MANILA — In line with the Araw ng Kagitingan celebration next week, Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) hosted on Friday a party for their elderly patients, most of whom are war veterans.
Felicitas Soriano, VMMC Chief of the Medical Professional Staff, said they hosted the party to recognize the sacrifices of the military veterans.
“It is a give back thing for us, it is a solemn obligation for us here in VMMC to take care of our veterans for people na nagbubuwis ng buhay para sa ating lahat pati ng oras nila para sa kanilang mga pamilya para sa kapayapaan (who sacrificed their lives for all of us also their time for their family for the sake of peace) and freedom of the country,” Soriano said.
Soriano said they wanted to lighten up the mood of the veteran patients since most of them have been staying in the hospital for months or a year already.
Dubbed as “Handog ng mga Empleyado sa mga Veterano”, the event included sing and dance performances by the doctors, nurses, aids and other hospital personnel.
Some of the veterans enjoyed the games while some showcased their singing prowess via a videoke machine.
Maria Galvan, one of the wives of deceased military veterans confined in the hospital, said the merry- making event to take her mind off the long hours of staying in the hospital.
“Ako po ay (I am) wife ng (of) military at nagagalak po ako sa (and happy about this) party na ito kase matagal na akong lagi lang sa (because I’ve stayed long in the) ward,” Galvan said.
Soriano said this is the first time she has organized the party and she is looking forward to making it a yearly event.
“This is the first time we conducted this for the love of our patients and the veterans. The director hopes we can continue with it every year just to bond, to build rapport with their doctors,” Soriano said.
She added they will be giving the veterans small tokens of appreciation on Monday.
“We will give some little gifts to them like towels with the VMMC logo, card, that will be given on Monday plus special food that is different from their daily ration for the whole day,” she said. (PNA)
