President’s Column
by Pres. Manuel U. Along

Its now official! The Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro is co-sponsoring the medical mission in Camiguin this Dec. 5-6, 2009. Free cataract operations will be made available to the residents of the island province.

I have been thinking of this project ever since we conducted a medical mission in Yumbing, Mambajao many years back. PP Carlo Romero was with us and he checked the middle aged patients, mostly senior citizens, for fitting for reading glasses. It’s a good feeling to see their faces light up as they receive and try on their reading glasses. I could just imagine how much bigger the impact would be for those who have cataract but cannot afford to have an operation. Improved and clearer vision would make life more bearable and enjoyable for the beneficiaries of such a medical outreach.

We are fortunate that Drs. Carlo Romero and Augusto Dejos have agreed to do the operations for free. The Committee of German Doctors, thru PE Dietmar Schug, have also consented to make available the services of the five nurses trained to assist in such a delicate procedure. They also have agreed to supply for free the material that will be implanted in the eyes of the patients to replace the cataract contaminated ones that will be removed during the operation.

As mentioned above, the mission will be on Dec. 5-6. The nurses, seven of them, will leave for Camiguin in the morning of the 5th. They will set up the equipment needed for the eye operation. Drs. Romero and Dejos, together with two other opthalmologists, will arrive at around 4:30 PM. They will start operating by 5:00 PM. PP Carlo and his team is targeting to do 30 procedures and expects to finish by 11:00 PM.

We need Rotarian volunteers to help transport to Camiguin the nurses and equipment. They are also needed to help manage the flow of patients into and out of the operating room. The club will not make any financial contribution to the medical outreach. But the Rotarians who will volunteer to help in the mission will have to pay for his transportation, accommodation, and food. Since it will only be an overnight stay, the board and lodging will not cost much. The satisfaction that one will get in being able to help those in need, will make the expense worthwhile.

Moving into other club activities, we just finished the workplace tour of ABS-CBN arranged by the team of Dir. Alvin Benasa. It was a very informative and interesting tour. The attendance exceeded my expectation. Present were: Leo Aba, Manny Alinabon, Manny & Biema Along, Dexter Bandera, Alvin Benasa, Ferdie Bernasor, Sammy & Vicky Blanco, Danny Camat, Sonny Cruz, Tony Dela Cruz, Ben & Jessica Elio, Paul Ferrer, Ric Gabaon, Rudy Nacario, Mar Paano, Chito Sarraga, John Mark Sarraga, Sonny Tiro, Mike & Marissa Turner, Romy Morales, Naeem Iqbal, Sohail Mohammad, Popo Juarez, and Karsten Radke. Popo and Karsten are proposed members and I am very glad that they have shown keen interest in belonging to our club by being present in our meetings and activities for three weeks in a row. I expect they will soon be added into our roster of members.

One activity that needs our support is the caroling project of our rotary anns. They are appealing that more Rotarians show up for practices and, more important, the actual caroling scheduled to start Dec. 7. Let us support them in this endeavor.