Community doctor

DAVAO. Julinda Acosta is the head of the Davao City Health Office (CHO) Technical Division. (Contributed Photo)
DAVAO. Julinda Acosta is the head of the Davao City Health Office (CHO) Technical Division. (Contributed Photo)

WORKING for the community takes away precious time meant for one's family. It takes away your supposed shared memories which may lead to regrets. Thus, people working for so long in the community are becoming a rare breed.

“It takes a lot of passion and compassion and of course commitment to your work,” Doctor Julinda Acosta, Davao City Health Office (CHO) Technical Division head, said when asked how she managed to serve Dabawenyos for the past 31 years attending health concerns.

Acosta said she was just fortunate to find earlier what she really wanted to do in life.

After finishing Medicine in 1985 at the Davao Medical School Foundation, she applied for a job with the local government unit (LGU) of Davao City.

She was assigned to the Bunawan and Paquibato District’s medical clinics in 1987. The latter was a known rebel-infested area at the time.

In 2001, there was a reorganization and she was transferred to Sasa Health District. Her team, composed of a doctor, nurse and a midwife, experienced a life and death situation.

In one of the communities she was monitoring, they were called to attend to a woman who had given birth with the help of a quack doctor in the area.

The woman, however, was carrying twins and only one was delivered safely. They other was still inside the womb and positioned horizontally.

Acosta, who was also five months pregnant at the time, said they were able to deliver the baby successfully but the mother was bleeding and they lacked the equipment to save her.

“The midwife I asked to get dextrose took too long to come back. I know then I had to do something or the mother will be harmed, so I ran back to the clinic since no vehicle was available. I don’t even know how far it was,” Acosta said.

On her way back from getting the dextrose, among others, she hitched a ride with a private truck but they figured in an accident.

She had to run again as fast as she could, not minding her own bruises.

In the end, they saved everyone. Now, the twins are both successful in their own professions – one is a police officer while the other is a cruise liner staff abroad.

Only in movies do we see stories like this. But heroism happens almost every day, made by ordinary people with extraordinary passion to help.

She has her share of regrets. As a community doctor, she had to miss family occasions and special moments with loved ones.

However, seeing their three children following her and her husband’s path makes her think that everything is worth it.

Her eldest daughter is now a nephrologist followed by her second child who is also a medical doctor. Her youngest child is currently taking her internship as a medical student.

Acosta said she still has a lot to do for the community. She is still willing to learn and willing to help in ways she knows best.

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