Medical Mission at SSAM

I went on a Medical-Dental Mission last week (Saturday, April 5, 2008) organized by St. Scholatica's Academy-Marikina and the Rotary Club of Marikina-Central. Originally, my sister, Hannah Gabriella G. Gultiano, had 2 options: either donate medicines of any brand or kind (from Acetaminophen to Zantac) or render service/time for patients (and the like) from 8 AM to 12 PM. Obviously, being a registered nurse myself, I opted for the latter one just to polish some of my basic nursing skills, if there's anything left. Luckily, these basic skills (they are sooo basic, actually) came out of nowhere when I started doing my nursing stuff, or so to speak. Nice one. :)

Anyways, the only thing that I actually did was to take a patient's blood pressure and temperature then, ushering them to the next step, which is the doctors' area. The End. How exciting, right? Haha. Oh! By the way, I also verified a patient's name, age and possible diagnosis. The End. Again.

My sister, who incidentally tagged along, grabbed my phone and took the liberty of capturing some of my not-so-refined nursing moments. Haha. Do enjoy them! :)

"Hmmm. Ma'am, 120/80 po ang BP ninyo. Normal po iyon."

Wow. Talk about health care delivery in the Philippines. Sheesh.

"Kayo po ba si Mari Mar or si Dyesebel?" :)

Me and my co-volunteers. Obviously, lahat kami, nurses. Haha. :)

Overall, it was a feel-good experience for me, since I was able to share my time, effort, skills, and fundamental nursing knowledge to those who are in dire need. It was also a bit nostalgic because I joined an organization back in college with the same ideals of service and sacrifice.

Anyways, the mission was, from my standpoint, a success in itself. Not only was the patient-doctor system orderly, logical and fast-paced, but also all the volunteers were knowledgeable in their respective fields. Congratulations to all the organizers, volunteers, and, of course, the patients for a fruitful and genuinely rewarding mission. See y'all next year. KUDOS! :)

Coffee, volunteers?