A camp to help cope

There is no question about it, the silent and modern epidemic in today’s society is diabetes.

In the United States, they have recognized the signs early on but still the numbers keep growing, and growing rapidly at an alarming rate. In the Philippines, over three million Filipinos have been diagnosed with diabetes, but who knows how many others out there do not even know they have the disease and carry on with a bacchanalian and indolent lifestyle.

Fortunately for many Filipinos, there is a group of dedicated Filipino endocrinologists who relentlessly tries to keep the numbers down through education and relevant annual campaigns that bring them to several parts of the country to spread their message of awareness and, more importantly, prevention. In 1990, this group of doctors led by noted Filipino endocrinologist and diabetes expert Dr. Augusto D. Litonjua, and aided by some civic-minded citizens banded together to establish the Philippine Center for Diabetes Education Foundation, otherwise known simply as the Diabetes Center. For 19 years now, this group of committed men and women has been on a relentless campaign to educate the diabetic Filipino patient. We now have a Diabetes Awareness Week every end of July.

The message of Diabetes Center is simple: “Diabetes is a complicated and challenging disease. It drains families’ financial resources; it also takes a toll on both the physical and emotional health of the family. That’s why we at the Diabetes Center believe that it’s our duty to safeguard the health and well-being of the diabetic Filipinos and their families, especially those who are impoverished. We at the Diabetes Center have also placed the survival of diabetic patients as our top motivation.”

But the fight against diabetes does not stop here. The Diabetes Center will leave no stone unturned in its quest to move closer to its vision. Education of health workers at the grass root level—those who have direct contact with the rural masses—will help the Center get to the ordinary people, those who have limited access to crucial health care, and “those who need our help the most.”

Today, almost 20 years after the group threw themselves into a committed plan of action for this advocacy, the education continues. However, they have also decided to train their sights on the plight of Type 1 diabetics, most of which are helpless young children. Parents of Type 1 diabetics know the heartaches and anxieties of having to constantly care for and monitor their afflicted children. It is a 24/7 job, with no vacation leaves to look forward to. Many of the children themselves are often so emotionally bruised that they fail to function as normally as they should, if only they and their parents knew any better.

This concern gave rise to yet another project by the team of endocrinologists, Camp Cope, which was started some 15 years ago by the same dedicated group. Managing Type 1 diabetes, especially among vulnerable children, is not a walk in the park, and through Camp Cope, the team has formulated a structured program designed to help these afflicted children understand and manage their disease. It is at Camp Cope where they are taught such basics as blood glucose monitoring, insulin injection, medical nutrition therapy and physical activity which is very important for all types of diabetes. They even address the psychological aspects of the disease, offer skills training and even career development. What is appealing about it, according to Dr. Joey Miranda, camp administrator, is their education process takes on the guise of a game or field activity, negating kids’ normal resistance to formal classroom-type of learning. The children learn easily from the doctors, nurses, dieticians and counselors (Type 1 diabetics themselves who have graduated from these very same camps). The whole experience is one of camping, four days in every year, usually during May. The kids look forward to it every year.

The campers of Camp Cope, usually numbering 30-40 in a camp, have come out of this yearly “outing” fully enriched, more aware, and better-equipped to deal with the disease. The early “graduates” have gone on to live normal lives with families of their own and pursuing careers successfully because they have learned to manage their disease. But the fight continues for countless other children with Type 1 diabetes.

For 15 years, Camp Cope made do with whatever venue was available, renting from the Boy Scouts and the Forest Club. It is time they had a home. They acquired a piece of land in Tanay, Rizal through donations, but there is still a lot of work, and a lot of expenses awaiting the movers of Camp Cope. Total donations for the Tanay and Cityland properties amounted to P11,692,083 from various pharmaceutical companies and other donors.Friends of Dr. Litonjua gamely donated P305,500during the kind doctor’s last birthday party for Camp Cope. The Tanay property alone already cost P4,263,941, and along with land improvement, the Cityland 1205 Unit, building improvement, office furniture and equipment, total cost of the property amounted to P10,544,658.52, leaving only P1,147,424.53 for the building funds. 

The group is very transparent when it comes to their finances. They have a very detailed accounting of donations and expenses available for anyone who is interested to look into their finances. I noted a donation from the International Bazaar through Mrs. Lovely Romulo (Vice chair of the Center, with Mrs. Amelita Ramos as Chairperson) amounting to P600,000, and donations from the pharmaceutical companies amounting to P9,500,000, and from Fellows of Advance Study of P1,254,583. Bless your hearts.

However, Diabetes Center Philippines is still a long way off from reaching their goal. They still need about P40 Million to build Camp Cope, and the kind doctors are reaching out to kind-hearted, civic-minded citizens and corporations—let us help build Camp Cope for the Type 1 Filipino diabetic children. Let us give them a home.

Contact Details: Unit 1205 Cityland 10 Tower 2, H.V. de la Costa St., Salcedo Village, Makati, tel. no. 836-22-75, telefax 892-1064.

Another hit from Ovation

My wife, Baby and I thoroughly enjoyed our “prom”, as entertainment editor Ricky Lo so aptly puts it, at the Araneta Coliseum during Jack Jones’ concert last week. Jack sang all the familiar songs we could reminisce, and all night long, for about two hours, we sang silently with him as he hit all the high notes, cooed to the audience, tickled the ladies pink and sent most of the audience swooning over his romantic ballads. At 72, his range was still awesome, his voice full, his diaphragm and lung power unbelievable. What made the concert so “sulit” for many people in the audience was his choice of songs, all certified hits in the Philippines, and the total number of songs he sang that night. With the first few notes of Lorelei, the audience clapped in thunderous delight. Jack walked the aisles constantly and stayed in touch with his audience, gamely accepting the fans’ kisses. Thanks to Renen and Cel de Guia of Ovation Productions. Watch out for their coming big, big shows featuring Trini Lopez and my all-time favorite, Dionne Warwick. See you all there on those prom dates (Nov 2010 and Feb. 2011).

TAG—you’re it

The Philippine Association of National Advertisers Foundation (PANAF) announced in a recent dinner where they invited college and university deans from 22 schools in the fields of Mass Communications, Business and Economics, and Advertising the 2011 11th Integrated Marketing Communications Student’s Competition and 1st Youth Congress called “Techie, Artsy, Gutsy (TAG)- You’re It!”. Trust PANA to come out with such a catchy and Filipino name for this worthy endeavor.

Charmaine Canillas, PANAF Chair, says “The IMC Competition and Youth Congress is a means by which schools can see the level of competition, the level of competence, of their counterparts. It is an exercise to raise the bar. Students must meet the standards that their future professions require.”

The Youth Congress will be from Nov. 11-12 at the Bayanihan Center of the Unilab Compound where students will learn from the country’s best communicators and industry experts while the IMC Students’ Competition will be on the third day. Last year, De la Salle University topped the competition.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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