Stop and smell the flowers

Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of our hectic lives, we lose our sense of direction and wonder if all these efforts are worth it... Let us take some time to pause, reflect, and appreciate the beauty of life.

Treatment Partner

When we do anti-retroviral (ARV) drug adherence counselling, we advice the PLHIV patient to look for that life partner to whom:

1. the patient can share the secret of one's HIV status,  
2. support the patient thru challenges encountered due to one's HIV status and
3. help remind the patient to take meds the same time everyday.

It wasn't until I started taking maintenance meds for hypertension that I truly realized the importance of the treatment partner. Am so glad that I am single and spoiled to have a mommy who takes care of me, prepares my baon everyday and reminds me to take my maintenance meds (baliktad ang mundo ngayon)... Thank you ma!

In life, everybody needs somebody to witness one's life journey.

Calm in Every Situation

I had a long day today with total hysterectomy for a VIP patient. I took my lunch at 4pm. After my driver fetched me from the hospital using our brand new crimson red Toyota Hilux, I asked to drive to buy fish and seedlings downtown.  The fish store was closing so we parked at the nearest corner, saying the sidewalk vendors that we will just take a few minutes.

I was happy with my purchase of three koi fishes and 6 baby sharks.  We were slowly turning onto the street when a karomata failed to stop and hit our right front bumper.

Ouch! That was my thought bubble at that moment... Not even a week from the car dealer and my bumper is deformed! I hadn't even started paying for the downpayments yet, nor for the insurance... Yes, this was something MaJian would describe as "ouchy" especially when the first thing the kargador blurted out was "wala koy kwarta..." I interviewed him a bit and learned that he was from Lantad, Naga, Cebu and had just travelled to work in the market area. He didn't have a singlr coin to his name. He had just started with his first cargo.

A crowd of uziseros were gathering around us, and a group of vendors were starting to turn the story around saying that it was our fault for parking in that area when it was near 6pm already when the night market was about to set up.  It was in fact still light out when we started to leave. Realizing we weren't getting anything from the errant kargador,  we extracted a promise for him to be more careful next time, took a selfie for good measure and shook hands.

Thankful that nobody was hurt in the incident (except our pride and my pocket)... Thank God!

Lesson learned: do not bring an expensive vehicle in a busy market where streets are dominated by pushcarts, and always keep calm in every situation.

A Research University as a World Class University

Attending the 13th Philippine National Health Research System #PNHRS2019 in Cagayan de Oro, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) organized a session on the concept of Research University as a World Class University.  As far as ranking of universities are concerned, the following Philippine universities have been included in the 2018 QS World University Rankings ASIA (2018 QS AUR): the University of the Philippines (UP), De La Salle University (DLSU), Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU), University of Santo Tomas (UST), University of San Carlos (USC), Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU IIT) and Silliman University (SU).

Dr Carmencita Padilla of the University of the Philippines explained the programs and incentives for faculty to conduct research such as further training, funding of innovative projects, monetary awards, recognition and assistance to faculty.

Fr. Miranda of the University of San Carlos defined the different types of higher education institutions according to their main motivations in teaching and how context is very important in deciding what programs to implement and what research agenda to fund.

Today,  CHED puts a premium on research as research has become a required course (even for senior high school) and a measurement of typology of university.

1.  How can research contribute to the improvement of society in general?

2.  How do we provide an encouraging environment for students and faculty to conduct research?

3.  Given that context is very important in deciding which researches to conduct, what needs can you identify in your areas that needs research?

Persons are Gifts

We met in a coffee shop and we ate pasta with coffee.  I was pleasantly surprised to realize that I had met Dr Resty Picardo previously during the #HCSMPH2019.  In fact, he took pictures of the slides of my lecture in choosing social media platforms for learning! It was their group that coined the hashtag #HIVesh.

I was happy to belong to a group that was genuinely interested in research.  In the short time that we talked in our group, I had learned a lot, and received many pointers on how to go about designing my planned research. Before we separated ways, he volunteered to give a lecture on qualitative research designs to my residents.

You see, life is like that.  You receive gifts when you least expect.

What do you love?

It was one Saturday evening when a young friend directed me to an interesting TedX video on Dr Winlove Mojica, Medicine in Media, and I was pleasantly surprised because he was my batchmate in UP-PGH, a good friend and a staunch HIV advocate in the Philippines.  Watching a video 21 minutes long when you have resident examinations to finish is indicative of how wonderful and entertaining his lecture was.  Winlove made me reflect his question "what do you love?"  True enough, in medicine it was keeping in touch with my "WHYs" that helped me survive the rigors of medical school.  Since then, I've come a long way to find my own niche in life.  I am an obstetrician-gynecologist for people living with HIV, and it is my life goal to prevent transmission of HIV infection among the youth, among those who are pregnant, and among their unborn children, and to provide support to children in need of special attention, to help them rise above their beginnings.  It was also when I began to be involved in work projects in Cebu that I realized "there is a reason for everything..."

I took up BS Agricultural Chemistry in college, and I realize that I would still be able to fulfill my dream of living on a hectare patch of farmland, south of Cebu, to de-stress and to disconnect when necessary.

I became a doctor because I wanted to "serve the people".  True to my purpose, I am more of a government physician than private practitioner.  I serve the women of Cebu at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

I finished my fellowship in infectious diseases and master's degree in public health.  This helps me in my efforts to improve the HIV treatment hub and in pushing for reforms in health service delivery for people living with HIV with the support of the HIV/AIDS core team, the staff of the DOH CHD7 HIV Program and the HIV Service Delivery Network.

When hurt helps you grow

Sometimes the knee-jerk reaction to getting hurt is to run away from whatever caused you to hurt, whether it is the person or the situation or from yourself.  However, the hurt is another thing you have to face head on so that you can conquer it and grow.

God does not give you anything you cannot handle. At times it feels too painful to bear, but the experience builds your character and your strength, to make you a better person.