Sugar Sarangaya, Kim
Sitafalwalla and Nancy San Pedro demonstrated their dedication
in performing efficient service.
Our doctors
and nurses never tire in serving the poor, the FAMI US based
teams include the following dedicated and devoted veterans: Dr.
Amir Sitafalwalla
, Dr. Ben San Pedro, Dr. David Kanuck, Dr. John Doolan and Maria
San Augustin, NP, Siobhan Gentry, NP, and Tina Johnson, RN.
Marietta
Santos and Leus Perlas shuttled between the surgical and medical
sites, to assist and coordinate with the team leaders, board
members, volunteers, local leaders and support personnel.
Everyone
worked hard in every mission, but even harder in this mission
where FAMI’s limits were tested ~ thanks to the able
leadership of our seasoned leader Niles Perlas and team
leaders, Angelica and Tina, our veteran board member volunteers,
Bennie, Amy, Rome, Gayle, Ignie, Linda, Miriam, Tony, Marietta
and Leus ~ we weathered the difficult task before us and proved
again that no job is too big for FAMI to handle. It
was an astonishing and successful mission considering the odds
and difficulties that we were faced with since the inception of
this 8th mission.
Surgeries
performed: Cleft Lip / Palate repair, Thyroidectomy, Hernia
repair (pediatric & adult), Mastectomy Breast mass excision,
Appendectomy, Cholecystectomy, Parotidectomy,
Hydrocelectomy, Fistulectomy, Hemorrhoidectomy, Excision
mass right ankle, lease of band right leg .
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7th Surgical &
Medical Mission was great success!
The
Filipino-American Medical Inc. set itself a new record of 116 major and
180 minor surgeries on its 7th Surgical & Medical Mission
in
Urdaneta
City
, Pangasinan. Surgical team was lead by Niles Perlas, CRNA, Chair &
Founder with New York surgeons, Drs Lloyd Gayle, Dzuy Le, Azra Rezwi
and Jennifer Choe; anesthesiologists Drs David Lee, Cephas
Swamidoss and Matthew Bertram. The OR nurses included, Benedicta Muldong,
Linda Gamboa, Joanie Applegate, Monique McCabe-Thomas, Ailish Tomkins,
Joanne Coronel, Elizabeth Tinio, Gerarda Lucena, Pamela Messina, Vivette
Torres and Jill Kaufman PA. Post Op Recovery was managed by Razocima
Cahanap, Asuncion Mabaquiao and
Miriam Kho
who with
Niles
were the last volunteers to leave the hospital during the four days of
surgery. The Makati Medical Group joined FAMI surgical team for two of the
four day mission and were led by Drs Victor Gisbert and Laennec Baquiran.
Surgeries perform span from Hernia Repair, Hydrocelectomy, Myomectomy,
Hysterectomy, Thyroidectomy, Breast Mass, Cleft Lip and Palate Repair.
Most of the surgical supplies were donated by various
New York
hospitals agents through the kindness of their OR nursing staff. FAMI also
received surgical and medical supplies from CMMB and IMA. All anesthetic
drugs were purchased by FAMI in
Urdaneta
City
.
The other-half of FAMI setup a free
medical clinic at the Urdaneta City Auditorium and was led by
Angelica Cu
, RN Vice Chair. The FAMI medical team consulted and dispensed medicines
to over 7,500 patients during the four days.
New York
team included, Drs Linda Kamal, John Doolan, David Kanuck, Maria San
Agustin NP, Valentina Lavarias RN with free medical lab testing by Rome
Reyes, Marita Jacala and Teresita Pastrana. David and John also perform
minor surgeries after MMG returned to
Manila
. The Pharmacy was staffed by Ignacia Ocampo, Agustina Johnson,
Susana Sarangaya
, Celia Villanueva, Delia Baquiran, Lucille Ermita. Logistical and support
personnel included Gayle and Tony Lara, Tony Kho, Finnie Lau, Josine
Elizalde, Marietta Santos and Leus Perlas.
FAMI Medical team also included Filipino Doctors who join us every
year including Philip Cruz, Ovidio De Leon, Rene Luce, Antonio Protacio,
Joseph Villanueva, and Aida Mudlong, RN. Dr. Philip Cruz also
invited new graduate doctors to help in the mission, Mael Cautiver, Regie
Baldonado, Edgardo De Torres III. We also had local physician volunteer
who stayed with us for four days who was from California on vacation Alice
Casiano.
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