I've had 3 work-related trips so far in my career (career!), all care of NTHC. Interestingly all were international travel (Indonesia, Vietnam, and now Tonga). I've not been sent elsewhere domestically, not counting the Tagaytay and Dagupan training, both of which had all of us were present.
I feel blessed to be sent, at this age, to such places, and to be entrusted with the task of representing my institution. Just yesterday, the other consultant working on the project with me told me that she found it difficult when she was 33 and a woman to make people listen to her. It never entered my mind that my age would be a barrier to them following my advice. It's probably just that I believe too much in myself, which is both a curse and a blessing.
When I decided not less than two years ago that I will stay in the Philippines, I didn't see myself doing all these consultancy work. Aside from this Tonga consultancy work, I'm helping the Philippines' Department of Health improve their capability in making web-based maps. I made the decision at a time that I thought I was making such a big sacrifice. Well, I still think I am.
But all these things that are coming in makes me want to stop and take a breather as things are happening so fast. I'm thinking of taking a month-long leave of absence from both my jobs towards the end of January to ponder on my future.
Consult
Telehealth Year 1
Last Feb 1, officially marks my first year anniversary at the National Telehealth Center. In celebration of that, I would like to list down the top 3 things I love about the center.
1.) The domain of knowledge. Health Informatics, eHealth, telehealth, choose which one you want. It is a very exciting field and still has a lot of potential for growth specially in the Philippines. The center is at the forefront of pushing for electronic medical records, telehealth, standards for health, among many others. It has the potential to improve the delivery of health care by a large margin here in the Philippines.
2.) The people. The people I work with are very nice and I get along with them well. They are very hard working and are eager to learn new things. Working with people not necessarily within your domain (nurses and doctors) is the bomb. Multi-disciplinary teams are really the way to go. One time, a friend/officemate at my other job asked me why I was organizing a tour for my officemates at the center and not for them. I joked that it was because I am closer to my telehealth officemates.
3.) The boss. He is one of the most visionary people I know. The office is just not the same now that he has moved on so that he could fulfill a higher purpose. No, he did not die, he moved to a position of more influence so that he could push for the policies that just an academic institution like ours could not possibly make.
I see myself being with the center for at least another year. Here's to a great year ahead where we will be able to do more things to improve health care through the appropriate use of technology.
Baguio 2011A
My 50+ hours in Baguio with the Telehealth people was simply amazing. This post couldn't give full justice to the trip.
FOOD: We ate at 50's Diner twice: Day 2 lunch and Day 3 dinner. Chowking for Day 1 dinner. Yellow Cab for Day 3 lunch. Home cooking for Day 2 breakfast, Day 2 dinner and Day 3 breakfast.
Day 2 was strawberry picking, Bell Church, Mines View, Camp John Hay (Starbucks + the Manor), boating at Burnham Park. The highlight, however, of the day was bringing Randy to the Baguio General Hospital. It started with us (Noel+JR+me) just buying meds at around 8:30 for his stomach pain. Then it escalated to bringing Randy to the hospital. Then buying again stuff not available in the hospital. Then sending him off to the Philippine General Hospital in Manila.
Day 3 morning was the 5.0 magnitude earthquake which woke us up at 6:20am. I promptly went back to sleep as 4hrs of sleep is simply not enough. When we finally woke up at 8, we simply just stayed around and chatted until 12 before going to the mall.
By Day 3 afternoon, there were just four of us left: Art, Noel, Ate Tina and me. Nurse JR and Doctor Nim left with Randy the night before. Nurses Mel and Sid left at around noon to
I was giddy and wanted to just walk around with intermittent rests in between. Only Art was interested to explore more so we walked from SM Baguio to the Baguio Cathedral and then to Burnham Park and then to the City Hall and back to SM Baguio.
My quest to walk even more including the other two (Noel and Ate Tina) was not futile though later in the afternoon. We walked from Botanical Garden to 50's Diner and then after dinner, to SM Baguio, and then after resting a while, to the Public Market. Finding it difficult to get a cab, I wanted to walk to our apartment but they were too tired.
Hoping for a Baguio 2011B.
Support
Even more thrilling than organizing events is being a support person.
I remember a time in my life (I'm starting to sound like an old man) when I didn't go to events if I do not have a role, if I were just an audience member. I feel so not at ease when I attend events where my participation in was very minimal.
I think I see details that others don't normally see and solutions that others can't normally come up with and actually do them. But that sometimes makes me the bad guy as I just find it difficult to resist not taking action. Some even point out that the problem I see is not even a problem.
Be it trying to make the kids outside practicing or the twins making fools out of themselves quiet down. Or making everybody leave as soon as possible as there might be overtime charges. Or making sure that that one lonely guest has someone to talk to which sometimes ends up to be me even if that person is just too quiet and it's difficult to find something to talk about. Or slicing the birthday cake (but this one I love doing). Or making sure that there are drinks for everybody, even going alone to the store to buy them even though it's almost midnight.
The goal is not to steal the limelight from the organizer. I actually abhor that point after the event when people start congratulating you and I just don't know how to react properly. It's very awkward.
