Medical Missions
We are international lifesavers.
Every January, a team of physicians, dentists, optometrists, nurses, prosthetists, students and other allied health professionals travel to various locations in the Philippines to complete a five-day mission.
Medical services are composed of primary care, various surgical specialties, ophthalmology and dentistry. Health education for patients and continuing medical education for practitioners are also provided during these missions.
Volunteer and Patient Count Over the years
Report by Fely Lao, MD
The 34th annual Philippine Medical Society of Northern California (“PMSNC”) Medical Mission was held on January 20-24, 2020 in Bacoor City, Province of Cavite. We thank Congressman Strike Revilla for the generosity and hospitality. The yearlong preparation for the one-week event was a joint effort between the Medical Mission coordinating team and the efficiency of the Bacoor-based team led by Chief-of-Staff Miss Alda Lou Cabrera, her assistant Khei Sanchez and aides Pau and Beth. Their tremendous help and their daily presence during mission week showed their commitment to the success of the event.
This year, our team had a total of 148 volunteers from the US, composed of 28 physicians, 36 nurses, 2 dentists, 2 optometrists, 2 allied health professionals, 23 students, and 53 support staff.
Amidst the threat of Taal Volcano’s eruption, the medical mission team willingly proceeded with the sole intention of helping the very poor constituents of Baccor and its vicinity. At the very last minute prior to checking in for our flight for Manila, our doctors and other volunteers were able to gather around 4,000 pieces of N95 facial masks to help alleviate the need of the residents affected by the volcanic ash.
Most volunteers stayed at the TRYP Hotel in Manila and a daily bus service brought the volunteers to the various medical mission sites and back. As many know, Manila has one of the worst traffic in the world. Luckily, we were granted 4 motorcycle police escorts that made our travel time shorter. We were very grateful to the police team and honored their great service with a standing ovation at our farewell dinner.
Education
As with our previous missions, we not only took care of the indigent population with their medical needs but also included education as an integral part of our Community Outreach Program. Our Critical Care Team comprised of Dr. Carmen Agcaoili and Pam Dudley (APN) led by Dr. Janice Manjuck taught a 4-hour course that included a lecture on Fundamental Critical Care and a hands-on Skills Station. This course was conducted three times at different venues. There were 62 local nurses from Ospital Ng Paranaque and Olivares Hospital that participated. At the Bacoor District Hospital, there were 17 participants which comprised of nurses, students, midwives and a doctor. The third venue of the course was held at the UERMMMC School of Medicine and was attended by 72 clerks, residents and fellows.
A whole day refresher course on Emergency Skills Training led by Dr. Leslie Sackschewsky (OB/GYN), Gerald Caritan (RN, AHA, CPR-Certified) and Pam Dudley (APN), was attended by around 300 midwives, fire fighters and dispatch teams from Bacoor. Our usual Wednesday evening CME dinner was well attended by both the medical mission volunteers and the local medical society. The CME was led by Dr. Janice Manjuck who covered topics on Medical Concerns and Care for patients exposed to volcanic eruptions. Dr. Leslie Sackschewsky lectured on Opioids use in the OB/GYN setting. A polio update was given by Nikki Roco, a medical student at UERMMMC and the UC Berkeley student volunteers presented a survey of PMSNC Medical Mission participants.
Cancelled Major Surgeries
The Taal eruption complicated the logistics of performing major surgeries that have been scheduled. We decided that for the safety of our volunteers it was best to cancel all of them. The supplies, medication including anesthetics and two air conditioners that we brought were donated to General Emilio Aguinaldo Hospital (GEAH) where Dr. Ryan Gamarcha, chief surgical resident and his team will perform the surgeries long after we have gone home. GEAMH Chief of Clinics Dr. Romulo U Lua, Jr will supervise the surgeries.
Technology
Our data processing and statistics team led by Sherman Calinga and Fred Acelar, rolled out an application for maintaining medical records. The application is written by Brendan Hoffman, a UC Irvine student. Read more about Brendan below.
We plan to continue and improve this method of record keeping for future missions.
My sincere appreciation and gratitude to the medical mission committee members Drs. Ria San Valentin Calinga, Agnes Alikpala, Carmen Agcaoili and Celi DeGuzman, nurse Jesse Madayag, biomedical engineer Dan Dublin and Bernadette Roco.
I would like to acknowledge the help of some local physicians in the outpatient clinics under Dr. Ivy Yrastoza from the City Health Office, and Dr. Jocelyn Caballes, director of Bacoor District Hospital where our minor surgeries were done. We were also joined by Dr. Lito Alava and some UERMMMC medical interns and student. Lastly, the team of anesthesiologists headed by UST-alum Dr. Nelson Maglinao who has been a dedicated medical mission volunteer year after year since...forever!
Overall, considering the untimely Taal eruption that we did not anticipate in our planning, we had a successful incident-free mission that served almost 7000 patients.
Once again, thank you to all of our medical mission participants, donors and sponsors!
