Her Heart In Her Home Inc.

Susan Reyes epitomizes timeless Filipina beauty. Simple and understated, there’s a very natural way she has carried this distinction.

Unfortunately, we live in a land notorious for stereotyping and hasty conclusions, and many are the times she’s run into people with preconceived notions of where she comes from and her lifestyle.

The life she’s led up to this point has, to the casual observer, its own share of controversies and raised eyebrows. To Susan, it’s her life in passing, unremarkable in itself, but perhaps a subject of curiosity and speculation for others. The choices have been made, and it’s with practiced and perfected nonchalance that she exclaims, "To a point, you just have to accept that’s what Manila will always be about."

These days, life for Susan Reyes travels on a different track. "I don’t go out all that often nowadays–the partying and night scene can get tiring," she says. "Plus, the passion with which I put my energies into Home Inc. is more than enough to keep me occupied. The funny thing that happens is that when I am out and people ask me what I’m into, I literally look at them for a moment and have to ask them if they really want to go there. Home Inc. is a privately funded hospice provider, and I know that may be a downer of a topic to bring up when one is socializing." And she smiles disarmingly at the recollection of how some men’s faces would fall or eyes would look away for more palatable conversation with someone else when the question was honestly answered.

The concepts of modern hospices and palliative care outside a medical institution are still fairly new in the Philippines. In its simplest form, the concept of hospice care originated in the 19th century, when the Irish Sisters of Charity dedicated themselves to the care of the dying in the streets of Dublin. In its present day application, hospice refers to a philosophy of care. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, it emphasizes the quality of remaining life of the gravely ill and the sick elderly.

As Susan expounds, "We’re talking about pain management for the symptoms brought about by cancer: night sweats, breathing problems, incessant discomfort and sharp pain. What we’re doing is facing up to a reality that death does exist; that, in some cases, doctors and traditional medicine can no longer provide a cure and rather than opt for mere maintenance in a hospital setting, the patient and the family can elect hospice care at home that’s professionally provided."

She quickly clarifies, "We’re not selling hopelessness or abject resignation, but quality of life in a more comfortable home setting. The inescapable truth is that there comes a point in the medical care of cancer patients or the elderly infirmed when doctors either throw in the towel or unnecessarily prolong treatment. Not for anything, but there was a case where a cancer patient passed away the next day after undergoing chemotherapy. If the patient and the family are appraised properly of the situation and given the choice, the idea of being at home with family and comfortable surroundings may help alleviate the anguish and improve the quality of life for the duration of their time here on earth."

It may come as a surprise as Susan goes into the nitty-gritty details of the concept.

"Naturally, there are major concerns surrounding the kind of medical care and attention that can be arranged at home. That’s where we come in," she explains. "We can be more cost effective than a prolonged stay in the hospital, especially if we’re talking about ICU expenses. With Home Inc., it can cost you anywhere from P5,000 a week to a maximum of P12,000. Signed up, one can then avail of our team of doctors, nurses, counselors, clergy and administrators."

The services Home Inc. provides covers the whole range of care that may be needed. "Our doctors do make house calls," she points out, "and the team can be contacted 24/7. If there are family members who want to be care-givers, we can train them. We’ll make the arrangements for private nurses and set up the rooms where the patient will stay with selected medical equipment. In fact, the sensitivity of particular situations can mean we only set things up, then pull back if the family wishes it.

"Depending on the budget one is working with, if not private duty nurses, we can opt for midwives. One essential staff member of Home Inc. is our Nursing Director. There exists a very disorganized, informal network of qualified private nurses here in the Philippines, but the magical thing is it works, making geographical considerations a non-issue, and our Director is tapped into that network."

Lest one begins to think that Susan is the lone force behind this venture, Home Inc. isn’t a one-woman crusade. "One thing I’m very proud to relate is that our founding president here at Home Inc., who passed away only last year, was Dr. Josefina Magno. She was one of the prime movers and founders of professional hospice care in the United States," Susan shares. "I was so delighted to find out that she was Filipina and it was kismet that brought us together to form Home Inc. She was so recognized as an authority on hospice care, that she was conferred the title of President Emeritus of the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care."

For Susan, there was a very personal perspective that compelled her to set up this particular enterprise. "The common notion of hospice care has to do with indigents, seeing the hospice as a charitable institution. There is that, but the other concept as an alternative to the hospital is what I witnessed during the last weeks of Geny (the late Eugenio Lopez, Jr.). The doctors at USF were honest enough to say they could not do anything. He didn’t want to stay in the hospital, but we needed medical assistance as he grew weaker. With the kind of hospice care that we got, the help that was extended, I can honestly say we went a long way in helping him ‘die well’."

That very personal experience brought about a change in Susan’s perspective and outlook. "I was so afraid of death before the hospice entered the scene. There is a way to extend dignity with care in those moments and that’s what I hope to offer with Home Inc. The Buddhists say that one of the highest acts of charity one can accomplish in one’s lifetime is to help a loved one ‘die well’."

One pipe dream of Susan as Managing Director is to eventually make Home Inc. self-sustaining. Admittedly, the philosophy they’re espousing still takes time to gain popular acceptance.

An offshoot of her involvement in this type of business is that when a National Hospice and Palliative Care Council of the Philippines was set up, Susan was egged to take on the position of Vice President-External, one of two non-doctors who are officers of the Council. The other non-doctor is Atty. Siony Kalalo, president of the Council, formerly of the Garments and Textile Export Board and current head of the Ayala Alabang Town Hospice.

The extent to which Susan has thrown herself into this heart-on-her-sleeve concern of hers is evidenced by the drastic change in lifestyle it has created.

"Now, I’m constantly socializing with people from the field of palliative care. I’m at luncheon meetings with doctors, and if you take a look at the memory of my celphone, I think you’ll be amused by the predominance of doctors in my memory bank," she reveals.

The events that fill her social calendar these days may rasise a few eyebrows too. For example, despite the desire to attend and the pleadings from her friends, she passed on the recent Michael Buble concert simply because of sheer exhaustion. The thought of having spent a whole day in a slew of meetings then preparing oneself for the concert just seemed too daunting, and she called it an early night.

Some people go through life searching for a purpose or mission; the fortunate ones find it early in life and pursue it with a pit bull terrier’s concentration, while others meander, flitting from one thing to another. For what it’s worth, this is Susan’s "mission for being… for now". Whether people perceive it as a higher or lesser calling is not her concern.

What does matter to her is that it’s given her a wonderful chance to transform a very sublime and tragic part of her personal history into an opportunity to help others. We should all be so lucky and find that kind of path to follow, and go beyond the mundane self-indulgent dreams of material wealth and prosperity.