Sometime last September 2021, the Foundation upon urgent request of the Sisters at the Sta Scholastica’s Mission Hospital at Barangay Cabab-toan, Pambujan, Northern Samar, sent medical equipment and supplies to help address the need of the hospital to provide better services. The hospital caters to the mostly poor and underserved. Being a small (25 bed) mission hospital, they need all the help they can get.
It took a very long three months before the goods finally got delivered to the hospital.
The apparent unusual delay was brought about by the Covid19 issues and labor related congestion at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach were most goods sent to the Philippines are shipped from. There were also the typical “congestions” at the Port of Manila that are common during Christmas holiday rush.
Further, the boxes of equipment must then be shipped via local ocean shipping from Manila to Tacloban City, Leyte and then delivered via land transportation to Pambuhan, Northern Samar, an inter-provincial drive that oftentimes involve six to eight hours on the road.
The Sisters at the hospital were so ecstatic to finally receive the donated equipment particularly the portable laptop size Ultrasound Unit and a dedicated printer. The unit will help streamline their maternity ward services for the communities they serve.
“Now we don’t need to transport expectant mothers 12 kilometers to the capital City of Catarman just to have ultrasound services”, stated the hospital administrator, Sister Amadea Doronilla. “That saves a lot of wear and tear to our lone ambulance and not to mention the astronomical cost of gasoline”, she added
There were also a couple of patient electronic monitors that offers a robust parameter platform including world class algorithms for arrhythmia, temperature, NIBP and SpO2 as well as two vacuum operated suction machines, oximeters, aneroid sphygmomanometers for both adults and children and disposable thermometers.
The monitors are a great addition to their present two units allowing them to keep tab of the more seriously ill patients. “Now we can monitor four instead of just two patients. They are really a blessing”, Sister Amadea said.
Also in the boxes were PPE’s including disposable and washable gowns, face masks both surgical and N95 types, disposal face shields and bottles of disinfectant solution. It is noteworthy to state that the International College of Dentists Global Visionary Fund and the Amazon Donation Center provided most of the PPE’s to Foundation for the dental missions in 2021 and 2022. However, due to the unabated Covid19 pandemic in the Philippines and the prohibition of the government of face-to-face medical missions, the Foundation decided to donated the PPE’s to the hospital where they can be of immediate use.
The boxes also contained dental supplies for the full service dental clinic the Foundation built and donated to the hospital four years ago that caters to dental patients for drastically reduced cost or in many instances, for free, and some goodies for the consumption of all the nuns assigned to the hospital.
Hopefully, early next year the Foundation can raise enough money to purchase EKG units and
defibrillators for their different wards, as well as the emergency department to replace equipment loaned from other hospitals in the neighboring provinces.
There is also a need to replace the central vacuum unit of the dental clinic the foundation donated to the hospital. Funds are being raised for that as well. Tax-deductible donations are always welcomed by the Foundation.
The Dentistry for Every Village Foundation, Inc., raises funds by seeking grants and donations to build dental clinics. These clinics are donated to health care institutions that have the resources to house the facility, experiences and expertise to run them efficiently, and whose management is supportive of the cause.
