Loo, Buguias Folks Welcome Medical Mission Team
Months of preparation for a medical mission in Loo, Buguias received positive feedbacks from the residents.
The strong bond that connects Benguet State University (BSU), St. Louis University (SLU) and Flemish Universities in Belgium, known as the Philippine Inter-University Co-operation (PIUC), reached another milestone when they served the last patient in-line, from more than 400 patients, at seven in the evening of March 12, 2005.
The Medical Mission is part of the Health and Environment Project of the PIUC headed by Project Coordinators Dr. Carlito Laurean (BSU) and Dr. Gaudelia Reyes (SLU). This project started in 1993 and is being funded by the Vlaamse Inteuniversitaire Raad (VLIR). They have conducted four medical missions in different areas in the province specifically in Kapangan, BSU Main Campus and the most recent, in Loo, Buguias.
The medical mission in Loo, is one of the six barangays in Buguias that PIUC targeted to conduct their outreach program.
The local officials, headed by Punong Barangay Delino Dampilag Sr., gave a warm welcome to the medical mission team. In behalf of the residents and other local officials, he expressed that they were very much thankful to the volunteers who traveled all the way from the city to extend their services to his barangay.
The outreach took place at the BSU Campus in Loo, Buguias on March 12. Both medical and agricultural services started at ten in the morning and ended at seven in the evening.
According to Dr Laurean, the objective of the outreach is to look at the farming practices of the farmers and its effect to their health and family members in terms of pesticide use. The medical mission team asked for consent from the residents for blood extraction for colloristinae. This test is used to diagnose the effect of pesticide to farmers and their family.
In terms of health, SLU provided medical services such as urinalysis, fecalysis, blood typing, colloristenae, circumcision, drug dispensing and general check-up. Patient counseling were done by Dr. Benjamin Vergara, Dr. Melvin Hipol and Dr. Arnulfo Fulgencio, all resident doctors from the SLU Hospital. They were assisted by CI Lawrence Caranto together with nursing student volunteers from BSU.
During the planning for this outreach, Prof. Susan Ong, Dean of the College of Nursing (BSU), suggested to add pap smear in addition to the medical services the group would provide in Loo and in celebration of the Women’s Month. More than 20 mothers availed of this service and they were given information about its importance.
The Baguio Dental Association, headed by Dr. Raquel Ramos, delivered dental services that included tooth extraction and advising of patients on how to take care of their teeth and gums.
In terms of agriculture, BSU took care of the agricultural support services like soil analysis and plant disease diagnosis. Several farmers took this opportunity to consult with BSU professors and specialists Dr. Villanueva, on plant diseases and nematology and Prof. Joe Balaoing for soil testing. Dr. Julia Solimen took charge of interviewing farmers for extension support services and farming techniques that would later on be correlated with the farmer’s health status.
Farmers were able to see the pests that were present in their plants through the microscope. They were advised on how to get rid of pests with the help of other insects (natural enemy of a pest) and how to regulate the use of pesticides.
Dr. Laurean said that the team received positive feedback from the residents. Full or complete dosages for medication were given to those who availed of the medical services. Dr. Laurean also added that they will conduct additional support services to farmers, which is tentatively scheduled on April 28, 2006. They will be conducting workshop seminars on organic farming, pesticide use, and bio-fumigation. At the same time, laboratory results will be distributed to concerned residents.
Shopping in Benguet
A lot of visitors who come to Baguio (Benguet) love to buy “pasalubong”. So how do ask the sales person using Cordillera Iloko?
English: How much is this?
Iloko: Mano daytoy?
Mano (how much/many)
daytoy (this)
Note:
Iloko- refers to the dialect
Ilocano- refers to the person
i-benguet
April 1, 2006At last!
Get to know more about Benguet… more than what you read in books. I will do my best to update this page with trivia, photos, current events etc…
Know more about the people’s culture. People who I met in the past are one of those who inspired me to put up this page. When they knew that I am an Igorot, they asked me a lot of questions (some were silly questions) about — hmmm anyway, I will talk about those questions in my next blogs, so just stay put.
Grab your notebook for “Word of the Day“, some terms you can use when you visit Benguet.
Watch out for my story on “My Dad’s Special Tayaw“, coming this month. Our family will be holding a thee day Canao, in the province, for our lolo’s first death anniversary, my dad’s special tayaw and another practice of the Ibaloi- where they will open my aunt’s grave and transfer her remains, from her tomb at our backyard, to the family cemetery.I will be writing about this practice as well.
I would appreciate your questions and comments about Benguet, please feel free to post it on this page.
Watch a simple slide show click below
