A late morning boarding on to the SuperCat started our day destined for Ormoc. It was a bit of a rough ride and the winds were against us, but we arrived safely and into the open arms of our rotary hosts of RC Ormoc. We had a great lunch with our new friends before our vocational visit to the OSPA Farmer's Medical Institute.
Upon arrival we met Dr. Sandra Angelica Fiel-Chiong, the medical director of the hospital. She gave us some basic insight on the private facility. OSPA (Ormoc Sugar Planters Association) Farmer's Medical Institute was established in 1971 for the benefit of the sugarcane laborers. The facility has 125 patient beds currently but started with just 25 when they opened. OSPA is considered to have complete facilities for the area and cares for patients referred from physicians up to 3 hours away. As seen before in Ramiro Hospital in Bohol, wards were plentiful in the hospital and were broken down into female, male, pediatric, charity wards, and wards for sugar cane planter dependents. The charity wards are reserved for indigent patients. Planters and planter dependants receive a discount of 50% off accommodations and 25% off of their medications.
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| The GSE team with Dr. Fiel-Chiong, Lyra Dela Cerna (Administrative Officer -both on the right), and nursing staff (background) of OSPAFMC) |
The hospital faces similar problems as what we have seen elsewhere, with a shortage of physicians due to them moving away for better money. Additionally, the majority of the population is indigent and cannot afford insurance, medicines or treatments. Though they do have some older equipment still in use, they seem to have a larger amount of new technology, including a 2009 GE Lightspeed 8 slice CT scanner.
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| Stacey with the Radiology Department |
The hospital is equipped with wi-fi for the patients also. The part that we loved to see was the Philippine style of decor, including open spaces, bright paintings, and murals painted on the walls in the pediatric areas (done completely by staff volunteers).
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| Mural in the Charity Pediatrics Ward |
The OSPA Farmer's Medical Institute is a very nice hospital overall. It appears to have a good system worked out for its community members, including a shuttle bus for those that need transportation into the city, and has very accommodating spacious rooms, with some even having a balcony that has a beautiful and therapeutic view of the sunset over the water. It was a great visit with some very friendly people.
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The team with RC Ormoc
l to right: Dennis Deveyre, Lyra P. Dela Cerna, Anna Bumagat, John, Nicole, Stacey, Dr. Sandra F. Chiong, Rina Rodriguez; in front: Dr. Jerry Chiong, DGE Peter Rodriguez. |
After our hospital visit we situated ourselves with our host families before attending our joint dinner meeting with RC Ormoc and RC Ormoc Bay. The dinner was great and of course included a delicious lechon and irresistible fresh pineapple from their local plantations for dessert. The food was great but the people and entertainment were better. The clubs had such high energy and were so friendly and it showed in all of the projects they did and are working on now to help the province. Unfortunately the night had to come to an end, but it sounds like another great day of Ormoc ahead.
-Stacey
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The members of the Rotary Club of Ormoc and Rotary Club of Ormoc Bay gathered to honor the GSE visitors
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| RC Ormoc poses with the team after giving us beautiful bamboo trays |
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| RC Ormoc bay presenting the team with iComplete Ormoc shirts |
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