A ringing warning to cell phone owners

A colleague sends a frantic message to warn us about the cell phone gang victimizing commuters, especially those who take the bus from Mantrade on Pasong Tamo Extension to Buendia, Makati. According to her, they (there are usually three or four of them) get on at Mantrade and get off at the LRT station on Buendia where they easily mix with the thick crowd and disappear like greased ghosts into the thin air. Or else they get on at Mantrade and get off on Ayala Ave. with their haul of cell phones.

But this feisty colleague of ours was able to put one over this brazen group of cell phone thieves who would have carted off with her cell phone. "A bag of siopao saved the day," she begins to relate. "I was seated in the middle part of the bus (where I usually sit) when I heard a commotion in front. A man was pointing a gun at a passenger, ordering him to hand over his cell phone. Then there was another guy, who looked as young as my teenage son, who was also poking a gun at the passenger just in front of me. I knew that my turn would come – and it did; before I knew it, another guy was pointing a gun at me. He asked me for my cell phone but I told him I didn’t have any. Truth to tell, I was able to hide it in a plastic bag full of big siopao which a PR friend gave me that afternoon and which I just had to bring home because everybody had gone home and there was no one else to eat them at the office. I paid a neat sum for that phone and I certainly wasn’t just going to give it away. But of course, if it was a choice between my life and my cell phone, I’d give up the latter anytime. When the holdup man couldn’t find a cell phone in my bag, he took my wallet instead. He only found P800 in it. He didn’t bother to look in the brown envelope I was carrying, where there was cash worth P3,500. I never keep my money in just one place, so in case I get robbed, I still have money stashed away somewhere."

She adds that the cell phone gang plying their trade in that area usually strikes at 11 a.m. "On at least three occasions, I saw women who were crying because they had been victimized by these cell phone thieves."

Fact is, holdup men who prey on commuters often just divest their victims not so much of cash as of cell phones. Tamaraw FX passengers seem to be their favorite victims. You should never let your guard down when you’re taking a public ride. One commuter happily shares with us the story of a foiled cell phone robbery. The story goes that the thief was announcing a holdup even before he could get into the FX cab. Probably a neophyte, or so the passengers suspected, the guy was outsmarted by one lady passenger who closed the door of the cab as soon as she heard "Holdup ito!" thus locking out the cell phone thief.

Now, what are the authorities doing about these cell phone thiefs that have grown in number as fast as the population of cell phone users?

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When there’s no doctor in the house. There’s no denying the fact that health is wealth. Today, patients also fortunately have access to a wealth of information about certain illnesses. So much so that they can self-medicate or treat themselves at home if the illness is not life-threatening. If illness persists, it’s always best to consult a doctor.

When there’s no doctor in the house and you’re self-medicating, consider these guidelines passed on to us by medical experts:

Dosage Of The Drug

There are common factors that influence the drug dosages.

• Age – Elderly persons and women require smaller dosages than younger, adult men.

• Weight – The heavier the person, the larger the dosage of drugs he can tolerate. A child’s dose for a drug is smaller than an adult’s dose. Children’s dosages are calculated in proportion to age and weight of the child.

• Route – Drugs given by mouth are absorbed more slowly and less completely than those given intravenously (through the vein). Intravenous administration is generally smaller than that of the same drug given orally.

Equivalent Measures

1 tsp = 5 ml

1 tbsp = 15 ml

1 cc = 1 ml

Time Of Administration

Drugs should be administered punctually as ordered. Drugs should be administered half an hour before or after the indicated hour. If a drug is ordered to be given before or after meals, the time will depend on the hours during which meals are served.

Techniques For Oral Administration

• Give the medication with generous amount of water.

• Allow the patient to suck on a small piece of ice for a few minutes before taking the medication. The ice numbs the taste buds, and neutralizes the bad taste of the medicine.

• Pour a liquid medication over crushed ice, and offer it to the patient with a drinking straw.

• Avoid mixing drugs with food when the patient is a child. The child may hate the food because he associates it with drug administration.

• Explain to the child why the medicine has a bad taste if he’s old enough to understand.

• Use a dropper to give infants or very small children liquid medication while holding them in sitting position. Place the medication between the gum and cheek to prevent possible aspiration.

• Certain drugs are administered sublingually. The tablet is placed under the tongue. This area is rich in blood vessels, which allows the drug to be absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream for quick systematic effect like an anti-hypertensive drug.