| Dr. Felipe Manalo & Pag-Asa Medical Missions Giving hope to the poor and the sick by Heidi M. Pascual |
| said, quickly adding, "it's a lot of hard work; but we've been very fortunate because of the support we get from Madison. "Pag-Asa (which means "hope" in Tagalog) Medical Missions has treated thousands of indigent patients in the Philippines' rural areas with the help of volunteers from the Madison area and local civic leaders. This year's medical mission took place in the province of Antique in the Visayas on February 12-17, where more than 1,500 patients were treated and given medicines. (Medicines were donated by drug companies and patients' families, as well as people with excess medications, from the Madison area.) "This year, we have (as volunteers) a retired Dominican nun, Sister Maria Opriecht and Dory Blobner, a nurse from Dean Clinic with us," Dr. Manalo said, visibly grateful. "We also had several other Madison volunteers who started packing medications last January in our house." (Wife Monita and daughter Anna Maria are regular volunteers.) The group went to three barrios with two other local doctors: a family physician and a pediatrician, from Antique. "We were also assisted by the vice mayor who provided for lodging and food," Dr. Manalo reported. "Our party also included Monita's sister and brother-in-law, lawyers Buena Ednave and her husband, Alfredo Ednave, and two other volunteers from Bataan (province), Mr. And Mrs. Escaler." There were several types of diseases encountered by Pag-Asa during this visit. "Basically, malnutrition, underweight; poor development," Dr. Manalo lamented, and added with grave concern, "A lot of people with tuberculosis; a lot of respiratory and gastro-intestinal diseases; people with high blood pressure and stroke; these are very common." He said he's not surprised because the Filipino diet is salty, saturated with fat and usually coconut-based. Due to the huge number of people needing medications, the mission ran out of medicines prompting Dr. Manalo's wife, Monette, to go back to Madison and get some more. There's no indication that Dr. Manalo, his family, and his volunteers will take a break from this yearly mission. "Local communities contact us, asking us to help them," Dr. Manalo said. "It's a blessing and it's a privilege to be able to help out people who are really poor. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to provide that kind of service." Just what this world needs. |
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| "To provide much needed medical care to indigent populations in the rural communities in developing countries, the Philippines being the primary focus." The above quote is the mission statement of Pag-Asa Medical Missions, which has been religiously accomplished every year under the leadership of Dr. Felipe Manalo, a Filipino-American internist in the Madison area. His group has just arrived from a five-day mission in the Philippines. When Asian Wisconzine posed the question "Why did you start Pag-Asa, and why are you doing this every year?" Dr. Manalo looked beyond the window's view, sighed, and began, "It's a long story ... but it started in 1982 as an incidental, unplanned visit to a village in Candelaria (Zambales province) where I found several people who had tuberculosis, and there was no health care available." The thought that the situation must be true in many parts of the Philippines gave him a shudder, but at the same time posed a challenge and a commitment to act on it. "From then on, I decided we'll come as often as we can and it happens to be yearly," Dr. Manalo |