The TBTK 2009 Schedule of Activities from July 14-26 is already prepared in earnest.
From the Boholano balikbayans’ appointed meeting with President Gloria M. Arroyo in Malacanang Palace in the nation’s capital of Manila on day one, to the subsequent social functions calendared in the days thereafter. Many of which are held in Tagbilaran City,Bohol, the venue site of most TBTK activities. So also in the neighboring municipalities as Baclayon, where an International Derby is to be held. Panglao, where the Boholano European community will present their DREAM show at the Panglao Island Resort and in Calape where the Miss Bohol International Beauty Pageant will take place in their 7,000 seat capacity Sports Center, respectively.
Be that as it may, the dates of July 20 and 21, a Monday and Tuesday, will be the most awaited by our Boholano brothers and sisters who have their own medical and health concerns. Those who can’t afford to seek treatment with specialist medical practitioners or in a private tertiary hospital. For topnotch doctors, surgeons, dentists, nurses, and other medical practitioners from hospital institutions abroad will be coming to Bohol as part of the TBTK delegation. They will spearhead the two-day Medical-Surgical Mission lead by a Boholana physician based in California, Dr. Anita Cal-Jackson, the incumbent Chairperson of the Tagbilaran Association of California(TAC) and the designated Coordinator, International TBTK Medical Surgical Mission 2009. To be held at the newly refurbished Tagbilaran Puericulture and Maternity House, Inc.
Dr. Jackson’s staff will be accompanied by a Maxillofacial Surgical team headed by Dr. Theodore Micholoff from St. Martin de Porres and Makati Medical Center, the Boholano-couple physician from New York, Dr. Teofilo”Pepe” Recitas and wife Diane, representing the Home-Reach foundation, as well as Mrs. Fancy Baluyot and staff of the Philippine Gift of Life and the Provincial Health Office under Dr. Rey Moses Cabagnot.
The TBTK Medical-Surgical Mission will be bringing with them specialized equipment and free prescriptive medicines to the Boholano patient-recipients. The TBTK Chair, Mrs. Betty Veloso-Garcia, a Nurse by profession and is connected with the New York Downtown Hospital, as well as her nurse daughter Maribeth, will also be present to administer to the needs of the visiting Medical Corps who will be billeted at the Metro Center during their Bohol stay, as well as to monitor the progress of the humanitarian undertaking.
Dr. Anita Jackson-Cal is calling on all overseas Boholano medical practitioners to take part in this laudable project and do their share in alleviating the plight of our indigent patients in the Province of Bohol. To the rest of our Paisanos, they can contribute financially or give whatever material support for the intended project that is considered one highlight activity of the TBTK 2009 Global Homecoming.
Douglas B. Hontanosas
