Bicol Clinic: Disaster Relief

Our charity has established a disaster relief fund dedicated to supporting victims of natural disasters. As a result, we were the first medical team on the ground during the 2010 Haitian earthquake and were also able to send a medical relief team to the Philippines shortly after the 2013 typhoon.

Typhoon Haiyan, December 3013, Philippines

Super Typhoon Haiyan was one of the strongest storms in history. It struck the Philippines on November 8 and wrecked total havoc along its path of destruction. The storm killed over 1,800 people, severely injuring several thousand and displaced over half a million victims in the Philippines alone.

Because of your generous donations, BCF was able to send a medical relief team to the island of Leyte, where we provided medical attention to over 800 people. We also distributed food and supplies to over 6 thousand families and provided funds to rebuild a destroyed school.

Please click here for a detailed report of our efforts

Haitian Earthquake, January 2010, Port-au-Prince

Just days after the earthquake struck, we sent a disaster relief team to Port-au-Prince and were able to tend to hundreds of patients. Working from the University General Hospital of Haiti, our team administered IVs, created splints and casting of limbs, administered Tetanus shots, as well as antibiotic and pain shots. We did a lot of wound care to treat all of the infected wounds and amputated limbs. We helped to carry in new patients found in the rubble and were the first medical team to have provided food and water for the patients being cared for. We gave out toys for the children and clothing for all of the patients who had lost everything.

A first-hand account of the trauma experienced and the medical attention given was published in the Sun-Sentinel, written by Jessica Schuster, Executive Director of BCF. Jessica writes, "At night, I lay in my tent and I hear someone crying. The sound is so long and so mournful, so pleading and desperate. Is it from an insufferable injury? Or is it the lost of their family? I feel it is a cry for the loss of almost everything they had. All I know for certain is that the sound fills my days and haunts my dreams."

Read more here

The difference between our organization and most other charities is our ongoing commitment to the communities we serve. Since the devastating earthquake, we have returned to Haiti to conduct free medical clinics in various “tent cities.”

Please click here to read more about our efforts in the Sun-Sentinel: Sun Sentinal Haitians Amputees

Prior to the startup of our charity, Dr. Schuster conducted free clinics on his own in the Philippines, Somalia and Niger. He also went to Sri Lanka to assist in the immediate relief of the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami.

Please click here to learn more about Dr. Schuster’s history and his Tsunami disaster relief efforts:

You can also learn more about our history and previous missions in the Boca Observer

Bicol Clinic Foundation, Inc.
Philippines, 2011

The month that I was fortunate enough to spend in Bicol was one that I shall never forget. Beyond the medical experience, the trip was a lesson in humanity that will echo in my life. I have never interacted with people who were so gracious, thankful and genuine, but whose lives were not shown the respect that they deserved by their health care system.

Prior to landing in the Philippines, I had very little appreciation for the power that the availability of medicine has to influence lives. In a system such as ours, even the poorest of the poor have access to life saving medical care, however, in the Philippines, as in many nations throughout the world, money is the deciding factor in determining whether someone lives or dies from a treatable condition. It was an extremely powerful realization when I discovered that the cost of a human life could be given a monetary value. For the child with Typhoid fever, it was the price of antibiotic, for the woman with inflammatory breast cancer, the cost of her surgery and so forth. The cost is too often the only difference between living and dying for these unfortunate many. I have to say that the burden of this preventable loss of life does not rest on the shoulders of the many people of the region who are themselves without means, but lies with those who have the ability to make a difference but are either unaware or indifferent to the plight of the many. It is difficult to consider how although we were able to see an extraordinary amount of patients during the month, this was just one area, of one nation, in a world full of people without access to even basic medical care.

The power however comes in knowing that 5 doctors, 9 medical students and 6 nurses were able to have a great effect, and if others in the medical profession were willing to make a similar effort every year, that global impact could be felt.

The 2011 Bicol clinic was a world-opening experience, and although it started for me as a prospect to further my medical education, it truly became an education in humanism and the gift of life.

J. Andrew Younghein
Tulane University
Medical Student

John (Andrew) Younghein

2011 View John (Andrew)' s testimonial

Mission The Disaster Relief- Team

Bicol Clinic: Disaster Relief

Typhoon Haiyan, December 3013, Philippines

Haitian Earthquake, January 2010, Port-au-Prince

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John (Andrew) Younghein