GK breeds new health care culture
Since its inception two years ago, Gawad Kalusugan has been making great strides in providing effective health care to Gawad Kalinga (GK) communities.
Gawad Kalusugan has raised a new culture of health consciousness among GK residents.
Today, GK residents are not only knowledgeable in preventive health care, nutrition and proper hygiene, they are trained to care, identify and treat certain medical problems.
“The community members are the perfect health advocates because they are the ones who know the community best, ” says Dr. Joe Yamamoto, Gawad Kalusugan’s executive director.
Gawad Kalusugan is a health development program that aims to empower and equip GK communities to adopt a healthy way of life. With the help of community doctors, health care volunteers, Kapitbahayan leaders and local health units, the endeavor plans to effectively develop and implement relevant and necessary health programs for the community.
Yamamoto says they have changed their approach to medical missions. In the past, doctors, nurses, dentists and other health care professionals go to far-flung GK communities for medical and surgical missions for a day or two. Now, the doctors and nurses immerse in the communities to teach the residents basic health care.
“We have changed our approach over the years. If before doctors merely do medical missions, now they stay to teach and train the residents to become health care volunteers. So that in every GK community, you’ll find health care volunteers who know how to take blood pressure, temperature, administer tuberculosis medicine, vaccines for babies and first aid care,” Yamamoto says.
“The community is part of the health care delivery and we tell them that doctors or nurses aren’t always needed in health centers. So we teach and train them. We are focusing on community-based problems, not a one-shot approach. We help people understand the health problems of the community,” he stresses.
By training and teaching the residents to become health care volunteers, they have successfully devolved some of the health care responsibilities to them.
Health care volunteers from the community are also trained in various health orientation and project management seminars to identify health issues and sustainable solutions.
For example, GK community doctors take up masters education at the University of the
Successful implementation of primary health care
Yamamoto proudly notes the implementation and accessibility of Gawad Kalusugan’s primary health care in alignment with its seven programs TWINRPD, which stands for Tubercolosis, Water borne infection, Immunization, Nutrition, Responsible Parenthood, Philheath and Dental services.
Gawad Kalusugan in GK Towerville, Bulacan has successfully accomplished its seven programs including the institution of tuberculosis watch, improvements in the water system and supply, a deworming program, a system of ensuring that all children are immunized, a nutrition and feeding program, application and distribution of Philhealth cards for families, dental services, free circumcision, health check up for children, and a community-wide health assessment program.
The programs have also been successfully implemented in other GK sites.
Another noteworthy achievement is the deep involvement of Pinoy doctors and nurses in the
These doctors in the States donate and build legacy villages for the poor. Doctors belonging to different medical alumni like the
Aside from health care volunteers, partners from the pharmaceutical industry are also at the forefront of healing in GK sites. Among these partners are Unilab, Pfizer, Therapharma, GlaxoSmithKline, Boeringer-Ingelheim, Natrapharm, Metopharma and Wyeth.
Yamamoto’s call for heroism
Long before Dr. Yamamoto joined the Couples for Christ (CFC), he had regularly taken time off from his surgical practice and hospital work to do medical missions for the poor.
As the top cardiovascular surgeon at UST, he pursued his commitment even more passionately when CFC established their social ministry for health – the CFC Medical Missions Foundation.
“I have led many teams across the country over the years and personally did countless major and minor operations. The work has allowed the CFC doctors to render service to the remotest areas of the country – many areas that have long been neglected by apathy and forgetfulness. But after many years of doing medical missions it struck me that it was not enough. What the country needed was not just medical missions or medical outreach but healing which goes beyond simple medical science,” Yamamoto shares.
Then along came Gawad Kalinga and, like the rest, Yamamoto became convinced that this is the perfect vehicle to eradicate poverty.
“From my background, orientation and training, I found it extremely challenging to comprehend the immensity and complexity of GK much less address the need to quickly expand. There is no conventional way of doing GK, only God’s way will do. Gawad Kalinga is simultaneously a community, a ministry, a mission and a movement,” Yamamoto says.
And because giving the poor a chance at having a good life does not end with giving them houses and livelihood, Yamamoto felt the need to create a healthy environment in GK communities and thus, Gawad Kalusugan was born.
Yamamoto and other doctors felt it was time to put up a GK clinic in every village to oversee the health of the people, particularly the children.
A survey made in a typical village showed that 60 percent of children are positive for tuberculosis. They also found that there are no funds earmarked for treating children with TB.
Preventive health care and treatment became the primary focus of Gawad Kalusugan. This has been Yamamoto’s advocacy and mission, along with thousands of doctors involved in the project.
“Even if many still doubt what we can do health-wise, we will relentlessly work with all sectors of society to build healthy communities through Gawad Kalusugan,” Yamamoto says.
“From curing to healing. From taking care of thousands to the chance of taking care of millions. From hospitals and communities, from a province to the whole nation – this is the journey that all doctors must take,” he says.
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