University of the Philippines

Thursday January 7th, 2010


Our first week has come to an end and so far so good. We have been kept busy with activities since starting school January 6th. On January 7th we joined our clinical instructor Jerry and partook in a day trip to Pateros. Here we were orientated to the community by Francisca Cuevas, the Municipal Health officer, and Doctor Ronald Raymondo.


(Above: Sir Jerry, RN, the 7 students, and Honourable Joey Medina)

We were informed that Pateros is the only Municipality within Manila. The community is considered to be small on Philippine standards, however, as Canadians, we felt that 60, 110 people within approximately a 2 km radius was quite populated. Some of the community health services includes, 3 physicians, 5 nurses, and one ambulance. With so few health care workers, this community strongly relies on an integrated team approach to serve the population.

Also, we were interested to discover that the health trends within this community are very similar to what we see in Canada. The most prevalent diseases are diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cerebrovascular disease, cancer, COPD, and renal failure.

Our day concluded with a visit to the Mayor of Pateros, Hon. Joey Medina, where he welcomed us to the community. The Mayor encouraged us to try Pateros' traditional dish, Balut (duck embryo). Joelle Link was the sole student brave enough to eat the embryo.

(Above: Joelle Link and embryo)