New Ospital ng Makati / Family Wellness Center

Health, Henry Louis Mencken observed, "is simply a state in which the individual happens transiently to be perfectly adapted to his environment. Obviously such states cannot be common, for the environment is in constant flux." Today, for instance, due to circumstances beyond everybody’s control, we have the mounting garbage problem in Metro Manila. The problem seems elementary. Where do you dump the garbage? The solution is difficult. No one wants his/her community to be the dumping ground of Metro Manila’s garbage.

People have said it in many ways, the first wealth is health, the first of all liberties and heaven’s best treasure. In urban areas, the key to health is sanitation and hygiene, available doctors and medication and, of course, hospitals. We are glad that Makati City is responding to this need. Former Mayor Elenita Binay was a doctor and she saw the need for more hospitals to cope with the growing needs of Makati residents. So she established the old Ospital ng Makati in 1988 to add to the services that were available in Makati Medical Center covered by the Yellow Card Program and later saw the need of even expanding farther to a new site. And so now, Makati residents can avail of hospital services at the new Ospital ng Makati in Barangay Rembo. Makati has health centers in almost all of its barangays and the poor enjoy subsidized hospitalization services through the Makati Health program. Because Makati provided primary, secondary and tertiary health care services to a much greater extent than all other cities in the entire country, the World Bank once cited its holistic approach to health. We commend the Binays for giving health services top priority in their successive administration.

In a much more modest but noble desire to serve the community, we also wish to laud the Family Wellness Center Foundation located in a modest two-story house in 5666 Don Pedro St. Barangay Poblacion, Makati. The foundation was established for the rehabilitation of drug and alcohol dependents.

The amazing fact is that the center was established by Reniel "Rechie" Cristobal, who was himself a user of illegal drugs for 17 years. He started using drugs at the age of 15 and was not rehabilitated till he was 32 years old. Now, at the age of 38, he has established his Wellness Center Foundation to help other drug users rehabilitate themselves. Reniel, with the help of his family, studied addiction treatment at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts to help prepare himself for the task. "One," he said, "does not become immoral just because he or she is an addict. He or she is just sick, thus he or she needs treatment." In his case, his former addiction was instrumental in giving him a mission in life.

We need a positive approach in all things to progress.