On medical tourism

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I sit in front of my PC, thinking how best to ‘attack’ the assignment I had been given. I’ve conducted the necessary interviews, and I already have with me the pictures as well as the literature that I need. All I have to do now is to decide how best to present the topic, in the most reader-friendly way. It should really be easy, as the topic — facilities in our hospitals for medical tourism — has already been narrowed down, I no longer need to think of story angle.

But somehow, I find it difficult to start. At first I thought it’s because my mind is still drained, having just finished the marketing plan I was commissioned to do. But having had a good night’s sleep, it’s quite unlikely for my mind to be still so dried-up. I refuse to let my mind off the hook because I want to finish this article today, so that tomorrow I can write things that would bring me pleasure. So I force my mind to concentrate on medical tourism, but as I do, I realize what’s wrong; my mind does think about medical tourism, but not within the confines of my topic.

‘Medical tourism is an irony,’ my mind keeps shouting. She argues that it’s so ironic that our country offers quality health care to foreigners, but cannot even provide the basic medical needs of millions of its people; and that our best hospitals have the capability to perform the most delicate of operations, as we do have the facilities and equipment, as well as human capability (most of the doctors in our top hospitals are trained and certified abroad), yet our politicians and the rich would opt to have their treatments abroad (Remember Erap’s knee operation? It can easily be done in the country.).

I shake my head, willing it to focus on the good things medical tourism can bring to the country. It will be good for the economy, because it will be bringing in more tourists, and of course, dollars.

But what will make the medical tourists choose the Philippines, instead of our neighbors, what with the negative picture we have allowed our country to have? I still remember the comment about medical schools in the country in Desperate Housewives. And I still have to read a positive write-up about the country in international magazines, like Time and Newsweek.

Sometimes — just sometimes — I can’t help but think that the country joining in the medical tourism bandwagon is a joke. But I should not like to let the cynic in me prevail; I would want to see this industry grow in our country, and for us to have a share of the market our neighbors have been enjoying for years.

But for that to actually happen, a lot of things need to be done. We have to have an objective look at our country and at our selves, determine the things we can improve on, and build on our strengths, which our neighbors lack. Because if all we can name as our assets now are our ‘world-class’ medical service, good tourist spots, and our ‘tender-loving care,’ then we will find that we don’t have much to offer, because our neighbors also have the first two, and the third is slipping away, and in some cases, now comes with a tag price.


(Now that these distractions are out, I think I am ready to write what I’ve been asked to write.
Thank you for reading; I am now signing out.)


//Sherma E. Benosa
20 February 2008; 11:21am

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Recognizing Stroke and Heart Attack

In the morning he was driving to town in his tricycle to visit his daughter and son-in-law. Several hours later, his wife was being told by his attending physician he had very low chances of survival. The next day, he was dead. The culprit? Stroke.

When I heard of the story, I commented, knowing full well how minutes matter in cases of heart and stroke attack, that maybe the man wasn’t rushed to the hospital immediately, that’s why he died on his first attack.

It turned out I was right.

Dad recounted that the morning before the man died, he and the man nearly had an accident along a narrow barangay road, as neither saw the other approaching. Dad was driving his owner-type jeep, and the man was driving a tricycle. It was when they were already very close that they saw each other. When finally, both of them maneuvered so that they could pass each other, Dad said to the other man, “Pasensiakan kabagis. Di ka napasungadan.”
The other man replied, “Uray siak ngarud, kabagis. Di ka nakita a sumungsungad.” The two men saluted each other, and drove off.

Dad recalled much later that the other man’s voice was indistinct, as if it was coming from a tunnel. It seemed the man might already be having a stroke at that time, but still managed to get to his daughter’s house which was about 15 minutes’ drive from where Dad met him. As soon as the produce he had brought was unloaded from his tricycle, the man asked his son-in-law to drive him back to the barrio as he wasn’t feeling well. “Naam-amlinganak sa,” he complained.

The son-in-law later narrated that when he and his father-in-law got to the barrio, the fqther-in-law could hardly walk to the house; he was staggering like a drunk. Later that day, they brought him to a clinic, where they were advised by the doctor to bring him to a hospital where there are facilities that might save him.

