February 1st marked our last day in Ilo Ilo city. Our plane left at 12:45 and we began our journey to the University of East Ramon (UERMMMCI). Here we met up with the Dean of Nursing from the University of Saskatchewan, Lorna Butler and were orientated to our planned activities for the week. We were paired off with UERM nursing students and we had a chance to get to know each other. Later, we were invited to an alumni dinner where we enjoyed a variety of entertainment and delicious food. We then travelled to St. Michael's Retreat House in Antipolo, which is our home base for the week.
February 2nd began with courtesy calls starting with Dr. Antonio G. Reillo, the Manicipal Health Officer of Antipolo. He provided us with information regarding Antipolo's health care system. The area is populated by 700 000 people and is staffed with 6 nurses, 7 doctors and 200 barangay health care workers to meet this large populations health needs. This further illustrates how thinly stretched health care workers are within Filipino communities. Next we visited the Assistant Superintendent of the Department of Education, Maria Luz Salvador who welcomed us to the community.
Our next activity took us to Sta. Cruz Elementary School where we assisted 4th year
nursing students in testing children's eyesight. The school has 7292 children ranging from grades 1 to 6. Due to the abundance of students enrolled at Sta. Cruz, they are taught in 2 different shifts organized into 6 hour blocks. This occurs because it is not possible to accommodate all of them at once. The goal of today's activity was to assess the eyesight of Grade 2 students using the Snellen visual acuity chart. Visual impairment can be one of the many reasons for poor academic achievement in school aged children (Karande & Kulkarni, 2005). Administering eye exams allows health care providers to rule out visual impairment as an indicator of poor school performance. Early detection of visual impairment is a good example of primary health care, as diagnosis can greatly improve their quality of learning. We observed several children who demonstrated the less than desired 20/20 vision, with one of the worst cases presenting as 70/20. After diagnosis, the UERM students will be working on fundraising in order to provide glasses for the children who need them.
In the afternoon we were able to observe health teaching and activities provided by the UERM nursing students. The activities reinforced learning on environmental health and safety, physical activity and proper diet and nutrition.
February 3rd we visited a geriatric centre. Here we were given the opportunity to socialize and interact with senior citizens of the community. Positive social interaction is therapeutic in recovering from illness and essential in maintaining morale (Stephens, Kinney, Norris & Ritchie, 1987). This centre provides elderly clients within the community both access to health teaching and activities, planned and implemented by 4th year nursing students. Our experience demonstrated the positive results of socialization as the elderly clients enthusiastically participated in activities and built relationships with others. We were able to participate in activities such as, dancing, singing and charades. This experience was memorable for both the people of the community and ourselves. 
After visiting the geriatric centre, we participated in an immunization clinic. Here, we were able to immunize infants who were scheduled for DPT, Hepatitis B, OPV and measles. There were approximately 50 infants present at the clinic who commuted from surrounding barangays.
In the afternoon, we joined medical students and barangay health workers for an organized socialization. Here, we had the opportunity to ask questions regarding their role within the community health setting. We were able to observe how UERM nursing and medical students interact side by side.
First Picture: Ashley McDonald with 4th year UERM nursing students
Second Picture: Courtesy call to Dr. Antonio G. Reillo's office
Third Picture: Joelle using Snellen's visual acuity chart
Fourth Picture: Melissa giving instruction to a student
Fifth Picture: Group picture at the geriatric centre
Sixth Picture: Having fun with the UERM nursing and medical students
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