TRUE to its mission of creating positive change, Junior Chamber International (JCI) Cebu Hara kicked off its revival with a medical-dental mission that benefitted 200 patients in Barangay Adlaon, Cebu City on June 30, 2019.
Held at the Adlaon Elementary School, JCI Cebu Hara together with its team of volunteer doctors and dentists gave free medical and dental checkups, simple tooth extractions, fluoride treatments as well as distributed vitamins and medicine for common illnesses.
“We chose Barangay Adlaon because we want to address the disadvantages posed by its remote location being a mountain barangay: limited access to medical facilities and meagerness of external support and assistance,” said project chairperson Rhia Bonita.
One of the patients who received free checkup and medicine was 38-year-old Alicia Codeniera who received her first medical checkup for this year. She went to the JCI Cebu Hara mission with a cough that had been persisting for a week and the volunteer doctors prescribed her with antibiotics.
“I am so grateful to be part of this medical dental mission. I don’t always consult a doctor when I am sick but when I knew that there were many doctors coming and their services were for free, I rushed my way here,” Codeniera said in Cebuano.
In previous consultations of JCI Cebu Hara with Barangay Captain Nieves Narra, the village chief confirmed that the city health officer assigned to the barangay visits only once a month.
Due to its remote location (estimated to be 30 kilometers from Cebu City’s business district), Adlaon’s 5,000 residents rarely get access to health services.
Members of JCI Cebu also gave their full support to the recently revived chapter in terms of helping mobilize financial and human resources for the success of the recently concluded medical-dental mission.
Companies and organizations that supported the mission included Big Hotel, Travelbee, Rotary Club, ASEEC, Mang Tinapay, SM Cebu, Cheeky’s Closet and Nature’s Spring.
The individuals who also pledged in-cash and in-kind donations included Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north district); JCI Senators Joseph Llyod Tio, Frank Yu, Victor Aristotle Yi, Max Encomienda, Dr. Susan Valmayor, Eula Suan; and two persons who requested anonymity .JCI Cebu Hara was adjudged as the Most Outstanding Chapter of the World during the JCI World Congress in Hong Kong in 1993. The chapter also received JCI Philippines’ Most Outstanding Chapter-Category 3 from 1991 until 1994. (S)