QC to pilot Philips’ health, wellness campaign

MANILA, Philippines - A barangay in Quezon City will be the first beneficiary of the recently-launched Simply Healthy wellness campaign of electronics and lighting company Philips.

Fifty families in Barangay Matandang Balara are expected to benefit from the four-month program starting mid-February, which seeks to educate low-income communities on overall health and wellness.

In a media conference at the project launch, QC Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte thanked Philips for choosing the city as its beneficiary for its corporate social responsibility program.

“Hopefully, after getting the results from the pilot barangay, we can implement this in other barangays,” said Belmonte.

The company will work closely with the Office of the Vice Mayor during the implementation of the program.

According to Belmonte, she shares the same advocacy of promoting health and wellness.

“The Office of the Vice Mayor is one of those in the forefront of anti-poverty programs in the city,” she said.

Philips country manager Fabia Tetteroo-Bueno said the company chose the city because of the local government’s efficient anti-poverty programs.

“We are happy to give something back,” said Tetteroo-Bueno. “I hope that Quezon City is just the first of the cities that will benefit from the campaign.”

Tetteroo-Bueno said the campaign targets health and wellness, which are two of the topics that the company puts great importance on.

“For this campaign, we’ve sought the help of our partners from various agencies and groups to help us educate underprivileged families that healthy living is indeed reachable,” she said.

The program, which will include discussions and other activities, will be spread out in four sessions and would cover family nutrition, women’s health, and environmental conservation.

The session on family nutrition will be conducted with the help of Ruby Frane, clinical manager of the food and nutrition department of St. Luke’s Medical Center. It covers lessons on proper food preparation, tips on healthy eating, cooking demo, and story-telling activity for children.

The Department of Health and the breast cancer awareness group I Can Serve will lead the session on women’s health, which will cover topics including breastfeeding, and detection, recovery and prevention of breast cancer.

The session on environmental concern, on the other hand, will focus on energy efficiency and climate change and would be supported by the WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The final session is a culminating activity where families who have shown improvement through the duration of the program will be commended.