April 16, 2024
Families flock to Tzu Chi’s 262nd medical mission
By Joy Rojas
Between buying medicine and putting food on the table, what would a breadwinner from a low-income family choose? When money is tight and people depend on you for their daily needs, the decision on who and what to prioritize is never easy.
Medical missions, like the one organized by the Tzu Chi Foundation at the provincial gymnasium in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, from April 4 to 6, support the need for quality healthcare at no cost. At Tzu Chi’s recent medical mission, its 262nd since its first in Baguio City in 1995, volunteer doctors from TIMA (Tzu Chi International Medical Association) attended to 4,418 patients in three days: 1,812 in general medicine, 721 in pediatrics, 989 in dental medicine, and 826 in ophthalmology.
Of the 70 successful surgeries performed at the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Hospital, 38 were for goiter (thyroidectomy), 25 were for hernia (herniorraphy), one was for gallbladder (laparoscopic cholecystectomy), and one was for breast removal (mastectomy), the first in Tzu Chi’s medical mission history. Two cysts and three minor surgeries were also conducted.
Cecilia Perez hopes her live-in partner Rechard Pelaez can undergo surgery someday. Once strong enough to run his family’s trucking business, Rechard now relies on Cecilia for support. After having too much to drink, he took off on his motorcycle and figured in a head-on collision, resulting in traumatic brain injury.
The paralysis in his arm was just the tip of the iceberg. In a freak mishap, the left side of Rechard’s skull became lodged in his stomach. Surgery and bone cement can restore his skull, “but we have no money,” says Cecilia, a peddler who earns commissions selling household items. As it is, she still has to make enough to afford his medication for seizures, another effect of his accident.
Through her community leaders, Cecilia learned of Tzu Chi’s medical mission. For Rechard, she received free anti-seizure medicines; for his mother Melba a free consult for her painful and swollen hands and legs. Cecilia saw a specialist for her skin allergy.
“Thank you that we were able to avail of your medical mission,” she says. “Without it, we would have to buy medicines in the drug store and money is hard to come by. That’s why I made sure to bring Rechard and his mother today.”
If 989 people came to see Tzu Chi’s volunteer dentists for multiple extractions, it’s because the cost of a single tooth extraction will set them back by at least P1,000. For a family in Sultan Kudarat that earns a minimum wage of P370 daily, this means three days of income lost.
That’s a lot for Rochelle Legada Eslabra. The widow and mother of children ages 13, 11, and 4 makes a living as a home-service manicurist and hair stylist.
A day after she brought her mother and her kids Samantha and Jarden Grey for general medicine consults, she returned for tooth extractions. Besides the free procedure, Rochelle appreciated how volunteers made their visit a pleasant one. “Everybody was super kind to us,” she says. “Thank you, Tzu Chi. I hope you continue having medical missions because so many people need help.”
Dental work was also what Bailanie Palakasi and her children came for. “It's hard to have a toothache. You can't sleep. The pain doesn’t go away even with medicine,” says the mother of six and wife of a tricycle driver.
In her first time with Tzu Chi, Bailanie declared the volunteers her idol. “I watched how they treated people, the help they were giving the poor. It’s beautiful,” she says. “Thank you, Tzu Chi, because you help so many people, including the children and us mothers.”
Rochelle Legada Eslabra registers her children Samantha and Jarden Grey for tooth extractions. “Thank you, Tzu Chi. I hope you continue having medical missions because so many people need help,” she says. 【Photo by Marella Saldonido】
Widow Rochelle Legada Eslabra is raising her three children by herself. Any money she makes as a home service manicurist and hair stylist goes to feeding her kids. Tzu Chi’s medical mission supports her family’s need for quality healthcare at no cost. 【Photo by Marella Saldonido】
Rechard Pelaez figured in a freak accident resulting in traumatic brain injury. Besides the paralysis of his arm, part of his skull was lodged in his stomach. Through Tzu Chi’s medical mission, he received anti-seizure medication for free. 【Photo by Marella Saldonido】
A volunteer nurse gives Melba Pelaez a prescription for her painful and swelling hands and feet. 【Photo by Marella Saldonido】
After a head-on collision resulted in traumatic brain injury, Rechard Pelaez (left) depends on his live-in partner Cecilia Perez (right) to make ends meet for them. Cecilia earns a living as a peddler of household items. 【Photo by Marella Saldonido】
Tzu Chi volunteers help patients get their weight.【Photo by Matt Serrano】
Tzu Chi volunteers help patients get their weight.【Photo by Matt Serrano】
Tzu Chi volunteers from Zamboanga donate 900 pairs of reading glasses for the medical mission. 【Photo by Marella Saldonido】
Tzu Chi volunteers from Zamboanga donate 900 pairs of reading glasses for the medical mission. 【Photo by Harold Alzaga】
Three Tzu Chi volunteer dentists, all part of a singing group, break into song during downtime at the medical mission. 【Photo by Marella Saldonido】
Bailanie Palakasi (in pink) and her children listen as a Tzu Chi volunteer explains how to take a supplement. 【Photo by Marella Saldonido】
A face mask cannot hide the happiness of Bailanie Palakasi, who availed of free tooth extractions for herself and her children at Tzu Chi’s medical mission. 【Photo by Marella Saldonido】
Here with her tricycle driver husband and two of their six children, Bailanie Palakasi called Tzu Chi volunteers her idol. “I watched how they treated people, the help they were giving the poor. It’s beautiful,” she says. “Thank you, Tzu Chi, because you help so many people, including the children and us mothers.” 【Photo by Marella Saldonido】