October 8, 2004

     For the record, this site and yours truly were given some type of recognition during the 3rd Alumni Homecoming and Pearl Jubilee Celebration. Exactly what type of recognition, I don't know. I came to know about it by the posts in the forum and a text message from my older brother, which is strange, considering my brother graduated from Iloilo Doctors College of Medicine (IDCM). That tells you how much communication this site has with the Alumni Association it is supposed to represent.

     For the record also, yours truly wasn't given the Most Outstanding Alumni award as posted erroneously in the Forum (since corrected). Dr. Noel Binayas e-mailed me personally then posted the information in the Forum which turned out to be false. It was no big deal (Dan Rather aired fake documents and wrong information too and he is a journalist), as far as I am concerned although I have to admit, I felt a little uncomfortable. I already wrote a column for it which I had to pull out (this column is the edited version). I did not and won't blame Dr. Binayas. At least, he communicated with me that he heard the loudspeakers say my name. But that tells you how much communication the Alumni Association has with its members.

"I assure you that your experience may not be that bad compared to mine. If you say your experience at Roxas Hall is like being ran over by a car, then I got ran over by a train. But don't be too negative and think of the positives once in a while."

     It is posted in the Forum that when the site was mentioned during the fellowship night, it was well-applauded. Sure, half of my class was there. And it would have been better if I was notified before the ceremonies so I could have at least requested somebody from my class to receive it for me. Until now, I don't even know where it is, the citation, the certificate, or whatever it is called. I just hope they spelled it right this time. My last recognition misspelled my name and the address of this site, and had my class wrong. Of course, I did not tell anybody about that. I am not that picky.

     Recognitions are all fine and dandy and make no mistake about it, I do appreciate them. But to me, the best part of being recognized in affairs like this is for the site to be advertised, to let other people know that this site exists. When alumni e-mail me, thanking me how this site makes them so close to home, I feel good, and that's better than any recognition I could ever have. Guess what, I'll exchange any recognition or award for one officer of the local chapter participating and updating us on a regular basis.

     A few days after this column comes out, e-mails and comments will come my way basically saying - you poor, angry little man, why don't you communicate with them yourself? Why not start collecting phone numbers and start calling so you can update that site of yours? If they don't communicate with you, they don't care. Well, don't bother sending because I'll respond to it right now - you just don't get it. The basic purpose of this site is for any alumnus who misses home, who wants to know a little about what's up with the school and what's up with the classmates, not to make a single phone call just to get some information that a hundred others would also want. Besides, if the local chapter doesn't care and doesn't realize the importance of this site and on-line communication, why did they even bother with the recognition? Who wrote the words to it? Or did they just succumb to the pressures of people who use the site? (And you know who they are.)

     I wish I could have attended the Alumni Homecoming this year. My schedule and my family's schedule just won't let me. I have always wanted to attend at least one homecoming. The best chance I had was in 1994 before I left for the U.S., but deciding between attending and not attending was a no-brainer. The results of the medical board for our batch just came out and you know the deal with me there. It would have been awkward not only for me but for my classmates as well. I was still in mourning. I saw this movie "Along Came Polly" recently where the newly-wed lead character played by Ben Stiller comes back to work from his honeymoon where his wife left him for a French nudist scuba instructor. Imagine the eyes that were on him the moment he walked in the door. The situation in 1994 would have been that awkward. I don't know if failing the boards even compares to your wife leaving you for a French nudist scuba instructor but they're thisclose.

     The idea for this web site was originally that of Dr. Noel Binayas and I am giving him full credit for that. He wanted the alumni association to have its own site. The site started slow since contributions were hard to come by. I was the developer, webmaster, editor, and critic, rolled into one. As time went by, I felt that I was not getting enough support from the association and the not-so-many visitors were complaining that they were reading history. I then decided to invite friends who I know could write and I tried my luck at writing myself. The site took off from there. I had to move the site from server to server because the content kept growing.

     This site has been serving as a therapy for me. I don't practice Medicine anymore and living in the other side of the world. This site connects me to my immediate past, to my school, to my colleagues, to my place. If I feel that way, I am sure others feel the same. Dr. Marell Juadiong (class 1990) wrote in the Forum, "the website ALWAYS remind me that I am forever a doctor. No matter where I am now or what I have become in my chosen path!" Isn't that nice? I have made a lot of friends here, not only schoolmates I have never met but a lot of non-alumni Ilonggos as well.

     Unfortunately, I have lost friends too. When I wrote about the mess at the University Hospital years ago, I may have lost a few. The Hospital Director was a mentor and a good friend. But I have to write what I think is right if I want to be considered credible. Some people took it the wrong way. A few of the site's loyal visitors were never heard from since I wrote that series (just a weird coincidence, I hope). But the thing is, I did not write just for the heck of writing. I still maintain I did the right thing. My piece was well-researched and the facts were confirmed. Bottomline is, we won't have progress if we let friends and "utang na loob" get in the way of what we think is right.

     My verbal ourbursts directed to the Alumni Board are not directed at anyone. The president, Dr. Pat Palmes is a good friend. When I was his intern in IM, I learned a lot from him but most especially how to deal with Dr. Marañon when referring a patient. He also made sure I didn't bleed to death when I got admitted at the University Hospital for H-fever and my platelet count fell to, like, 9. I also know most of the officers personally (honestly, I just assume this since I don't really have an official list of the officers). But those outbursts simply needed to be said. For the greater good and not to humiliate anyone in a public forum. I know you're intelligent enough to realize that.

