REAP: Developing a new crop of Filipino educators

A professional training company aims to take learning to greater heights by developing the skills of 21st century Filipino educators.

Called the Resource for Educators and Academic Professionals (REAP), it is now geared to spread its programs to the rest of the Philippines. It was first launched in 2016.

"The main drive of REAP is teacher development because as we all know, the success of the students of the nation depends on them. We want REAP to be the partners of educators in nation building," said Danda Crimelda Buhain, REAP co-founder.

REAP Co-Founder Danda Crimelda Buhain

“Before, educators, with the support of their sponsor schools, have to go abroad to the United States, Canada or Europe to undergo further training. With REAP, we are making training opportunities accessible for teachers to learn more about their craft. Now they won't need to go overseas,” the REAP co-founder.

To help produce high caliber educators with contemporary teaching concepts, a modern REAP center in Quezon City was set up. It is complete with facilities so that educators from the teaching industry, local governments, and public and private school organizations can undergo customized training.

"Early on, most of our clients comes from the private schools. Now, we are looking to expand further to public schools because that's where majority of Filipino students are enrolled. We also hope to get the support of LGU units to make REAP more successful, by sponsoring public school educators avail of our programs," said Buhain.

A team composed of highly-qualified resource persons with vast experiences in various fields of education are employed by REAP to facilitate teaching courses. These include, among other, Creative Teaching Strategies, Classroom Management for the 21st Century Educator, Integrating Technology in Teaching, Basic Concepts of Differentiated Instruction, Design Thinking for Educators, Outcomes Based Education with Spady (Father of OBE) and Uy, a partner of REAP.

Through these specialized courses, REAP visualizes a creation of a nation founded firmly on quality.

"These set of trainings will certainly help our teachers, especially now, with the implementation of the K to 12 program. We need to plug the holes in the teaching methodologies. Our real objective is to help the teachers, so they can maximize their potentials in teaching our kids and better prepare them to build tomorrow's nation" explained Buhain.

REAP is in partnership with REX Publishing and Spady & Uy, the ground breaker of Outcome-Based Education.

Good mental health truly matters

Image credit: www.instagram.com/kylieverzosa

With successive incidents of suicide among notable celebrities here and abroad, there is now a strong call to promote good mental health among people suffering from various mental health disorders. Now, it is not just enough to provide emotional support, belongingness, understanding and compassion. There is also a strong need to spread enough information, how to know if one is suffering from mental issues, especially those undergoing various amounts of physical and emotional stress that can be too hard to handle, much more ignore.

To stress further the need to spread more information about mental health issues, Mental Health Matters (MHM) recently celebrated its 1^st anniversary through its “Mental Health Matters Fair.” The event, which was held at the Crown Spaces in Makati City and opened to the public, was organized by the group and Miss International 2016 Kylie Verzosa, herself an advocate of good mental health and who once underwent bouts with depression.

The fair featured several inspirational talks from guest speakers from the medical profession and the legislative sector, free psychiatric consultations, art exhibits, live performances, and interactive and imaginative booths and was open to the public. Priority access, however, was provided to the MHM Support Group and the Anxiety and Disorder Support Philippines (ADSP).

The whole-day affair started with psychiatrists from the Philippine Psychiatric Association (PPS) and Talang Dalisay, a nongovernmental organization, who jointly provided professional psychiatric advice for free to select attendees. Both are partners of MHM.

The afternoon started with a talk by Senator Risa Hontiveros, author and principal sponsor of the bill that became Republic Act 11036 or the Philippine Mental Health Law, which was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte recently. She said mental health struggles among Filipinos are very complex. “Today and every day, you are not alone,” she assures those present.

She said the law’s Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) is now being developed under the Department of Health, particularly on seeking increase in access to services up to the community level, a progressive “referral” system, on-campus anti-discrimination and anti-stigma program, and inclusion of non-medical interventions to health and healing.

Verzosa, a strong advocate of mental health since her reign, said she organized the event for the benefit of everyone who has been struggling and who has survived. She also called on people undergoing depression to not be afraid to seek help. “Get help by talking to someone. Let’s speak up about mental health before it’s too late.” Dr. Gia Sison, a breast cancer survivor and a Youth for Mental Health Coalition national adviser, meanwhile, provided invaluable advice, particularly on developing mental strength to help overcome failures.

There were also other speakers who shared their mental health advocacies. UST student Reymark Simbulan, a member of the LGBTQ community who also suffered from depression, shared many important things about finding one’s anchors, not giving up because it will get better, and knowing that God will make us stronger.  He also noted that “members of the LGBTQ community are almost three times likely to experience mental health problems like depression,” he said.

Diet coach Nadine Tengco, meanwhile, said food has a profound effect in addressing one’s mental health while Mariella Tung, a pastry chef, shared her story of resilience and recovery. “I finally came out to people about depression and became strong because of my son, my anchor. Every day, I remind myself of that one person.” Kates Ante, head of operations at ADSP, explained how “laughter yoga” works, and said the art pieces in the exhibit were masterpieces of people with mental health problems. Rachelle Jardin, a former media researcher, filmmaker and poet, meanwhile, said her team is working on an idea of a social enterprise for mental health.

