19 October 2009, Medical & Relief Mission Fund from PLM alumni: PLMAAI President Jess Trinos, Jr. turns over cash donation of P45,000 donated by PLM alumni from USA to PLM CUES Asst. Director Simon Caday for the medical mission. Earlier, alumni from Canada donated cash for medicines and other supplies.
09 October 2009, Medical Mission and Relief Operations for the families of BASECO affected by Typhoon Ondoy:
Health issues emerge as among the most basic and enduring needs of survivors of catastrophic disasters like that wrought by Ondoy. In keeping with its social responsibilities and as a caring university, PLM launched a series of medical mission and relief operation. A few days back, the PLM community conducted one among the depressed areas of its immediate vicinities, and on this day, the venue was the University Activity Center with the BASECO as the beneficiary-community.
Right inside PLM's premises, scholars get first hand experiences, side by side with the faculty & alumni, in providing health services to the poorest of communities. While in the regular programs of the health-based courses the scholars were required to immerse with depressed, even far-flung, communities in extended periods, the calamity goaded them to instantaneously come together to provide health services outside of the academic requirements and purely for the pursuit of the community extension services. In spearheading the program, President Tamano personally donated P20,000 as seed fund and solicited for medical items from the Belo medical group. PLM officials also pledged additional amount from their own personal pockets to keep the spirit going.
Snapshots of the complete range of medical mission and relief operations for poor communities, including the training of children on correct hygiene.
Snapshots of the BASECO community where the beneficiaries of the medical mission and relief operations hail from. In top photo, Dr. Eufemia Collao is seen coordinating with community leaders a few days earlier to smoothen out the implementation of the upcoming operations. Since the operations were to be conducted inside the PLM so as to ensure crowd control and avert confusion, BASECO residents were fetched by PLM buses in batches in an orderly fashion. They were sent off back to BASECO after finishing their turn, complete with goodies like relief goods and medicines.
To ensure a steady supply of the much-needed medicines for those in need, the PLM alumni association under the leadership of Engr. Jess Trinos has pooled in donations from concerned alumni all over the world as a way of paying back to PLM for giving them the opportunity to improve their own lot. The onslaught of the calamitous typhoon back home has stirred the good samaritan spirit among the alumni who mobilized instantaneously to respond to the needs of our brethrens. Boxes of donations from well-meaning institutions, the PLM scholars and public servants (staff and faculty) were also pooled together through the efforts of the CUES and several college-specific alumni associations.
President Tamano said that the natural calamity was a great equalizer of poor and rich alike, and each has his own story to tell about the hardships and damages encountered by all of us in the metropolis. For those who are less affected and can still move on better than others, this is an opportunity to let our more affected fellows know and feel that we really care for them, even as he encouraged the PLM community to express genuine concern to the needy not only during phenomena like this, but even during ordinary days in one's own small ways.
A bird's eyeview shot of the UAC shortly before lunch, showing the entire breadth of the medical mission and relief operations.
Volunteers from the faculty, staff and scholars tend to the last stage of the operations: relief goods distribution. Packed by many other volunteers in the days before the event, the spirit of volunteerism and deep concern are blazing and contagious during phenomenal times like cataclysmic disasters.
Dr. Eleanor J. Galvez, CUES director and lead officer for the mission, coordinates with other team leads of the health cluster. She is shown explaining a point to PLM alumni president Jess Trinos. Other team leads hail from the colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Physical Therapy and the graduate school of Health Sciences. All colleges and administrative units, however, have representatives to this communal affair.
After presiding over management team meetings for this activity a few days before the actual implementation, President Tamano personally supervises the mission on the ground to ensure the success of providing necessary services to the poor and needy communities.