     I believe we need to connect back to our school in some way. To give back to our school is even better. I realize some of you don't feel this way. The school has given you nothing but misery and anxious moments. The professors insulted and made fun of you as only they could. Heck, you could not even get your cute classmate to go out with you. You would rather forget that, right? You're out of that building and you don't need anyone to remind you of anything.

     I assure you that your experience may not be that bad compared to mine. If you say your experience at Roxas Hall is like being ran over by a car, then I got ran over by a train. But don't be too negative and think of the positives once in a while. Yes, I know you paid for your MD degree with cash and time. But what did those misery, anxious moments, and your professor insults do to you? Didn't it make you resilient and determined? Didn't you come out of that building a better person ready to face life head-on? Didn't College of Medicine turn out to be one of the best days of your life? And think about this - if your classmate did not reject you, you probably got stuck with her and would have never met the right person for you, your wife. Think of how positive that turned out for you.

     A few years after I got settled here in the States, I already felt the need to connect to my co-alumni and wondered why there was no organization of some sort. To each his own way, I suppose. A classmate advised me not to organize since, in his words, "if it's an organization that involves money, you'll make more enemies than friends".

     I ultimately went with my own judgment and we organized anyway. Now, we have the WVSUCMAA-IC to show that we can help our school together as a group. We just started and barely surviving at the moment but we hope this would change in the near future.

     We have started sending balikbayan boxes to the school. That's all we can do for now with our limited resources but that's a start. Our vision for the organization is endless. I hope you'll help us realize it.

     Ask the school and the local alumni association what you can do to help and you'll get a grocery list. But I'll make a little list of my own and I hope with your support we may realize this. We can try and achieve nothing but that's better than not trying at all.

     My little list is below. As the song goes, I can dream, can't I? But dreams do come true sometimes.

• Send journals, hospital equipment, books that we no longer need.

• Sponsor a medical student who is not able to continue schooling because of a loss of an income-earner in the family, be it because of death, disability, or loss of job.

• Improve the library with new books, computers, on-line access especially medical databases.

• Help implement Health/Medical Informatics in the curriculum.

• We cannot stop our co-alumni from taking up nursing and going abroad but we can try to encourage them to stay or give them enough reasons to stay, perhaps by -

  • Trying to convince our co-alumni consultants who are doing good in their practice to take a new consultant or consultants under their wings or tutelage to hopefully build up a name and reputation for themselves. A sort of a group practice where the new consultants get a percentage whenever they work or assist at somebody else's clinic.

  • Helping to lobby for salary increases for residents and rural health doctors.

  • Convincing consultants with higher positions in hospitals to allow alumni who qualify to have admitting privileges in every hospital in the city. I was told that even if you qualify, it takes years for you to get admitting privileges in a hospital. The requirements are sometimes without reason that it's easy to get discouraged.

  • Building some sort of a trust fund that any alumnus who serves in the rural areas gets an additional compensation aside from the regular government salary.

     Some of my suggestions above may be unachievable especially the part where it involves older consultants. Tell me I am wrong but they consider these new consultants competition and would rather drive them away than take them under their wings and tutelage. Sure, they're running away, alright. Let's just not fault them if they take up nursing.

     Above all, we need to help the mother association build its own office. This one is simply for Ripley's Believe it or Not. All these years, the mother association doesn't have an office, be it in Roxas Hall or anywhere. So where do they meet if they meet at all? Sometimes the Iloilo Medical Society building or most of the time, a restaurant.

     This site will be six years old this November. Six years and still struggling for alumni support, in the form of visits and participation, that is. Not that I am taking the credit away from our regular visitors and contributors but even they will tell you we need more participation.

     The Alumni Association, International Chapter will be a year old a few months from now. To say that we are still struggling for alumni support is an understatement. Dan Garganera's latest installment of President's Desk tells you why. Sometimes, I couldn't fathom why this is so. Is it the $25/year membership fee? Is it too much? I really don't think so. I know how important money is and how hard we all work for every dollar we earn, but I also know how much a practicing physician makes. I am not a practicing physician and I know that I don't even make a third of the minimum a doctor here makes. So if it's not the 25-dollar membership fee, then what? The answer is one scary thought.

     Have you ever wondered why there is no West Visayas State University Alumni Association in the U.S. or North America? Search "wvsu alumni" on Google and the first 2 you'll get - The West Virginia State University Alumni Association and the West Visayas State University College of Medicine website (this site). Perhaps, most WVSU alumni opted to stay in Iloilo to serve the country first. Which makes the existence of an association outside of the Philippines even more important. You can still serve the country even if you're away.

     Of course, nobody is really obligated to. Everything is voluntary so please don't send me an e-mail reminding me of that.

     Anyway, I would like to thank the association and Dr. Palmes for the recognition (let's cue Dido's "Thank you" one more time). I may be a poor, angry little man but I am not mean-spirited. I know that Dr. Palmes and our IC's President, Dan Garganera have talked on a few occasions and have discussed what's good for the association. Dr. Gene de Jesus occasionally sends me e-mail updates representing the local chapter, and I thank him for that. We all want what's good for the alumni association, both the local and international chapter. We all want what's good for our school and the alumni community. I hope you realize that I am just doing my share.

     The founders and organizers of the local chapter spent many nights creating their vision of an organization that will serve the best interest of the alumni community. I don't want that vision and the efforts of the founders, many of them were our professors at one time or another, to come to naught. I don't want the association to fall into problems in the future.

     Irrelevance being one of them.

Feedback: send your comments to the author (anonymously, if you wish)

     The author's e-mail address is at drgarcia(at)wvsumedaa.com

     Views expressed on this column and any other by-lined articles on this site are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organization or its members.