RMHM 2012 PAGE 2
DAY 4: 1 March
"Medicine of the Go"
This year, we are blessed with four general practitioners, two pediatricians and the army lend their support with dentists and ophthalmologists as well as their own general practitioners and pediatricians.
 |
| Dr. Phalen, from North Carolina is at her 6th mission |
Adult Consultations
All the doctors have their own “consultation room” which consists of a primitive plastic table. With Filipino nurses to assist them with translating Tagalog, the local language, in order to make an accurate diagnosis, they see each patient rapidly and efficiently and keep the crowd flowing steadily. The diagnoses vary from simple pharyngitis to more serious pathologies such as tuberculosis and cancer. The doctors often come across cysts and abscesses that require immediate surgical intervention.
 |
| Dr. Marie in her 'clinic' |
Pediatricians
As in other missions, Dr. Kim and Dr. Viray devote themselves body and soul to the huge crowds of parents and children that come to be seen. They manage to see an average of 250 children per day which is a phenomenal amount when one considers the conditions of work amid children’s tears and smiles in the heat and the noise. Today, they meet a child with a congenital deformity of having four toes on his left foot and with the left leg 6 inches shorter. We may be able to help him through the PAL foundation with whom we are in contact and which has asked us orthopaedic cases like this one..
 |
| The little boy with four toes and a shorten left leg |
 |
| Eyes full of gratitude after seeing his awful head wounds properly dressed by the kind doctor |
As in every other mission, the Filipino army is present to pull numerous teeth from many people who have never seen a dentist before, but who remain brave in spite of their anxiety.
 |
| The army provided daily dentists for the 4th consecutive year |
 |
| Thank God the doctor came today! |
Mission excursion to Marikina
During the house blessings in Manila, some of the members of the Legion of Mary pointed out some people who would need medical help in the shantytown of Marikina which is a suburb of Manila. We therefore decided to send a team, once again uniting the physical and the spiritual care, having both a priest and a doctor on board. With medication packed on their backs, the volunteers head off into the unknown.
 |
| The slums of Marikina, in the East of Manila |
Poverty is evident in the shantytown, with the majority of families living in one tiny room with a very low ceiling in a building of rooms placed one on top of the other. For families living upstairs, they must pass through the room of the family beneath them and then climb the stairs or the ladder to their flat. The buildings are made of cement, corrugated iron or from whatever materials are available.
 |
| The medical team who went to the one day mission. |
 |
| They struck an instant friendship! |
The volunteers hardly have the time to put their bags down before a crowd of patients surge out of the surrounding houses. Registration begins and Marie sees 58 patients in five hours; the people leave happy and full of hope. Among other cases, Marie assists a little girl with a head wound due to a fall and removes three cysts from a three year old boy. Meanwhile, Fr. Castel blesses 37 houses and imposes 80 scapulars
 |
| Our Marikina dispensary |
 |
| Christina busy with the moving pharmacy |
At the end of the mission, the local inhabitants organise a cock fight, a national Filipino sport, to thank us.
 | ||||||||||||||||||
Only in the Philippines would people offer us a cock fight to thank our medical and spiritual team!DAY 5: 02 March"From One Smile to Another"
The last day of the mission dawns and, as always, it is a busy one! The logistics are managed by Alexandra and Judith who are always smiling and in good form as they run here and there to ensure that everyone’s needs are attended to.
Doctor Phalen, our faithful American who is always ready for anything confides that: “The mission is a particularly important element of the year because I get the chance to practice medicine as I like it. I have the full attention of the simple and courageous Filipino patients who are profoundly grateful of the care they are given. One patient even confided that the last time she saw a doctor was at the last mission.” This doctor also took part in the special mission in Bulacan, a one hour’s drive north of Manila.
The spiritual benefits of the mission
The mission converts!
One 75 year old patient explains to Ted, one of the Filipino faithful and knights of the Order of Knights of Our Lady, that she lost the Catholic faith long ago and asks him where the nearest church is. Guided by Ted to the priory, she will thus be able to make her confession.
The children gathered around the Bethanians and the oblates listen to the Word of God with respect.
The home visits are particularly fruitful with more than 100 houses having being blessed during the mission and around 300 scapulars being distributed at the same time.
PAGE 1 2 |
