Alay News - Fall Newsletter 2014

8/11/2019 Alay News - Fall Newsletter 2014

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Transforming Lasting Smiles

Changing Lives & Giving Hope

Fall 2014 Issue 1

Alay News

Inside: UN MDG Update & 500-Day Countdown ~ Patient Updates

John Patrick beore and afer clef lip surgery June 2014.

Kurt beore and afer clef lip surgery June 2014.

Alay Sa Bayan NS Foundation

(Alay Foundation) has successfully

completed the four cleft lip and cleft

palate surgeries scheduled during

our May 2014 cataract, cleft lip and

prosthesis screening event.

Alay Foundation worked in

collaboration with Kapampangan

Development Foundation (KDF) and

Operation Smile to transform the lives

and smiles of four children in the San

Jose, NE area of the Philippines.

Alay Foundation was responsible for

transporting four young children,

(aged 1-11) with their guardians 100

miles to the Pampanga ProvincialHospital in order for Operation Smile

to perform the free cleft lip and cleft

palate surgeries. The children stayed

overnight at the hospital after surgery

and Alay Foundation provided

transport back home the day after

surgery. We also transported them

for their follow-up appointments two

weeks after surgery. All four childrenwere cleared during their follow-up

appointments and all four surgeries

were a success.

Alay Foundation is not only inspired

by the work of Operation Smile

and Kapampangan Development

Foundation but, especially, by the

children and their families whose

hopes and prayers have sustained

them. The children’s smiles will keep

healing over the coming weeks and welook forward to seeing their progress.

Article written by Alay Foundation.

Mission:

o help combat poverty and empower

he poor by providing medicalssistance to disadvantaged families in

he San Jose, NE area of the Philippines.

Vision:o play a significant role in bothutreach and education regarding

renatal and maternal care and to see ahilippines where everyone has access

o affordable quality healthcare.

Goals & Objectives:

ur goal is to provide a criticalommunity resource that ensures

ealthcare for the most needy. Toccomplish this we will sponsor families

hrough PhilHealth, build medicalacilities, and use mobile medical units.

Transforming Lasting Smiles: cleftip surgery successes..........................1

Alay News ..............................................2

Fall 2014 Events....................................2

Addressing Maternal Mortality andMDG 5 in San Jose, NE...................2-3

Outstanding Supporter Corner......3

Get Involved..........................................4

Contents

Alay Foundation



Sources: NSCB (1990-1995); NDS, NDHS, FPS, FHS, PSA-NSO (1998-2011)

www.AlaySaBayan.org

August 18, 2014 marked the 500-day

countdown to the world’s largest global

initiative undertaken to eradicate

poverty. The Millennium DevelopmentGoals were established during the

United Nation’s sponsored Millennium

Summit held in September 2000. The

eight goals represented a bold vision

by the member states who drafted the

very specific targets aimed at meeting

the development needs of the world’s

poorest by 2015.

Alay Foundation is working on the

ground with partner organizations tohelp address the structural and systemic

reasons for poverty’s existence. Alay

Foundation has identified maternal

mortality as one of its chief concerns.

We recognize how integral women are

as part of the solution to combatting

poverty and strengthening their

communities. To that end, we are pleased

to announce the groundbreaking of

our first facility, Mary’s Child Birthing &

Women’s Center.

The birthing center will address many

of the obstacles that stand in the way of

the Philippines achieving its objectives

for MDG 5 by 2015. According to the

United Nations, MDG 5 has two targets:

5A states, “reduce by three-quarters,between 1990-2015 the maternal

mortality ratio” and 5B states, “achieve

by 2015, universal access to reproductive

health.”

With little more than a year to go before

reaching the target dates the Philippine

National Economic and Development

Authority (NEDA) released it’s 5th MDG

progress report. While much progress

has been made on several MDG’s itwas discovered that maternal mortality

is lagging far behind the MDG target

of 52 deaths per 100,000 live births.

According to the 2011 Family Health

Survey, the maternal mortality rate is

221 per 100,000 live births. This means

that eleven Filipino women die each

day from “preventable causes during

pregnancy and childbirth.”

One of the many hurdles to achieving

improvement on maternal mortality is

the lack of health facilities. The need for

additional facilities is one motivation

On May 13, 2014 Alay Foundation

hosted our first ever event, in

collaboration with the Kapampangan

Development Foundation, in San Jose

City in the Philippines. The event was

a huge success.

• Total patients seen: 555

• Total cataract surgeries

scheduled: 97

• Total cataract surgeries

completed: 45

• Cleft lip & palate surgeries

scheduled and completed: 4

• Prosthesis patients serviced: 4

We are still in the process of completing

cataract surgeries. One of the problems

we have encountered during this

process has been the lack of education

about these basic procedures in

the barangay (generally very poor,uneducated, rural communities within

the San Jose area that we serve). Many

of these patients are farmers and are

scheduling their surgeries around

planting and harvesting seasons,

believing that the recovery time from

cataract surgery is many months.