Select photography of the 2020 Medical Mission is by volunteer and San Francisco-based photographer and filmmaker Kiko Valle
Brendan Hoffman a Volunteer Profile
Brendan studies Informatics at the University of California Irvine Department of Computer Science. Brendan has always been curious about how computers and electronics work from a young age. His curiosity in computers and coding translates to his ability to tackle problems and solve them with ingenuity and creativity. When approached about the idea of producing a medical record (EMR) application, he embraced the challenge. After half a year of hard work in the summer of 2019, on top of school and leadership roles, he was able to produce a working EMR that helped serve 6,890 patients at the 2020 mission to Bacoor, Cavite.
Brendan began the EMR project possessing no prior knowledge or connection to healthcare or the medical field. Now in his senior year, he is part of a pharmaceutical startup where he is applying various technologies and frameworks he learned from the EMR project implementation.
Brendan identifies as half filipino. His family is from San Fabian, Pangasinan.
2021 Scholarship Recipients
Lemuel Vince Rivera
Dr. Felix Agcaoili Memorial Scholar
Lemuel is a first-year medical student at UCSF. He immigrated from the Philippines when he was eight years old and had several challenges, including his mother’s leukemia which led him to a career in medicine. He finished his undergraduate studies at California State University - Fresno with a Major in Biochemistry and Minor in Anthropology, Summa Cum Laude. He was in a unique curriculum called San Joaquin Valley in Medical Education that prepared students to become leaders in healthcare in one of the most underserved areas in California, the San Joaquin Valley (Fresno in particular). Since enrolling at UCSF, he has led several student activities and organizations. He is also undertaking research projects related to kidney disease, substance-abuse disorders, and orthopedics. He plans to return to Fresno and serve there as a community physician.
Matthew Roces
Dr. Jose Rodriguez Memorial Award
Matthew is a first-year medical student at UCSF. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Public Health with an emphasis in Infectious Disease from UC Berkeley and California State University East Bay. Prior to his enrollment at UCSF, he was the executive director of the Mabuhay Health Clinic in San Francisco from 2017-2018. He continues his volunteer work there as one of the medical students and coordinators. He was a student volunteer during the PMSNC’s medical mission to Laoag, Philippines in January 2018. During his undergraduate years he undertook research projects on diabetes and neurobiology. He is a recipient of a research fellowship award from the UCSF Department of Orthopedics. Matthew is deeply committed to becoming a dedicated community physician.
Eva Mae Bayudan
PMSNC President Award
Eva Mae is a first-year medical student at UCSF and will be graduating in May 2023. She finished undergraduate studies at UCLA with a Bachelor of Science Major in Integrative Biology and Physiological Science. She was on the Dean’s Honors List and is a Summa Cum Laude. She has been immersed in her medical studies, focusing on primary care issues, and participating in research related to geriatrics and mental health. She has still found time to undertake leadership roles in the Asian Pacific Islander Students Medical Association. She is also a regular student volunteer of the Mabuhay Health Clinic in San Francisco, an underserved area of the city.
About Our Scholarship Grants
The PMSNC Scholarship Awards Program was created in 1986 by Dr. Lourdes Olivares-Agcaoili at the request of PMSNC President Dr. William Candelario. The scholarship awards are granted to three Filipino American students every year. A scholarship committee selects the awardees based on their financial need and scholastic rating. Originally, the society held annual fundraising campaigns to fund the scholarship grants, until 1989 when Dr. Jose Rodriquez established the PMSNC Scholarship Endowment Fund. The goal was to raise and invest $50,000 and use the dividends as the source of the scholarship grants. $27,540 of the initial amount was donated to the Endowment Fund in honor of the late Dr. Felix Agcaoili.
The three scholarship awards today are the "Dr. Felix Agcaoili Memorial Scholarship", the "Dr. Jose Rodriguez Scholarship" and the "Dr. Rodolfo S. Duterte Scholarship".
Requirements
- Applicant must be an American of Filipino heritage
- Applicant must be currently enrolled at an accredited medical school in Northern California (UCSF, UCD and Stanford University)
Criteria for eligibility is also based on a student's financial need and scholastic rating.
If you would like to apply for a scholarship grant, fill out an application form online.
Community Outreach Union City, October 2019
Filipino Community Outreach at the FAJ (Filipino Advocates for Jutice) Center. Education on Diabetes including teaching and cooking demonstrations sponsored by the Kaiser Greater Southern Alameda FACE (Filipino American Care Experience) program. The event was supported and attended by PMSNC members.
Health Skills Workshop UC Berkeley
Students learned the basics of surgical suturing, gowning up, sterile techniques, how to start IVs, take blood pressure, etc. It was an enriching experience for our future medical professionals!
Community Outreach 2017
234 visitors attended a health fair at Our Lady of Refuge Church in San Jose. Sponsored by Santa Clara Family Health Plan, Physicians Medical Group of San Jose, O'Connor Hospital Foundation, Peninsula Pharmacy Association and Safeway.