At the hospital much later in the afternoon, the man's wife was briefed by the doctor of the prognosis. The following morning, the man breathed his last.


Major killer diseases

Heart attacks and strokes are among the top ten causes of death around the world. Coronary heart disease, which includes heart attack, ranks first; whereas, stroke ranks second (WHO, 2007).

This is unsettling, especially if you or someone you love becomes part of the statistics. That’s why it is becoming more important that we become very vigilant, especially when we are with high-risk people. Studies say that people who are considered high-risk are those who are above 40 (although there are now folks who experience attacks in their late 20s and early 30s), smokers, leading a stressful lifestyle, fond of unhealthy food, and have a sedentary lifestyle.

However, an even sadder revelation is that not many would recognize stroke and heart attack if they stare them in the face, and would not know what to do in case they happen. So I thought, I should compile some information I could find about these, translate them to Ilokano, and distribute them among family members and friends.

Here is the first installment of the things I’ve gathered:


Heart Attack Warning Signs

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), not all heart attacks are strong and sudden. In fact, most are slow, with only mild pain or discomfort. People having this kind of heart attack are not sure what’s wrong, so they often wait long before seeking help.

Here are the signs (Lifted from the AHA website):

• Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.
• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
• Other signs may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
  As with men, women's most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, and back or jaw pain.

Stroke Warning Signs (Lifted from the AHA website):

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

Cardiac Arrest Warning Signs (Lifted from AHA website):

• Sudden loss of responsiveness (no response to tapping on shoulders).
• No normal breathing (the victim does not take a normal breath when you tilt the head up and check for at least five seconds).

When you or your loved one experiences any of the signs above (not all signs will manifest during an attack), AHA advises that you should seek medical help, even if the symptoms are very mild, and seem to go away. The association likewise advises calling 911, but for folks in the Philippines, especially in the barrios where it takes time before an ambulance could come to you, asking a loved one to bring you or the patient to the hospital might be the wisest course of action instead of simply lying down to rest. As they say, better sure than dead.

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Personal Note

I have always wanted to write a “premier” about recognizing heart and stoke attacks when I realized my folks are getting old and are now at risk of having any of these attacks. My plan had been to gather data, write, have my write-up checked by a specialist, then translate my article to Ilokano so that everyone in the household would understand it, and hopefully do the right thing when something like this happen. But somehow I always forgot about actually doing it. But having heard of the recent attack in our barrio, I was spurred to action, realizing that I must do it NOW, not LATER. So here is the first step.

If you’d notice, I lifted a part from the American Heart Association website verbatim, as I am afraid of making a mistake in re-stating them. (I would when I am ready to show it to a specialist).

I hope this article would be of help. For more information about stroke and heart disease, I advise that you go directly to the AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION website. Thank you.


References

American Heart Association. (n.d.) Heart Attack, Stroke, and Cardiac Arrest Warning Signs. Accessed February 6, 2008 from http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3053#Heart_Attack

World Health Organization. (February, 2007). Top Ten Causes of Death. Accessed February 6, 2008 from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310.pdf

//Sherma E. Benosa; 06 February 2008

Also posted in the IMAGES AND LINES page of my ILUKO.COM BLOG

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Creating mental exercises is fun

Answering puzzles is a good exercise for the mind. In fact, experts recommend this type of mental activity for those who want to keep their minds sharp, especially when they are already in advanced age.

Lately though, my Dungngo and I discovered that creating puzzles is far more fulfilling than just answering published ones. And it is more enjoyable, too, especially when we take turns answering each other's puzzle. Our laughter as we tease each other when one of us finds it hard to answer the other’s puzzles, and our squeals of delight when we are able to answer them, echoes loud and clear into our minds even long after we have found other things to amuse ourselves on.

One of our favorite is encrypting and decrypting codes. Here is one of the codes I made for him to decrypt:


MCK0113C 02G01OP EJ1519G UP

Clues for the first phase:
1. Numbers always come in pairs (2 digits). A pair represents a letter. Figure out the rule.
2. A letter belonging to the A-J string represents the second letter to its left in the alphabet.
3. A letter belonging to the K-T string represents the third letter to its right in the alphabet.
4. A letter belonging to the U-Z string represents itself.

