July 16, 2024
Compassion enhances expert care at Tzu Chi medical mission in Palo
By Joy Rojas
Vast medical knowledge and keen surgical skills play a big role in alleviating a patient’s pain and suffering—but so do compassion and a listening ear.
Dr. Jeffrey Verona knows it from experience, having volunteered in Tzu Chi’s numerous medical missions, from those in Leyte and Davao in 2014 following the wrath of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) a year earlier, to the latest effort in Palo, Leyte, from July 11 to 13. According to the internist and infectious disease specialist from Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center, patients’ faces brighten up after a simple show of concern from Tzu Chi doctors, nurses, and volunteers.
“They come from different provinces and travel for 2-3 hours. The mere fact that you listen to them, not just give them advice, you can see how they are very appreciative,” he says. “When you ask them, ‘Hi, how are you?’ ‘What is your job?’ ‘How are you getting by?’ they are willing to talk to you. You form even greater connections. It’s more than medical help that makes you reach them.”
At Tzu Chi’s Palo medical mission, held at the Leyte Academic Center, many patients have been through a lot. Thirty-three-year-old Arnel Arabejo caught his wife having an affair, but when he tried to report it to the police, they beat him senselessly—on his nape with a handgun, on his back with an Armalite, on his leg with a baseball bat, and all over his body with brass knuckles.
The beating was so severe, it affected the way he walks, so much so that he needs a wheelchair to get around. “I want to recover and get back to work again. Any job will do for as long as it’s noble,” he says. “It’s hard for a Person with Disability to get a job. You can’t stand properly. I’ve been told that my hands are strong enough to wash dishes and massage, but nobody wants to hire me.”
Arabejo’s two young kids motivate him to get better. “When you love your children, you’ll find a way, even if it’s hard. For my kids, I’ll fight and never give up.”
Arabejo consulted with Dr. Chito Guzman, a licensed medical doctor who spent most of his career practicing Western medicine, until he decided to focus on Traditional Chinese Medicine. For this patient, Dr. Guzman used acupuncture, or the insertion of needles in key points of the body to stimulate its natural healing ability.
The treatment had an instant effect. Arabejo, who struggled to climb up stairs, didn’t have much difficulty on his way down. The next day, he felt a lightness and tingling sensation on his feet and noticed his breathing was better.
“Tzu Chi has always been kind,” says Arabejo who also received free medicines. “Even if we don’t live in Palo anymore, they still help us and ask for nothing in return. I feel so much better and less stressed from all the thoughts that run through my head when I’m at home.”
A year-old wound in 64-year-old Mario Yongzon’s foot was what brought him to Tzu Chi’s medical mission. The wound, which he incurred when he accidentally burned himself on an exhaust pipe, started small but grew and developed a watery discharge. His wife, 63-year-old Fe, cared for the wound at home with creams and ointment prescribed by a local skin clinic.
At work as a security guard, Mario encountered yet another accident: a dog bite on his other foot. Rushed to the hospital, he received tetanus and anti-rabies shots, treatment that made his foot swell to double its size. In his month in confinement, doctors performed a debridement, or the removal of dead and infected tissue from his wound, to hasten healing.
“It has definitely improved,” reports Fe of the dog bite. “But we’re wondering why his first wound hasn’t healed yet.” For that, Mario is in the hospital once a week for an hour-long treatment in a hyperbaric machine, where he breathes pure oxygen to promote wound healing. Then it’s another hour spent in rehab. At home, Fe takes charge of meticulously cleaning his wound day and night.
Though the medicines they needed for his wound weren’t available at the medical mission’s pharmacy, the Yongzons didn’t go home empty-handed. Tzu Chi volunteers managed to procure medicines for the couple. “They do their best to help others,” says Fe. “They help from the heart and do what is right. That’s what we’re so grateful for, the extra effort they provide.”
This ‘help from the heart’ is felt by doctors too. “This medical mission is very special to me, because I made friends,” says Dr. Verona. “The volunteers were very cheerful, and the scholars were helpful. The Tzu Chi Foundation is really motivational. You see how volunteers move, how they help, and how they unite.
“To my fellow doctors, we should never stop helping as Tzu Chi does.”
At Tzu Chi’s latest medical mission, held at the Leyte Academic Center from July 11 to 13, a total of 5,444 beneficiaries availed of free quality medical consults and services in general medicine, pediatric medicine, dentistry, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, surgery, and Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Each medical mission begins with a prayer of gratitude for the opportunity to give and receive help.
Each medical mission begins with a prayer of gratitude for the opportunity to give and receive help.
Each medical mission begins with a prayer of gratitude for the opportunity to give and receive help.
Each medical mission begins with a prayer of gratitude for the opportunity to give and receive help.
Father of two Arnel Arabejo came to see how doctors could improve his walking. A sensless beating from cops affected his ability to walk.
Arnel Arabejo makes his way up a flight of stairs with difficulty. Three sessions of acupuncture from Tzu Chi’s medical mission would improve his walking.
Dr. Chito Guzman (right) uses acupuncture on Arnel Arabejo. Fine needles are placed on key areas of the body to stimulate natural healing.
Dr. Chito Guzman (right) uses acupuncture on Arnel Arabejo. Fine needles are placed on key areas of the body to stimulate natural healing.
Dr. Chito Guzman (right) uses acupuncture on Arnel Arabejo. Fine needles are placed on key areas of the body to stimulate natural healing.
Even if their medicines weren’t available in the medical mission’s pharmacy, Tzu Chi volunteers still helped Mario and Fe Yongzon procure them from outside sources. “They do their best to help others,” says Fe. “They help from the heart and do what is right. That’s what we’re so grateful for, the extra effort they provide.”
A beneficiary’s visual acuity is checked in the ophthalmology section. 1,111 patients went home with free eyeglasses.
Next to general medicine consults, dental treatments were an in-demand service. Volunteer dentists worked on 1,227 patients.
One of 709 young patients in the medical mission’s pediatric medicine section
Free medicines were dispensed at the medical mission’s pharmacy
The kindness extended by volunteers to patients was felt by doctors too. “The volunteers were very cheerful, and the scholars were helpful. The Tzu Chi Foundation is really motivational. You see how volunteers move, how they help, and how they unite,” says volunteer internist and infectious disease specialist Dr. Jeffrey Verona.
The kindness extended by volunteers to patients was felt by doctors too. “The volunteers were very cheerful, and the scholars were helpful. The Tzu Chi Foundation is really motivational. You see how volunteers move, how they help, and how they unite,” says volunteer internist and infectious disease specialist Dr. Jeffrey Verona.
Tzu Chi International Medicine Association (TIMA) founding member and oncological surgeon Dr. Josefino “Jo” Qua has been organizing medical missions since Tzu Chi’s first in Baguio in 1995.
Members of the Tzu Chi International Medicine Association (TIMA) together with volunteers pose for a group shot.