Education has always been the key to

fighting poverty and Alay Foundation

is in the process of coming up with a

robust educational outreach program

that will tackle this problem head-on,

educating people about many aspects

of health care.

Cataract Screening

Event Update

Addressing Maternal Mortalityand MDG 5 in San Jose, NEAlay News

Upcoming Events

BLOOD DRIVE

San Jose - November 2014

For More Info Go To:

www.AlaySaBayan.org

Philippines Maternal MortalityGraph 1990-2015



www.AlaySaBayan.org

Source: United Nations

The birthing center’s woman-centered

approach will provide family planning

options for women.

Eighty percent of maternal deaths are

due to causes such as hemorrhage,

infection, sepsis, pre-eclampsia and

eclampsia. Unfortunately, too many

women die from preventable andavoidable death and disability in

pregnancy and childbirth. The well-

being of the patients is the birthing

center’s utmost priority. Emergency

obstetric care for medical emergencies

for Alay Foundation to begin its plans to

build Mary’s Child Birthing & Women’s

Center - a reliable resource for the

community in delivering pre-natal and

maternal health care.

The design of the building itself will

help address one of the issues affecting

maternal mortality: lack of privacy. The birthing center will have two

private delivery rooms and a 4-bed

semi-private recovery room, assuring

professionalism and adequate privacy

during and after delivery. Moreover,

these architectural plans have been

drawn up with the goal of providing a

safe, respectful, and woman-centered

facility where women and families

are empowered with regard to their

maternal and reproductive health.

We see maternal health as a human

right; one that guarantees, “respect for

women’s autonomy, dignity, feelings,

choices, and preferences, including

companionship” (White Ribbon

Alliance 2011). Alay Foundation seeks

to promote a woman’s access to quality

health care in a setting that advances

her human rights throughout her

experience with the birthing center.

Family planning and HIV/AIDS

screening are considered important

components of the birthing center’s

health care services. With greater

access to reproductive health choices

women will be able to make informed

decisions in planning, spacing, or

preventing future pregnancies. In

our initial effort we are limited to

offering counseling, condoms, and

contraceptive pills but will be ableto refer women and their families to

facilities offering comprehensive family

planning services and resources.

According to NEDA, the Contraceptive

Prevalence Rate (CPR) decreased to

48.9% instead of increasing to its 2015

target of 63 percent. Additionally, the

United Nations Population Fund reports

“on average, the [Philippines] poorest

women have two more children than

they say they want....[and] fertility rates

among the poor are nearly three times

higher than among the country’s rich.”

that are beyond the scope of our

services will be available at the Heart of

Jesus Hospital, located directly across

from Mary’s Child Birthing & Women’s

Center.

Alay Foundation’s holistic approach to

maternal health care at the birthing

center will serve as model for what we

hope will become an example for the

health care community in the San Jose

area of the Philippines.

Article written by Alay Foundation.

Outstanding Supporter Corner

Joe Eulo is a visual storyteller, ounder and CEO o FirstFrame Films, a collaborative production and design com-pany made up o an eclectic group o artists, actors, andfilmmakers who share a passion or creating meaningulwork that moves, entertains, and educates its audience.Some o his work is on web design, which is where Joecame to our aid and redesigned our entire website and ournew blog. We are eternally grateul or his creativity anddedication to our project.

His current project, Trafico, is an American crime drama about the dark andinvisible side o human trafficking in the United States.

You can visit his website at htpp://www.FirstFrameFilms.net



www.AlaySaBayan.org

Felomina Rufin and her amily live in extreme poverty. o assist them Alay Foundation hassponsored their Philhealth enrollment.

Help Support Our Mission

Please Help Support Our Work & Donate Today at:

www.AlaySaBayan.org

Follow Us: www.acebook.com/ASBNS www.twitter.com/AlaySaBayanNS

Subscribe to Alay’s Blog at www.AlaySaBayan.org/blog

Contact Us: 973-447-4487 ~ [email protected]

PO Box 146 Nutley, NJ 07110

Why Support Alay Foundation?

Te generosity o supporters like you allows us to ulfill our mission o delivering quality health care toimpoverished Filipino amilies without access to health care in the San Jose, NE community. Founder

and physician, Jose Sobrepena, believes - as you do - that every human being has a basic right to qualityhealth care.

We are committed to bringing those medical services to struggling Filipino amilies who need it most.Support our work today and know that your contribution will promote a healthy society or all Filipino

citizens, transorming lives all along the way.

Documents

Alay News - Fall Newsletter 2014