Decoded message (which is also a code): ____________________________


Clue for the second phase of the decoding process:

O, goddess of the wilderness, keeper of the key
The cleverest of preys surrenders to thee
Legend has it that poinsettia nursed in thy bosom
And to thy calmness and peace, the sun comes home.

Decoded message (Final Answer): _________________________

Humor helps prolong life

It had always been assumed that sense of humor can help patients cope with their disease, but there were no available scientific studies to support this assumption.

Until now, that is.

A study by researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and St. Olav’s University Hospital in Trondheim found that sense of humor does help prolong life.

Published in the November 2006 issue of The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, the study involved severe kidney patients (n = 52), most of whom required a once-a-week — others, daily — dialysis treatment. Forty-one of the patients completed a questionnaire that sought to determine their age, gender, education, quality of life, and sense of humor.

The researchers found that those who had high scores in their sense of humor had a reduced risk of dying from kidney disease within two years by as much as 30 percent. This was after adjustments for other factors affecting the patients’ health issues, quality of life and other conditions had been made.

The researchers concluded that sense of humor appeared to help kidney patients cope with their condition and, upon survival, protect them against the detrimental effects of disease-related stressors.


This piece is a rehashed version (by me) of the medical news article "Humour Helps You Live Longer" published in the Medical News Today website and of the research abstract available at the MdLinx website.

A peek into what I'm writing right now...

Just the intro, okay? There may be some grammatical errors, but hey, it's just a draft and the article's not even finished. So, ganun talaga. Besides, if I can think of a better intro, this part may not see print at all.

Here we go...



THE PUFFING HABIT
Why people get into smoking, the health and economic burden of the habit, and tips to break it
By Sherma E. Benosa


Advertisements portray cigarettes as hip, and being seen flipping a stick between fingers or puffing one as ‘cool.’

But what advertisements don’t show are the gory effects this “hip” habit has upon the body. They fail to show that not only is cigarette smoking linked to virtually every chronic illness known to man, but more importantly, that it is the second major cause of death in the world. And so we see people in almost every corner and from all walks of life flicking and puffing those slim sticks, paradoxically, as if their lives depended upon them.


The Very First Puff

The temptation to start smoking can be likened to the very first sin, with advertisements and other tempters representing Eve and the snake; the cigarette stick representing the forbidden fruit; and the would-be smokers representing Adam.

And just as the snake used enlightenment to tempt Eve, so do advertisers link smoking to such sought-after virtues or state as sophistication, good life, success, independence, fun, and nonconformity to lure the gullible public — most often the teen-agers — to their very first stick. And to make its sales pitch more effective, the snake has made a tremendous transformation — from its slimy form to sophisticated and beautiful models, making the temptation even more difficult to resist.

But just as Adam’s very first bite into the forbidden fruit got him and Eve banished from the Garden of Eden and eternally condemned, so can the would-be smoker’s very first puff banish his or her health, and get him or her hooked into the puffing habit, which he or she will soon have to fight off — perhaps for several years, perhaps for life.

For there is something about the first puff that can get most try-only smokers hooked, so that what could have been simply a trial puff or even a social smoking can turn into an unbreakable habit. According to a study by University College of London researchers published in the journal Tobacco Control, if an 11-year old child smokes even just one cigarette, the urge to smoke stays within that child for three years, significantly raising his or her chances of becoming a regular smoker.

This finding is a cause for alarm. According to 2003 data from the US National Institutes of Health (US-NIH), the average age at first use among people 12 years and older is 15.4; among 12- to 17-year-olds, 12.3; and among 18- to 25-year-olds, 14.7. US-NIH adds that the younger a person starts smoking, the more likely he or she is to become addicted; and the more years he or she smokes, the greater are his or her risks of developing smoking-related diseases.


The Forbidden Stick



Oooooooopppppsssss... Sowi, you can read no further. He he he...

