During one of their early outreach programs to this sleepy town in Iloilo, Karla Gutierrez, artistic managing director of the Philippine Opera Company (POC), recalled how surprised she was at the crowd turnout for that night’s performance.
When the lights go on, the amps start humming, and the roar of the crowd fills their ears, the last thing on any musician’s mind is: “Do I have enough health coverage?”
Like most school children in remote areas in the Philippines, Rizel Tague had to walk many kilometers if she wanted to continue on to higher education.
After years of working abroad, she came home to finally be with her son. But to her dismay, he was cold, distant and hostile, and would engage her in shouting matches at the slightest provocation. It was a reaction that mystified this overseas Filipino worker (OFW), until she learned of his diminished status among his peers now that his mother no longer earned in dollars.
Their heart is definitely in the right place. At least once a week, a team of volunteer heart surgeons fan out to far-flung provinces to give indigent folk suffering from heart disease a new lease on life. Waiving their professional fees, these cardiologists perform open-heart surgeries, coronary bypass and similar operations on patients who otherwise cannot afford the expenses involved in a heart surgery.
Making people around the world look and feel good is a serious billion-dollar business largely hidden behind the images of sultry models looking out from the glossy pages of fashion magazines and billboards around the world.
On top of that, this hospital ward in Porac is notable for adapting to the needs and cultural beliefs of its beneficiaries. As is their custom, kapatad families cluster around their sick member, offering comfort and company as well as hot meals cooked over an open fire in the hospital grounds. At the pedia ward, [...]
