Joy where there’s only hope

There’s an ancient saying that goes like this, ‘Hope is the last to die’. It may as well be emblazoned across the entrance of the National Children’s Hospital on E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue.

A stone’s throw away from St. Luke’s Hospital, the NCH is a government-run hospital, directly under the Department of Health.

Originally operating as a charity ward, the NCH, like other similar institutions, now has to find creative means of surviving as per new directives of the health department. Nominal charging based on the patients’ income is one obvious option, but the reality is that majority of its patients are indigents. Thus, it depends largely on gifts and donations from benefactors to maintain the hospital’s invaluable medical service.

Enter the wards of the NCH and you are immediately thrust into a world where it seems fate rules unkindly. How else can you describe rows and rows of beds filled with young children already tasting life’s bitter pill? One ward is full of children with hydrocephalus, another with kids afflicted by leukemia (some terminally ill) or pneumonia, and still another with gastro-intestinal infections. In the pneumonia ward, I chanced upon a four-year-old child on a respirator but what is pathetic is that the parent has to keep the respirator going manually. Yes, manually! It seems that with the dearth of equipment, more modern respirators are given to more serious cases.

So it was refreshing and inspiring to spend an afternoon at the NCH with Vina Morales.

Vina has been visiting the NCH since 1999. She explains, "The specialization of the hospital in treating pediatric cases was foremost in my visiting the hospital. It breaks my heart to see the cases here and for some reason, I’ve been compelled to come back again and again. It’s not something I talk about; in fact, this is the first time it’s being written about. But when I was approached to do a benefit concert at Dish on May 7, the producers asked me if there is a beneficiary I’d like to nominate, and the NCH immediately came to mind."

NCH director Marietta Siongco and Dra. Epifania Simbul recount how Vina makes it a point to drop by and spread cheer among NCH patients on occasions like her birthday and other holidays. In fact, she has formed bonds with some of the kids, especially six-year-old Josh.

"The other week the boy noticed that I had calendared a visit of Vina’s," recounts Dra. Simbul. "I’d see him looking at the calendar every day. Later, I realized that it was his way of ticking off the dates to know when Vina is finally coming over. He had prepared a letter for her and actually handed it to her when she visited his ward."

The doctor relates that other entertainment personalities drop by the NCH in conjunction with some TV shows or other charity projects. "But Vina is special," she says. "She comes with no fanfare, and literally spends hours here, talking to the kids and, of course, the parents are just as excited."

Dra. Simbul shares that the hospital has always promoted the concept of "Smile Therapy" within the hospital premises in the belief that demeanor and general atmosphere can be just as important in the recovery of the children.

"On that score, Vina’s visits are like rays of sunshine for the kids. It helps uplift them, making them feel less enclosed in a world cut off from normalcy by virtue of their being sick," she says.

To be honest, Vina was a bit uncomfortable with our pictorial. All of a sudden there is a need to pose for the camera, to consider angles and poses. With all her other visits, this element had been absent and she was free to just roam about.

Even the hospital had some reservations. "While we do appreciate Vina for naming the hospital as the beneficiary of her concert, others may think that we’re exploiting the children or that we‘re glamorizing their ailments," director Siongco points out.

She thus made sure that the parents of children photographed with Vina for this article have been consulted and have given their consent.

Siongco says that she can‘t deny that the perennial problem in the children’s hospital is funding. "The medicines, the equipment–all this requires money, something we’re terribly short of. There hasn’t been any new equipment for the last two years. The enthusiasm, the dedication on the part of the doctors and staff is evident–that’s why it can be so frustrating," she laments. That’s why, she says, if media mileage and publicity can be generated by Vina’s laudable gesture of doing a concert for the hospital, it would be a great help to NCH.

But it’s not only Vina that is giving her share to this worthy cause. Siongco shares that a neuro-surgeon, Dr. Benedict Baronia, has likewise committed his time to the hospital by doing one charity operation daily. "He saw the condition of the kids here and really wanted to help but at times he can’t perform the operation because medicines required after the operation to prevent complications or infection just aren’t available," she reveals.

Right now, the hospital’s anaesthesia ventilator is down, and several operations have to be put on hold. The more urgent cases are sent to nearby hospitals. However, if the patient can‘t afford the rates in other hospitals, there isn’t much that the NCH can do. The hospital also needs to outsource other important equipment like the CT Scan machine.

There is hope, though. At the 5th floor of the NCH building, there is evidence that with the right kind of help, some things can get done. Seeing there is a need to set up rooms to cheer up leukemia-stricken kids, well-meaning people like Cathy Guballa and Kythe established Migi’s Corner through the help of generous sponsors.

One child was brought to one of these rooms, accompanied by her mother. Listless from the chemotherapy protocol she is undergoing, it took some time for her to acknowledge her new surroundings, but she was nevertheless enthralled by the toys and playthings inside the room.

As Remy Serapon relates, "These rooms do provide invaluable therapy, but we also have to be prepared for the psychological effect on the children. Some refuse to let go of the toys, wanting to hold on to them and bring them down to the wards. We have to explain that they’re to be shared with others, to be left in this room."

She explains that while these rooms help the children recover, the hospital still has to address more pressing problems such as medicine and equipment. "These problems involve much larger sums of money and as such, it’s harder to find the Good Samaritans for these things," she says.

Mention was made of how the hospital was now empowered to do nominal charging based on the capacity of the parents. But given the circumstances of most of its patients, I asked how charges are computed.

"Honesty is what we count on," Dra. Simbul says. "It’s all we have when the parameters set down for ascertaining paying capacity don’t apply. Plus, we often get the promise that they can pay when we admit the child, then I guess they figure out what the situation here is, and they claim they are indigent."

Admittedly, the NCH story is not unique. There are a million other "sob stories" in this country. What is important is that the next time we feel like donning those Samaritan robes and feels like sharing our blessings, let’s look much closer to home. We don’t have to log on to the internet, turn to CNN or scan the international pages of our broadsheets to look for worthy causes we can put our resources into. The NCH is here and it needs help. This and other local institutions are more than enough for whatever charitable attention we want to bestow.