DOH CONFIRMS FIRST H1NI PATIENT IN ILOILO CITY

LOCAL and health officials are monitoring a barangay in Iloilo City where the first positive A(H1N1) case in the city was detected.

The Department of Health (DoH) said the first A(H1N1) flu patient in Iloilo City is a 38-year-old seaman from Jaro district.

The patient traveled from Germany and stopped over Hong Kong before arriving in the country June 1. He showed flu-like symptoms June 9 and was brought to Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) for check-up.

The Tooth Fairy and The Girl With A Big Heart

By Rex Harder

When the school year is about to end, Gillian Rae, my six-year-old daughter had a loose tooth. The next day, after placing the tooth under her pillow, the tooth fairy gave her a dollar. Now proud of being a ”big girl” she showed her dollar around Elizabeth Meyer school classmates and friends.

Recently, while looking for my checkbook, I found her dollar placed in a zip-lock inside my drawer. I called her ask her what she want to do with money from her tooth fairy. She answered, “hmmm….maybe we could give it to the Red Cross!” The way she said it was in a very casual manner, but the thought caught me by surprise! This maybe because of all the news of the great Midwest flood in the US where she witnessed on TV, not only the devastation and misery brought about by the calamity but also the people helping other people. And most recently, during the height of the typhoon that swept through the Philippine islands, especially the flood in Iloilo province, a place in central Philippines and the ancestral home of her mom and dad.

Her dad glued on the internet’s real-time news from local radio stations streaming broadcast and watching video clips and images, including CNN’s I-report, of rushing water and the people caught in the middle of it; her mom, dad and grandma’s frantic calls to Iloilo, trying to contact family members and friends. It was non-stop for three days, from June 21 to 23, 2008; talking on what to do, like friends and coworkers calling and giving support, the big boxes in our living room that her grandma and mom trying to fill up with goods to be shipped to Iloilo. And the talk of organized actions through different organizations, mentioning the Red Cross several times.

She too was being instructed on the dos and don’ts when on vacation to Iloilo two weeks later. Why she need to be vaccinated, why she needs to be very careful on anything that she eats and drinks, and what she might expect to find on a place that recently experienced flooding.

These for sure had caught Gillian’s attention. Asking for a piece of paper and a pen, she wrote a note “ to the Red Cross, thanks for helping the flood victims, Gillian Rae.” then she went to her bedroom and opened up two of her piggy banks pouring all the contents on the bed, put them all in the zip-lock with the note and tooth fairy one dollar bill. Its not uncommon for Gillian to open her “piggy” banks for a good cause. She usually do this yearly when our Catholic community starts the fund raising for the women’s center in our area where she will put all her saved coins on baby bottles and bring it to our church during a Sunday service.

Tonight as I tuck her in bed, while telling her how proud I am of what she did, she asked me, “Will my aunts, uncles and cousins be okay? (mentioning several names) and friends and classmates too?” I know that she was thinking of the people she met during her vacation in Iloilo a year and a half ago. “Will the water won’t sweep them away?” I answered, “Let’s hope and pray that they will be okay.” And she said, “Lets hope that the tooth fairy can give more so that the Red Cross can help my friends.” I am a 41-year old dad, I always thought the fairies are child’s play. But as I kiss my daughter goodnight, I’m thinking of the dire situation in the flooded communities, deep inside me is fervently wishing too, if only the fairies could grant her wish, a wish of a girl with a big heart…

June 21, 2008, this is the scenario that is certainly cannot be easily forgotten by the Ilonggos. This is the day that typhoon Frank has hit Iloilo City and destroyed many homes and lives. Indeed, a year has passed but still many victims of that tragedy are unable move on. Many are still grieving for their lost love ones.