Tuesday, October 03, 2006 Celebrating Senior By Jenara Regis Newman
OCTOBER is the month devoted to senior citizens of the land and the best person to talk about them is Dr. Amparo T. Florida, who has been making them her focus for over a decade. While connected to the city health department, she took a course on gerontology at the Philippine College of Gerontology and Geriatrics, becoming a diplomate and fellow, when she finished the course in 1992.
Back at work, she established a day care center for the elderly at the Mabolo Health Center, taking care of about 900 clients by the time she retired in 2002. She made sure the services for the elderly would still be ongoing even after she retired. At about the same time, she organized an non-government organization (NGO), the Golden Center of Cebu, Inc. based in the Mabolo parish multi-purpose building (through the help of Msgr. Rommel Kintanar). It is duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The center’s vision is “to improve the quality of life of older persons by ensuring their independence, care, participation, self fulfillment, and dignity.” This the center hopes to accomplish through its mission: “To put into action the rights of older persons through services, training and research and to promote public understanding of the well-being of present and future older persons.”
The center holds a free clinic every Thursday and Friday morning of people over 60 and above. Dr. Florida says, “We do not discriminate. The rich are also welcome.” Other services are lay forums, lectures about aging, nutrition, and issues about the elderly. The center also provides screening for blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. It also screens for depression and nutrition, and for deafness with the help of Manila Hearing Aid.
This year, Golden Center will hold its second annual convention on gerontology and geriatrics on October 13-14 at the Grand Convention Center. The two-day convention will deal on the Rights of Older Persons, Legal Aspects in the Care of the Elderly, Myths and Realties of Aging, Challenges in the Care of the Old and the Restless, Under the Government Umbrella, The Aging Lung, The Beauty and the Best, You’ll Never Be Walking in Pain Alone, When the Elders Fall, A Litany of Worries, Sexuality in the Sunset Years, Cataract, Let’s Get Physical and the Big “C”.
According to Dr. Florida, invitations to the convention have been sent to health care people in other regions. The convention’s keynote speaker will be Dr. Esperanza I. Cabral, Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Aside from all these activities, the center’s goal is to have its own building where it can better deliver other services like rehabilitation and recreation, livelihood training, counseling, spiritual care, training programs in elderly care, memory clinic, a center for the abused elderly, research, an elderly day-care center and perhaps a home for the elderly. These seem to be all dreams for Dr. Florida and her team – Bernardita Valenzuela, Drs. Napoleon Camacho and Antonietta Paxon, Pauline Deduque, Aurora Dychangco, Dr. Fe Necessario, Amor Tomakin, Amel Pahang, Socorro Atega, Dr. David Gaviola, Atty. Allan Gaviola, Piladelfa Gaviola, Mr. Go Ching Hai, Martina Go Ching Hai, Drs. Henry Yu, Edwin Menguito, Naomi Oh, and Cristeta Panopio, and Tita Oppus – nothing is impossible: this, too, shall come to be!
