THE Southern Philippines Medical Center’s Health Emergency and Disaster Management Unit (SPMC-Hedmu) is urging communities to be involved and be prepared for any eventualities, such as calamities.
The Hedmu is one of the active Emergency Medical Assistance Teams in the region, being an accredited trainer in health emergency management.
Cherry Jean Quines, M.D., medical officer of the SPMC-Hedmu, says that Davao City is one of the first local government units trained by Dr. Francis Porticos.
“Sila sa BDRRMO (Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office), the CDRRMO (City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office) ang pinaka-unang (one of the first) recipients for mass casualty training, most likely na-train na pud na sila (they are already trained).
She said, there are no problems in capacity building, policy formation, and relevant regulations and ordinances in disaster preparedness.
“One thing remains clear: policy gives us a framework, at least 20 percent of the job when it comes to preparedness. Still, we are encouraging community engagement, community commitment for the sake of preparedness in terms of disasters,” Quines said.
Quines says the SPMC has been strengthening the SPMC-Hedmu, working closely with the Philippine Emergency Medical Assistance Team, Department of Health-organized teams of medical professionals trained to provide international-standard medical care during calamities.
The Hedmu is capacitating local government units to handle crises during emergencies. They recently trained the health unit of Manay, Davao Oriental, which was hit by a strong doublet earthquake on October 10.
Quines and Dr. Francis Porticos are among the trainers helping capacitate local government units and provincial hospitals in mass casualty management and other relevant emergency response skills.
“Only sa SPMC ang core training ng mass casualty management, so dalawa lang kami ang nagte-training sa buong Davao Region, ako personally, I was able to train capacitate, I helped facilitate the trainings on mass casualty management both in Davao de Oro and Davao del Norte hospitals,” Quines said.
The Hedmu also provides BLS (Basic Life Support) to those who request it through the SPMC. PIA DAVAO