Lingayen – “To make every Pangasinense healthy.”
Provincial First Lady Karina Padua-Espino thus stressed in her message as the purpose behind the unstoppable drive of the I Love Pangasinan Kalusugan Karavan (ILPKK) on its 13th leg in Barangay Pias in Mapandan on December 8.
Mrs. Espino added that the mobile health caravan is a way by which her husband, Governor Amado “Pogi” I. Espino, III, wishes to extend his love and care for his kabaleyans by bringing basic health care services to every village in Pangasinan.
During the caravan held at Pias Elementary School (PES), over 700 residents of the barangay received various free medical services and benefitted from the health advocacies brought by Mrs. Espino and the Provincial Health Office.
Aside from leading the supplemental feeding program, the provincial first lady also distributed school supplies and slippers for grade-schoolers, special blankets for elderlies and hygiene kits for expectant mothers.
Made available to the village folks were medical consultation, pediatric checkup, tooth extraction and filling, sputum test, chest x-ray, flu immunization, blood laboratory, anti-rabies vaccination and pharmacy-on-the-go services.
Maternal and natal health care, potable water and anti-dengue information and dissemination campaigns were also conducted.
Provincial Health Officer Anna Ma. Teresa de Guzman said that ILPKK shows that “Dito sa Pangasinan, sagot ni Gobernador Pogi ang inyong kalusugan!”
She said that Gov. Espino plans to purchase two customized Diagnostic Mobile Buses equipped with Ultrasound machines, modern x-ray and other state-of-the-art details that would enable performance of a minor surgery on board.
These hospital-on-wheels units will be used as an additional medical service within the reach of the citizenry, said De Guzman.
With the growing clamor the provincial government has been receiving from Pangasinenses to bring the ILPKK to their villages, the provincial health officer appeals to them to wait for their turn as Gov. Espino pledged to leave no barangay unvisited by the caravan.
Among the local officials joining them during the event were Mapandan Mayor Gerald Glenn Tambaoan and Vice Mayor Asuncion Calimlim, Liga ng mga Barangay president and Pias Punong Barangay Rolando Soriano and PES Principal Catalina Serapion.