New hospital’s firstborn gets scholarship

A 7.10-pound infant was the first baby delivered at the newly-opened University of Cebu Medical Center (UCMed) last Tuesday afternoon.

As a privilege, newborn Fern Michael Augusto Ediong will enjoy a full scholarship from kindergarten until medical school at UC, said University Chancellor and UC Med president Candice Gotianuy.

News of the baby’s birth came after Gotianuy shared photos of the milestone in her Facebook page yesterday.

Gotianuy also shared a post of Instagram user @beiabanana, a nurse at UCMed who posted a collage of photos showing her and fellow nurses who helped in the delivery.

The boy, born at 4:55 p.m. last Tuesday, was delivered via caesarean section.

His mother, Janine, told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday that, earlier, she wanted to give birth in another private hospital in Cebu City.

But she decided to transfer to UCMed after a co-worker’s suggestion. Janine, 30, just recently started work at UCMed as a nurse.

When she found out that her son will receive a scholarship from UC, Janine was very thankful to Gotianuy.

In granting baby Michael Augusto full scholarship, Gotianuy said, "My heart responds to those who are humble and unassuming and (who) work hard."

"Welcome to the world, Michael! May you make the most of what the world offers to you!," she added.

Name

Overwhelmed by the huge help that UCMed has given them, Janine’s parents asked her to include “Augusto” in the boy’s name in honor of UC president and lawyer Augusto Go.

Helen Cabalde, Janine’s mother, said she and her husband Fernando owed their lives to Go for allowing them to become working scholars when UC was still the Cebu Central Colleges (CCC).

Cabalde, who has been working for 38 years in UC’s nursing department, raised Janine and two other kids through the help of the university.

"They say they are where they are today because of this kindness," Gotianuy said in her post.

Sign

In an interview yesterday afternoon, Gotianuy said she hopes that the baby’s birth would signal great things for their hospital, which started operations last May.

“A birth is always a momentous event and it always augurs something good, so we really hope that this is a blessing,” she told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.

She said that since they started operating last May, UCMed opened its facilities in stages to the public.

When it started operations, it offered outpatient services, then eventually started opening their other departments.

Gotianuy explained that they started out in phases because they want every service provided by the hospital to be efficient.

Following her son’s birth, Janine invited Gotianuy to be one of her son’s godmothers. Gotianuy happily obliged.

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