Dr. Munguita Padilla (left) leads the unveiling of the new poster of the Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines with (from left) Marivic Perez and Gerry Perez, Dr. Bernardita Navarro, and Dr. Leo Cubillan. (Photo by MANNY LLANES)
MANILA, Philippines — Close your eyes. for a minute, allow yourself to be blind. how does it feel when everything turns black? when you start to feel your body falling backwards in space as your senses adjust to the darkness? were you frightened, frustrated, or confused? Or, for a brief moment, did you feel grateful knowing that any moment, you can open your eyes and see again? Now imagine what a blind person feels.
The Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines has been lobbying for the support of good, kind hearted Filipinos to commit to a gift of eyesight, a gift that will help those who need the vision, who, in turn, will carry on the giver’s good will long after they’re gone.
A non-stock, non-profit organization, Eye Bank has labored to bridge the stark need of Filipinos suffering from corneal blindness, facilitating the link between recipients and eye donors. The equation sounds simple, but much is needed to support an operation of this kind across the entire Philippines.
“Basically, what the Eye Bank does is it retrieves, processes, stores and distributes eye tissue around the country,” said Dr. Dominga ‘Minguita’ Padilla, president and chairman of Eye Bank Foundation Philippines. “It’s a very spiritual endeavor in a way, because it takes people of heart who care about others to make it happen, not just the doctor, not just the technology, but also the community.”
A vision to live on
Earlier this year, eight-year-old John Daniel de los Santos and 27-year-old Lawrence Villanueva had their sights restored through the cornea donation of the late young actor AJ Perez, who died in a car crash April this year.
Two people benefitted from the generous intentions of AJ’s parents, Gerry and Marivic, and they even went further to join Eye Bank in launching ‘A Vision To Live On’, a year-long campaign to increase awareness, acceptance and support for eye and cornea donation. During the campaign launch, new Eye Bank advocacy materials were unveiled with AJ Perez as its ‘poster boy’.
“Since our foundation in 1995, we’ve been so blessed to have been able to process close to 15,600 corneas and whole eyes. when we have a surplus we even distribute around Asia and Africa. And although a majority of the donors remain anonymous, even to the recipients, one of the reasons we’ve been very successful is because we have the support of a lot of celebrities and the media,” Dr. Padilla explained.
The late Miko Sotto, who fell to his death in 2003, was the first poster boy for Eye Bank and it was his mother, Ali Sotto who encouraged AJ’s parent’s to continue the legacy of their son. “Months after Ali mentioned the possibility of having AJ as the new poster boy for Eye Bank, we realized that apart from donating AJ cornea’s, we can help more people if we continue to support this advocacy,” said Gerry Perez.
How does it work?
Aside from AJ, more than 446 Filipinos have committed and fulfilled their pledge including Ramon Judiel Lumbad, a volunteer firefighter who died at the age of 17, an administrative officer of the Department of Public Works and Highways, and a veteran and survivor of the Death March who died at the age of 91.
“except those who have HIV and syphilis, almost anyone can donate. you don’t even have to have 50/50 vision as long as the corneas or the entire eye balls are normal. with today’s technology, two corneas can help four people. if you donate two eye balls, you can help as much as 10,” said Dr. Padilla.
She added: “To get the cornea, we have to test the blood, test the cornea, store it in a solution and distribute it in such a way that stays safe and fresh even up to 48 hours. We can send it to the recipients by plane or courier for free through our partners like Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and LBC. they don’t have to come to Manila; we’ll send it to them.”
In the Philippines, the top four reasons people need transplantsare: infections, scars from various causes, corneal damage after eye surgery (e.g. cataract surgery), Corneal Dystrophy (genetic conditions that cause gradual damage to the cornea due to abnormal deposition of substances in the body), and Keratoconus and other abnormalities of the shape of the cornea.
More government support
The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office has been a partner of Eye Bank; but with the suspension of their various grants to non-government organizations, Eye Bank remains hopeful that soon, charities such as them, which have consistently displayed credible diligence, would once again be able to resume this productive partnership, especially since the charity patients they serve are almost always from government hospitals.
“if corneal processing would be even partly included under PhilHealth coverage, then imagine how many more potentially productive Filipinos can return to their lives and livelihood, equipped with their vision once again,” Dr. Padilla said.
Eye bank donor cards are available at the UP-Philippine General Hospital. but what a lot of people don’t know is that millions of Filipinos already carry donor cards; all they need to do is look at the back of their driver’s license.
“The driver license in itself is a donor card already. People don’t know that because LTO doesn’t really advertise it. all we need is to advocate policy for checking for their IDs, often carried on their person, so that the opportunity to collect their gift might not pass unnoticed,” said Dr. Padilla.
