The Friends of the PGH

October 2019 -FPGH Celebrates its 35th Anniversary

The Friends of PGH celebrated its 35th anniversary with a sumptuous lunch; a talk by Fr. Jem Guevarra, chaplain of UP PGH chapel; awarding of certificates of recognition to four members and donors; and drawing of raffle prizes. The FPGH was established way back in October 1984. Since then, it has assisted the premier public hospital provide medical services to indigent patients by covering the costs of medicine and laboratory tests for qualified poor patients; donated wheelchairs, hospital beds, blankets, and diapers; supplied medical equipment required by various departments, such as suction units, cesium needles, Serofuge, blood pressure measuring machines, computers and others. With these, the FPGH has helped maintain and upgrade PGH's facilities for indigent patients

September 2020 --Membership Committee Laid Out Plans for Proactive Member Recruitment

The Friends of PGH continues to hold meetings despite the lockdown via Zoom. The most recent one took place on Sept 10. This particular meeting focused on discussing the proposed strategies of the Membership Committee in recruiting new members and addressing various issues dealing with policies on membership. The Chairperson of the Membership Committee identified four recruitment strategies. First, create a Facebook page which can provide to prospective members detailed information on the activities, projects and accomplishments of FPGH. Second, invite consistent sponsors and donors to become full-time members. Third, each member recruit one to two family members, relatives and friends to join FPGH as members. And fourth, formally invite persons of interest to become members. The ensuing discussions around these strategies drew up more suggestions with regard to the need to first identify projects and activities that will attract prospective members to join; the importance of recruiting members from the younger age group and from the male population; that the current Facebook should post more information on the activities and projects of FPGH; that each member recruit at least three members throughout their lifetime with FPGH and to target the recruitment of five members per year. The meeting also recommended a plan to identify the needs of indigent patients of PGH and that of the hospital, around which projects can be drawn up. New member Cora de Leon offered to promote FPGH by airing about the FPGH activities and its solicitation for donations in her daily radio talks over Radio station DZRJ. The meeting on September 24 2020 once again highlighted the need to expand membership and create a Members Database to update their contact details, background, interests and strengths for purpose of appropriate mobilization and engagement. The meeting refined the roles and responsibilities of the members in promoting further the mandate and work of FPGH in the areas of relationship/projects with PGH, fund-raising and office-related document production, stressing the need to work more closely with PGH through regular visits and discussions with PGH officers. It also finalized the qualifications required for membership application in the areas of citizenship, age, sex, education, and work experiences. More guidelines were presented on how to consider what an active member is and how many meetings can be conducted per year based on various modes of meetings.

October/November 2020 --Fund-raising Drive and Survey of Health Care Needs of FPGH Launched

The bi-monthly meeting held last Oct 15 2020 via Zoom called for more fund-raising activities to be able to support more indigent patients of PGH. Again, the members suggested that an assessment or survey should be conducted to identify the needs of the indigent patients as well as those of the PGH emergency and different wards. From these responses, the FPGH will be able to identify projects for fund-raising. In the meantime, two fund-raising modalities were identified to increase the funds of FPGH. First is to increase the membership dues of the members from 2,000 to 5,000 pesos every year, beginning 2021. Second is to send solicitation letters to potential sponsors to raise funds for Christmas gift-giving activity this December. There are other needs that will yet have to be identified in order to undertake a full-blown fund-raising campaign. In the meantime, we appeal to our FB friends and donors to donate to Friends of PGH by depositing to the accounts below. God bless and thank you. Despite the pandemic, the work of the Friends of the PGH (FPGH) doesnt stop. The Oct 29 Zoom meeting drew up plans to assess the needs of the 14 wards of PGH through a survey. Based on the survey results and responses of the wards, FPGH will identify projects that will support the needs of indigent patients and the wards. With a list of projects, FPGH will undertake an intensive fund-raising campaign through an email blast, Facebook, Twitter and website. Please check back this FB page regularly and see how you can help. The last meeting of the year 2020 took place this Nov 19 with 13 members attending. The meeting updated the group of the progress in the survey to assess the priority Healthcare needs of the 9 departments and wards at PGH. The needs assessment questionnaires had been distributed to the Chair of the 9 departments and so far one questionnaire duly administered by the Department of Orthopedics had been returned. The meeting also discussed the final membership fee approved by the Board of Trustees starting in 2021, the date of the annual General Membership Assembly in January 2021, and the submission of plan of actions and progress reports of the different committees for reporting in the January assembly .

December 2020-- Donation of Bassinets to Pediatrics and Neonatal Care Unit

The Friends of the PGH donated 20 pieces of bassinets to the Pediatrics / Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Philippines General Hospital for the benefit and use of its indigent patients. Given on the 22nd of December 2020, the bassinets were received by Mr. Tirso Josef Roxas, RN MAN, Nurse of the Neonatal -ICU and Ms. Maria Bernadette P. Idjao, Chief Property and Supply Division.