The “other love” on center stage

With their demanding career and inclination to science, doctors cannot possibly have time for “trivial” things or be creative — or so we think. Two renowned physicians prove us wrong, on both counts.
Sherma E. Benosa


They are on call 24/7. They rush to the ER upon summon. Their best weapons are the scalpel and the stethoscope. Saving lives is their ultimate goal. Failing a patient is their greatest woe.

We think of them as men and women clad in all-white outfits, stetho- scope hanging loosely around their necks. We visualize them barking orders to their assistants during surgery, or patiently listening to their patients and carefully giving out prescriptions during consultations.

They are the ones we turn to when we feel physical pain. We count on them to deliver us or a loved one from death’s door. We hang on to their every word — a word of assurance fills our hearts with hope; a “sorry” coupled with a shake of their head makes our hearts burst in despair.

But beyond their role as human “gods,” we don’t really know them as individuals. And with their busy medical practice, it’s easy for us to think of them as nerdy, all-work geeks who have no (other) life to live. And thinking that their vocabulary consists mainly of unpronounceable diseases and tongue-twister drug names, it may really come as a surprise that they can express themselves — loud and clear — through a language we all understand — the arts.


Stroke of a pen

He has made a name for himself in the field of medicine. While doing so, gastroenterologist Atenodoro Ruiz, Jr., is also making a name in medical and creative writing. Writing about medical updates, health education and other pressing medical issues, he has been published in numerous national and international medical journals, as well as in local dailies and magazines, including H&L.

“Writing is a very important medium of communication of ideas and insights, and sharing of knowledge and expertise,” says Dr. Ruiz. “Being in the medical field, I truly recognize the impact of dissemination of scientific breakthroughs and landmark trials in medical publications. …”

But his passion for writing transcends his love for medicine, to his other passion — music. A music magazine may seem an unlikely venue, but yes, his byline also appears in one. Reviewing new songs and artists, listing the winners and losers in the music scene and writing pop quizzes, who would associate him with the person who writes technical, rigid articles? “I have a diverse interest in the spectrum of music. I usually listen to top 40 radio stations, surf the internet and regularly visit the billboard website. I also watch concerts. I think I know a lot about the trends and achievements in music, and I just want to share it with readers,” he says.

But isn’t it hard to switch from scientific to non-technical writing? “Writing nonscientific articles requires more effort and research on my part [than writing technical papers]. I need to be not busy with my medical responsibilities to switch to a different style of writing. But it (writing light-read articles) can be more fun and it allows me to show a different facet of my personality,” says the physician-writer.


Lasting imprints

Besides medicine, Dr. Alberto Daysog, Jr., renowned nephrologist, respected medical educator, and multi-awarded medical researcher, has one great love: ceramic painting.

His love for the art started in 1961, but it was in the ‘90s that he finally “gave in” to his creative inclination, hence, the beginning of his “love affair” with ceramic painting. “Ceramic painting satisfies my artistic needs. It keeps me busy. It is a form of therapy and relaxation and it adds to living,” he says.

But for Dr. Daysog, his art is not just a means of creative expression. It is his life’s statement. He uses it to achieve higher ends — to help indigent patients and the homeless.

Once a year, he holds a one-man exhibit of eighty to ninety paintings in hospital lobbies (UST Hospital, Ospital ng Maynila, San Juan de Dios Hospital and Makati Medical Center, among others) and donates the proceeds to charity. “Ceramic painting is the venue through which I am able to do charitable work,” says the philanthropic doctor.

At present, Dr. Daysog is still finding ways to improve his craft. “Since I have a grasp of the art and the resources to manipulate it, I’m finding ways to make it easier, faster and economical. I still keep improving and discovering new facets of ceramic painting. It is the researcher in me — researching on what you have and what is affordable. I hope to someday write a book on ceramic painting, the easy, rapid and economical way.”

It is said that ceramic paintings can outlast a millennium. But more lasting than the impressions Dr. Daysog has glazed upon his pieces are the imprints he has left in the hearts of those he has helped.


Health and Lifestyle
May 2005 Issue