For more information and interested donors, contact Eye Bank Foundation Philippines at 302 6282 or visit eyebankfil.org
AttachmentSize Dr. Munguita Padilla (left) leads the unveiling of the new poster of the Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines with (from left) Marivic Perez and Gerry Perez, Dr. Bernardita Navarro, and Dr. Leo Cubillan. (Photo by MANNY LLANES)
MANILA, Philippines — Close your eyes. for a minute, allow yourself to be blind. how does it feel when everything turns black? when you start to feel your body falling backwards in space as your senses adjust to the darkness? were you frightened, frustrated, or confused? Or, for a brief moment, did you feel grateful knowing that any moment, you can open your eyes and see again? Now imagine what a blind person feels.
The Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines has been lobbying for the support of good, kind hearted Filipinos to commit to a gift of eyesight, a gift that will help those who need the vision, who, in turn, will carry on the giver’s good will long after they’re gone.
A non-stock, non-profit organization, Eye Bank has labored to bridge the stark need of Filipinos suffering from corneal blindness, facilitating the link between recipients and eye donors. The equation sounds simple, but much is needed to support an operation of this kind across the entire Philippines.
“Basically, what the Eye Bank does is it retrieves, processes, stores and distributes eye tissue around the country,” said Dr. Dominga ‘Minguita’ Padilla, president and chairman of Eye Bank Foundation Philippines. “It’s a very spiritual endeavor in a way, because it takes people of heart who care about others to make it happen, not just the doctor, not just the technology, but also the community.”
A vision to live on
Earlier this year, eight-year-old John Daniel de los Santos and 27-year-old Lawrence Villanueva had their sights restored through the cornea donation of the late young actor AJ Perez, who died in a car crash April this year.
Two people benefitted from the generous intentions of AJ’s parents, Gerry and Marivic, and they even went further to join Eye Bank in launching ‘A Vision To Live On’, a year-long campaign to increase awareness, acceptance and support for eye and cornea donation. During the campaign launch, new Eye Bank advocacy materials were unveiled with AJ Perez as its ‘poster boy’.
“Since our foundation in 1995, we’ve been so blessed to have been able to process close to 15,600 corneas and whole eyes. when we have a surplus we even distribute around Asia and Africa. And although a majority of the donors remain anonymous, even to the recipients, one of the reasons we’ve been very successful is because we have the support of a lot of celebrities and the media,” Dr. Padilla explained.
The late Miko Sotto, who fell to his death in 2003, was the first poster boy for Eye Bank and it was his mother, Ali Sotto who encouraged AJ’s parent’s to continue the legacy of their son. “Months after Ali mentioned the possibility of having AJ as the new poster boy for Eye Bank, we realized that apart from donating AJ cornea’s, we can help more people if we continue to support this advocacy,” said Gerry Perez.
How does it work?
Aside from AJ, more than 446 Filipinos have committed and fulfilled their pledge including Ramon Judiel Lumbad, a volunteer firefighter who died at the age of 17, an administrative officer of the Department of Public Works and Highways, and a veteran and survivor of the Death March who died at the age of 91.
“except those who have HIV and syphilis, almost anyone can donate. you don’t even have to have 50/50 vision as long as the corneas or the entire eye balls are normal. with today’s technology, two corneas can help four people. if you donate two eye balls, you can help as much as 10,” said Dr. Padilla.
She added: “To get the cornea, we have to test the blood, test the cornea, store it in a solution and distribute it in such a way that stays safe and fresh even up to 48 hours. We can send it to the recipients by plane or courier for free through our partners like Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and LBC. they don’t have to come to Manila; we’ll send it to them.”
In the Philippines, the top four reasons people need transplantsare: infections, scars from various causes, corneal damage after eye surgery (e.g. cataract surgery), Corneal Dystrophy (genetic conditions that cause gradual damage to the cornea due to abnormal deposition of substances in the body), and Keratoconus and other abnormalities of the shape of the cornea.
More government support
The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office has been a partner of Eye Bank; but with the suspension of their various grants to non-government organizations, Eye Bank remains hopeful that soon, charities such as them, which have consistently displayed credible diligence, would once again be able to resume this productive partnership, especially since the charity patients they serve are almost always from government hospitals.
“if corneal processing would be even partly included under PhilHealth coverage, then imagine how many more potentially productive Filipinos can return to their lives and livelihood, equipped with their vision once again,” Dr. Padilla said.
Eye bank donor cards are available at the UP-Philippine General Hospital. but what a lot of people don’t know is that millions of Filipinos already carry donor cards; all they need to do is look at the back of their driver’s license.
“The driver license in itself is a donor card already. People don’t know that because LTO doesn’t really advertise it. all we need is to advocate policy for checking for their IDs, often carried on their person, so that the opportunity to collect their gift might not pass unnoticed,” said Dr. Padilla.
For more information and interested donors, contact Eye Bank Foundation Philippines at 302 6282 or visit eyebankfil.org
AttachmentSize Dr. Munguita Padilla (left) leads the unveiling of the new poster of the Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines with (from left) Marivic Perez and Gerry Perez, Dr. Bernardita Navarro, and Dr. Leo Cubillan. (Photo by MANNY LLANES)
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