The Freudian Slip Of A Bacolodnon

     Among the many challenges faced by any rural community in the Philippines is the lack of proper sanitation. In an archipelagic country blessed with so many natural resources, access to potable drinking water can be very challenging. Of course, its twin problem is access to toilets. Whether it is a coastal community or a village in the uplands, many Filipinos still live in houses that don't have toilets. One can just imagine how they would dispose of their human waste.      One mayor was faced with the same problem. Mayor Owe Velarde, the mayor of a town called Tinambac in Camarines Sur, used to be a village chief (barangay captain) for a long time before he climbed up the political ladder. During his service as a village chief, he was already aware of the problem of his people. When he became Mayor, one of his projects was to provide his community members access to water and toilet. He provided at first individual households with their own toilets an...

     So you decided to enter Med School? Well, then. There are certain changes that you must expect once you enter the ever-challenging world of Medical School. Change No. 1: Your Grades will change  Are you used to having grades as high as 90 or 95 or heck even 100? Well, that's because you haven't met your Neuroanatomy teacher yet. Or your Biochemistry teacher. Or your Histology teacher. Or any med school teacher for that matter! Unless you are Einstein or Stephen Hawking, you will see your grades gradually dip lower and lower until it will settle and stabilize to its comfortable zone. Med school is tough and I am not even sure if the father of Medicine himself - good ol' Hippocrates - can even pass med school if he is alive today and eventually decides to enroll. Med school requires a lot of mental and physical work. Which means you must have enough emotional stability offhand prior to entering med school. Don't fret. Those are just numbers. You should not allo...

     Finding a good place to stay while in Boracay can be challenging, especially if you are in a tight budget. Fortunately, during my last vacation in Boracay, I was able to discover this small hotel which I find as a good cheap place to stay. Of course, finding a cheap but decent place to stay is important so at least you can spend your money elsewhere like food and other activities in this beautiful island of Boracay.      Boracay Breeze Hotel is located in Station 1. That's right, station 1 where many of its accommodations are luxurious and expensive. Station 1 is the "high end" part of Boracay. The sands are whiter, the surf is clearer, the place is quieter I guess because many would be in Station 2 and even Station 3 where most of the restaurants and other affordable accommodations are located.      I was able to book a room for 3 nights in Boracay Breeze Hotel only for 5,400 pesos! That's about 1,800 pesos for a room which can acc...

     Days before my trip to Hinatuan I was already giddy with excitement. I have heard about this small town in Surigao del Sur which is a province in Mindanao. I have heard about its precious treasure and currently a worldwide tourist destination, the Enchanted River. I saw the pictures of how breathtaking the place is, almost unbelievable even. A river with crystal clear waters flowing from an unknown source. It was used to be hidden inside the forest of Hinatuan but when it was discovered, it became an instant tourist destination.      I was having dinner with the Mayor of Hinatuan at the house of his brother who is the current chief of hospital of the Hinatuan District Hospital. Together with us at the dinner table was the Municipal Health officer of Hinatuan, the executive assistant of the mayor and one of the nurses from the RHU. We were talking of course about the current partnership between the town and the organization that I work for. Of cour...

      By now, medical interns and clerks everywhere have already gotten to know the kind of residents they have encountered during their rotation in the hospital. Believe me, it is important to know the types of personalities of these residents so you would need to know how to handle one.  Resident No. 1: The Power-Tripper.       Ego-trippers, dictators, Hitler of the Wards. These are just the names you can call a power tripping resident. He or she does nothing except make your life miserable. They give orders because, well for the heck of it. Power tripping residents can be a pain in the arse. You really can't do anything about them except bear the burden of their egos. Toxicity level: 9/10.  Resident No. 2: The Bull      Whether it is morning, noon or night, this type of resident is always fuming mad. They always look mad. They always talk mad. Heck, they are always mad! Most often for no reason at all. They are mad at you, m...

     Allow me to be ethnocentric for a while and write about what we do in the organization where I work. I have been working with Zuellig Family Foundation for almost 3 years now and so far, the work that we do has never been this challenging. What we do can be categorized under two things: leadership development and local health systems development. I started working under the ZFF Institute which focuses more on the latter. Eventually, I transitioned to ZFF-CHPP which now does both.      In a devolved set up, the responsibility of managing the health services in the country falls in the hands of the local chief executive of a municipality or city or province. The mayor, or governor, together with his or her health officer, ensures the availability and accessibility of basic health services in his or her jurisdiction. Unfortunately, not all mayors or governors are fluent in the technicalities of health care and it is by no surprise that not everyone of t...

     To emphasize and introduce a lecture on coaching, I had a group of mayors and Municipal Health officers and their community leaders undergo a game called "Landmines!" The game is simple. The participants are paired and brought inside a room filled with randomly positioned chairs. The other half of the pair is blindfolded and will be guided by the other half of the pair (who is supposedly the coach) through a field of "landmines" represented by the chair from the starting point to the "safe zone" which is just across the room. The objective is to cross to the other side without touching the landmines. The "coach" can only guide the blindfolded partner using verbal instructions. The coach are also only allowed to stay either in the safe zone or in the starting point area. Only the blindfolded partner is allowed to stay in the field of landmines. Here's a trailer I made about the activity using iMovie:      While discussing the post...