LAGAWE, IFUGAO – – In order to uphold its pledge of assistance to Ifugao folks in dire need of eyeglasses, civic leader and optometrist Dr. Cherry Wachayna operates a project that has all the trimmings of handling eye care needs.
Advocating the importance of regular eye checkups, Dr. Wachayna, with partners in the private sector, conducts free eye care clinics in various barangays (villages) to promote eye wellness in the province.
In the days that followed that highly-successful free eye care clinic at Barangay Matobato in Lamut, Dr. Wachayna felt her thoughts were concretized to continue helping many others in this impoverished province straddled just a breathing distance of the developed provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela in Cagayan Valley Region, and Benguet in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
“I had dreams of helping our countrymen, most especially province mates in need of eyeglasses. An Ifugao elder who could not even buy a kilo of rice, a can of sardines and some vegetables for her meal at dinner. Much more buy an eyeglass to remedy a difficulty in eyesight,” Dr. Wachayna said.
“It makes perfect sense to provide assistance to our needy folks in these rather difficult economic times,” she added.
The free eye care clinic brings together for the first time three essential components of an innovative humanitarian project: (1) eye checkup to determine any ailment or disorder, (2) provision of an eyeglass at no expenses, if needed, and (3) acknowledgement of the kind-heartedness and generosity of sponsors.
Consequently, about 300 indigents were given unique opportunities to gain relevant corrective treatment of their eye problems through the clinic.
Sponsors, according to Dr. Wachayna, include former Vice Mayor Agustin Calya-en of Tinoc and former Ifugao Governor Eugene Balitang. These are two well-known and respected in the public service in this part of the region as hardworking, trustworthy and dedicated to duty.
“I am certain that kind-hearted and generous individuals like Dr. Cherry Wachayna and Mr. Agustin Calya-en will not rest on their success in helping our less fortunate brothers and sisters, but will rise to the call of the many, to ensure maintaining a healthy citizenry,” civic leader and philanthropist Emerita Dunuan-Allaga said.
Calya-en and Allaga are associated with the Kilusang Pagbabago, a nongovernment organization identified with President Duterte.
Both Atty. Balitang and Calya-en have been cited in the past as among the pillars in advancing the cause of health services in Ifugao.
Presently, modestly-funded healthcare programs in the province are rare. There are many pronouncements from provincial government officials that they are doing their best to provide the people access to vital health services. Concrete actions are unheard of. Yet, Ifugao folks are burdened by the high cost of hospitalization and medicines. The ill-effects of the TRAIN law even aggravated their plight. Like the other ten towns of Ifugao, Lamut has a high rate of poverty incidence.
For his part, Balitang lauded Dr. Wachayna for helping depressed communities in the grassroots level to become strengthened, empowered and effective healthcare program providers and champions by educating and engaging not only the community leaders, but the residents as well.
“I urge all others to commit and contribute to pursuing the common vision of having healthy communities in Ifugao’s 176 villages. Let us sustain the gains recorded by this noteworthy project,” Balitang said.
“You cannot appreciate God’s creation what you cannot see and do not value. You have to see it clearly first, so that you’ll have greater appreciation of it,” Balitang asserted.
“A woman’s beauty is seen through the eyes,” he added.
The health programs during the administration of Governor Balitang were marked by several major accomplishments, notably in improvement of the living conditions of barangay health workers, barangay nutrition scholars and midwives and construction of health centers.
“With a sound and well-attuned health care program, I believe our province and nation can achieve its overall health development program not just for 2019, but for the long term, as we march side-by-side with other developed provinces and progressive countries,” Balitang pointed out.
On the other hand, Calya-en motioned that the project is worth replicating in other towns of Ifugao.
“I look forward for this project to serve as template to improve the health care program in communities other than the covered areas of the free eye care clinic of Dr. Cherry Wachayna,” Calya-en told the ZigZag Weekly.
The project’s unique eye wellness objective, the first and only in Ifugao this year, will allow poor folks to have access to high-quality eyeglasses and obtain much-needed eye checkup from a distinguished and well-trained optometrist.
Dr. Wachayna said economic difficulties faced by the poor have contributed a lot to the rise in welfare cases of Filipinos who have no means to buy eyeglasses.
In order to address this problem, Dr. Wachayna’s eye care clinic in Lagawe highlighted innovative solutions for the people, as she prepared for forthcoming clinics in Lamut and Banaue.
She presented the advanced quality service that her clinic provides for the public. It is constantly expanding its services.
Dr. Wachayna’s eye care and optical clinic is noted for its advanced equipment and affordably-priced services.
“The clinic will mainly involve consultation and provision of free eyeglasses,” Dr. Wachayna, who over the years also actively sought care and compassion for the poor, elderly and disabled, said.
It is fortunate that there are still some individuals like Dr. Wachayna who understand what is at stake for present and coming generations of Ifugao folks vis-à-vis dismal state of health situation in Ifugao.
The Ifugao government provides poorly-maintained and underfunded district hospitals and rural health units. Special medical services for the citizenry are lacking. One has to travel to Solano and Bayombong towns in Nueva Vizcaya for such services. The province has a few doctors, dentists, nurses and optometrists.
For this year up until 2022, a road map outlining the plans and targets for improving the health conditions of the people in Ifugao should be crafted by incoming officials, its goals should be met. For one, Ifugao folks would find it very difficult to understand and accept why there are still a significant number of malnourished children in resource-rich Ifugao, most especially in remote villages. Despite this, the provincial government appears to be lukewarm to infusing funds for nutrition programs.
For years, concerned and well-meaning folks and even barangay council officials have been appealing to the government to help them increase their resources geared at bolstering their feeding programs. The situation is worsening. These folks did speak on the repercussions of malnutrition on the young and the incompetent officialdom for so many years did all that, and worse. This time it can’t be “business as usual” at the provincial capitol building.
No one can blame the people for being deeply worried over the despicable situation of having to travel about 22 kilometers to Panopdopan District Hospital in Lamut when a person is in need of medical treatment because the Ifugao General Hospital (IGH) hardly operates in the capital town of Lagawe. Didn’t it so embolden some wisecracks at the capitol building it made “retrofitting” of the IGH as the longest medical operation a joke?
What this province clearly needs in these times of spiraling cost of hospitalization and drugs as well as doctor’s fees is a group of health-related professionals who are obviously willing and capable of doing the selfless and invaluable sacrifices and contributions of Dr. Cherry Wachayna. Because it just doesn’t make sense to listen all over again to the promises of traditional politicians or “trapos.” **By Anthony A. Araos
