Nurture Center with Great Love: In the year 2004, Tzu Chi Zamboanga inaugurated the Tzu Chi Great Love Physical Rehabilitation and Jaipur Foot Prosthesis Manufacturing Center at the Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC). Headed by TIMA Volunteer and ZCMC Department of Physical Rehabilitation and Medicine chairman Dr. Raymond A. Sator it has restored hope to close to 400 indigents with their regained mobility with the distribution of FREE Jaipur foot prosthesis. Likewise, over 40,000 physical therapy sessions have been conducted since then. Late last year, Tzu Chi Zamboanga added an ANNEX that houses the expanded Jaipur Foot Manufacturing Workshop and a dedicated Pediatric Physical Rehabilitation Room to cater to a growing number of Cerebral Palsy, post VP Shunting Hydrocephalus children among others needing physical therapy sessions to improve their quality of life. In her conversation with Tzu Chi Zamboanga volunteers, the founder of Tzu Chi Foundation Master Shih Cheng Yen likened the center to a young sprout. She advised Tzu Chi Zamboanga volunteers to nurture the center with great love so that it will not only take root but will run deep and spread far and wide; for whatever fruits Tzu Chi Zamboanga will enjoy in the future, it will emanate from the hard work done at the Tzu Chi Great Love Physical Rehabilitation Center!
Taking Master Cheng Yen advise to heart…..Tzu Chi worked tirelessly to realize the mission of the Tzu Chi Great Love Rehabilitation Center which is to RESTORE HOPE…..REBUILD LIVES WITH GREAT LOVE…ONE FOOT AT A TIME. The center catered to the differently-able and temporarily-disabled sector not only in Zamboanga but neighboring areas in Visayas and Mindanao as well. It’s numerous Tzu Chi - Jaipur Foot Camps that provided FREE Jaipur Foot Prosthesis to the poorest of the poor have answered the prayers of a lot of our suffering brothers and sisters. The center importance as viewed from growing number of elderly, post stroke and post accident clients getting physical therapy sessions have exceeded the wildest expectations of Tzu Chi Zamboanga. For nearly 4 years, Center Head Dr. Raymond Sator and equally devoted Physical Therapists, Jaipur Prosthesis technicians joined the Tzu Chi volunteers in working hard in spreading seeds of love to make sure that the center lived up to its name and serve its clients with GREAT LOVE! This work was made easy with the all out support provided by the Zamboanga City Medical Center led by Dr. Romeo Ong, Mahaveer Philippines Foundation, Sulpicio Lines, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and the Philippine Air Lines (PAL) Foundation.

Embarking On a New Challenge

Since the establishment of Tzu Chi Zamboanga Liaison Office on May 6, 2000; one of the very first program it established with the help and support of Bacolod-based Cataract Foundation of the Philippines led by its President Dr. Jack Po and its very supportive administrator Ms. Mavis Campos was its SIGHTSAVING PROGAM. After 2,000 free cataract surgeries (of which 315 were done last year) and hundreds of eye glasses distributed, Tzu Chi volunteers stood living witness to GOD’S MIRACLE at work through the hands of selfless ophthalmologists who volunteer their services to Tzu Chi. In less than 30 minutes, kind-hearted doctors were able to restore the eyesight of the cataract patient which restored hope and rebuild lives of their families as well since most recipients are the main breadwinners in the family.
With the efforts at the Tzu Chi Great Love Physical Rehabilitation Center starting to bear fruit and with the blessings and inspiration of Master Cheng Yen and the love of Tzu Chi people worldwide, Tzu Chi Zamboanga rolled up it sleeves once again and started planning for the establishment of the TZU CHI GREAT LOVE EYE CENTER. The project got a jump start when Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC) gave Tzu Chi Foundation a free hand in choosing where it wants the eye center to rise. After much discussion, it chose the area where the old Department of Physical Rehabilitation used to stand plus the adjoining abandoned tennis court for a total of land area of 1,000 square meters. Tzu Chi Zamboanga then burned the midnight candle to come up with the best design and layout conforming to the Tzu Chi Standard. For this, nothing but the best effort of its local Tzu Chi members and Bro. Mico Lee ( a Tzu Chi Manila engineer) all brainstormed to come up with a functional and yet modern eye center that its members and their children and their children’s children can be proud of! The final perspective was sent to the Tzu Chi Taiwan headquarters for the approval. The hard work of Tzu Chi members who volunteered their time and talent for FREE paid off! Master Cheng Yen approved the plan but asked Tzu Chi Zamboanga to get professional help for the second floor. Tzu Chi Zamboanga heeded the advice and requested HOLDYEAR, a professional hospital contractor from Taiwan to do the design with all design done; the plans were submitted to the Department of Health for final approval. With minor corrections, the plans were approved! Several contractors were invited to submit their quotations. But after deliberations with local Tzu Chi members it was decided that Tzu Chi Zamboanga undertake the construction themselves under the leadership of Tzu Chi volunteer Nixon Go and members Architects Gerry Maizo, Jim Duco and Jerome Go. It will take a lot sacrifice on the part of the volunteers but in order to ensure the quality of the construction and low cost, there was no other recourse but to labor with great love…. And the rest as they say is history…

A Modern Eye Center

The plan was to set up one of the most modern eye hospital in the country to be aptly called the TZU CHI GREAT LOVE EYE CENTER. The 1,500 sq meters two-storey (750 square meters/floor) structure will sit on a 1,000 prime land fronting the Pediatric Ward inside the ZCMC compound where the old ZCMC Rehabilitation Center used to stand. The center will permanently house the ZCMC Department of Ophthalmology chaired by Dra. Antonette “Ann” Cases and to be assisted by Dr. Rey Christopher Usman who are all original members of the Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA) Zamboanga. Under a memorandum of agreement entered into by Tzu Chi Philippines and ZCMC; ZCMC will provide the land for perpetual use of the eye center and Tzu Chi will build the two story structure at no cost to ZCMC or the government. ZCMC will also equip the center with 24-M worth of STATE-OF-THE-ART sight saving equipments that was procured through a soft loan with the Spanish government years ago. The center on the first floor will house the consultation room, laser room, minor operating room, doctor’s quarters, conference room, records room and the Tzu Chi office. On the second floor it will have a recovery room, 6 bed male common ward, 7 bed female common ward, 3 VIP rooms, Doctors quarters, Two state of the art operating rooms with hepa filters, water filtration room, doctor’s changing room and a multi-purpose room that can be converted into a minor operating room or a seminar room for continuing education lectures by visiting ophthalmologists. The center is envisioned to play an important role in the development of the Ophthalmology profession in this underserved part of the Philippines. With its big lobby, the center will have a hotel-like atmosphere that will heal the heart and set the minds at ease for those who come to avail of its services.