Chiropractic Care at Jaime Hilario Integrated School, August 14, 2015

Chiropractic Care at Jaime Hilario Integrated School, August 14, 2015

Call time was at 6:00 am at the Best Western Antel Hotel lobby. By 5:45 a.m. three vans were already waiting for them by the driveway and packed breakfast meals were ready for pick up at the hotel’s Azurro restaurant.

It took them almost four hours of road trip from Makati to Bagac, making three stopovers on the way.

By 10:00 a.m., Br. Aikee Esmeli FSC, was greeting and welcoming them by the doorsteps of the Brothers’ house in the Jaime Hilario Integrated School compound. Br. Aikee is one of the four brothers supervising the only Lasallian school in the province of Bataan.

Br. Aikee gave the 20 future chiropractors from Australia and Malaysia a quick tour of the school passing by each of the classrooms where they were greeted with resounding chorus of “Welcome, visitors! Good morning, visitors!” Some grade schoolers approached them and took their hands for the traditional Filipino gesture of kissing the hand (mano).

Come treatment time, the Grade III students were the first batch of patients to be seen. One female student, accompanied by her mother, was bringing two x-ray films with her apparently showing curve in the thoracic spine. Br. Aikee said she’s probably the only “special case” of chiropractic that they have in the school. The girl’s older brother died months ago of lung problem which was apparently aggravated by chest and spine deformity. The mother was emotional as she was narrating this to IMU’s Wong Sou Kum (Megan). “She need not worry,” said Megan, “it can still be prevented through exercises but I would recommend that she sees a chiropractor more often.”

Some of the grade school students gave their slots to their relatives whom they thought would need the evaluation and the treatment more than they do. Fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers were among those who received treatment.

Ahmet Avci of RMIT saw an adult male patient who was complaining of pain in his shoulders. “He is a very hardworking man,” said Ahmet, “He is a fisherman – casting and pulling the net strain his shoulders. I had to teach him to strengthen his upper back.”

Ng En Hooi (Charis) also saw an adult male patient who seemed to be experiencing lots of pain. “He is very tight. He was struggling to bend. He is a driver and all those sitting and driving for long hours affected his flexibility,” Charis explained.

The 20 chiropractic students were supposed to see seven grade levels. The last two grade levels, 9 and 10, unfortunately were not seen. “We started slow,” Annie Wilmot of RMIT said. “We were having fun with these kids and we forgot that we were going to treat more. We needed to speed things up.”

There was no electricity in Bagac that Friday and the students from Australia and Malaysia had to bear with the discomfort of heat and sweat. Despite this, they were able to see at least 185 patients. If not for the assembly and dismissal of the students at 4:00 p.m., they could have seen more. “I wouldn’t mind seeing more patients. I have the energy and I don’t mind the heat. I could have seen more,” RMIT’s Andrew Gladigau shared.

Come closing and packing up time, Jess O’ Keefe of RMIT approached Br. Aikee and made one request – to walk down the corridors, pass by the classrooms, and say goodbye to the kids.

Waving of hands and high fives amidst cheering and goodbyes followed.

To cap the day, the group took a dip in the warm sea water of Bagac.