Mental Health Matters is an online support group established for people experiencing various forms of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders. The group also offers seminars to spread awareness about mental health in many universities nationwide. For more information about the group, go to www.Facebook.com/mentalhealthmattersbykylieverzosa.

Not alone: PH lung cancer community inspires hope in the face of disease

From left: Dr. Mary Claire Vega-Soliman, President of the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology and Head of the Tumor Clinic of East Avenue Medical Center; Carla Comendador Britanico, a patient living with Stage IV lung cancer for more than 6 years; Dr. Ma. Luisa T. Abesamis-Tiambeng, Director of the Cancer Center at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center; and Dr. Paolo dela Rosa, Medical Advisor and Medical Oncologist at AstraZeneca Philippines.

 

“Being diagnosed with lung cancer can make patients feel anxious and hopeless, which is why support is vital,” explains Dr. Donald Ray Josue, Medical Affairs Head of AstraZeneca Philippines. “LVNG With provides support by forming a community of patients and their loved ones so they can inspire one another and exchange helpful information about their treatment. Through the network, patients may realize that while lung cancer is not yet curable, it is very treatable. There’s still so much more for them to look forward to in their lives.”

 

Struggling with stigma

 

Lung cancer is the top cancer killer worldwide, with 2.09 million incidences and 1.76 million fatalities this year alone according to the GLOBOCAN 2018 report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).[1] But while a majority of lung cancer deaths involve tobacco use,[2] non-smokers are also at serious risk.

 

“‘Are you a smoker?’ Many lung cancer patients get this question, but the truth is, different factors cause the disease,” said Dr. Denky Shoji Dela Rosa, a medical oncologist from the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center and St. Luke’s Medical Center . “Lack of awareness has been a source of stigma because people often put the blame on the individual. This makes it difficult for lung cancer patients to find support and form communities.”

 

A 2015 study on the European Respiratory Journal notes that about 25 percent of lung cancer incidences are not linked to smoking, and that the rate of never-smokers diagnosed with the disease has been increasing.[3] The American Cancer Societyidentifies several causes, such as exposure to second-hand smoke, diesel exhaust, asbestos, radioactive radon gas, and chemicals released by burning coal products.[4]

 

Adding to the stigma, new patients tend to think that their illness is a hopeless case. This leaves them with a sense of isolation that worsens their anxiety over their diagnosis.

 

LVNG With addresses these stigmas by dispelling myths that prevent lung cancer patients from seeking proper treatment and seeing hope in their condition. The community also empowers patients with information that enable them to reach out to medical professionals so they can learn more about treatment options.

 

Dr. Mary Claire Soliman, president of the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology and member of Cancer Coalition Philippines also emphasizes that, “Standard evidence-based medicine is the way to go in treatment. I understand how the promise of  alternative medicines (‘natural”, “herbal” or “nutraceutical medicine”) may be tempting, especially with their claims that they do not have side effects. The fact of the matter is that there is very little evidence to support these claims.

 

A recently published study by Skyler B Johnson at the Journal of the National Cancer Institute this January 2018 revealed that patients who initially chose alternative medicine over conventional lung cancer treatment had a more than twofold increase

risk of dying. At the end of the day, alternative treatments should not replace standard evidence-based medicine.” 

 

Breakthrough treatment

 

Chemotherapy—or the use of drugs to kill and stunt malignant tumors—is usually thought of as the only treatment for cancer. “The fact is, various options are now available depending on the patient’s diagnosis, preference, and recommendations from the healthcare team. Among these include surgery to remove affected lung tissues, radiation therapy that use high doses of radiation to destroy cancer cells, and targeted drug therapy.”, Dr. Maria Luisa Abesamis-Tiambeng of Cardinal Santos Medical Center emphasized.

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Targeted drug therapy may be recommended based on biopsy findings. Through biomarker testing, the biopsy can reveal genetic mutations in cancer cells that can be targeted by drugs designed to zero in on those cellular abnormalities.

 

Therapeutic advances have made targeted drug therapy the standard of care for personalized medicine in the fight against certain lung cancers. One breakthrough is Tagrisso (Osimertinib), an oral tablet from a class of drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) that target tumors with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations.

 

Tagrisso (Osimertinib) is a third-generation EGFR TKI that has shown better precision and power at stopping lung cancer growth and improving patient survival. A double-blind FLAURA study shows that Tagrisso delivers 18.9 months of median progression-free survival, nearly twice as long as older drugs that deliver a median of 10.2 months. Tagrisso (Osimertinib) also reduces the risk of lung cancer metastasis on the central nervous system by 52 percent, and lowers the risk of death by 37 percent based on its preliminary data.

 

“These results have made Tagrisso (Osimertinib) the recommended and preferred first-line treatment by international guidelines for advanced and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer—the most prevalent type of lung cancer—that tested positive for EGFR,” Dr. Josue adds.

 

EGFR biomarker testing is available across laboratories and hospitals nationwide including the Chong Hua Hospital, Hi-Precision Diagnostics, Lung Center of the Philippines, Manila HealthTek Inc., National Kidney and Transplant Institute, St. Luke’s Medical Center Global City, and The Medical City.

 

Learn more about LVNG With Lung Cancer at www.lvngwithphilippines.com or www.lvngph.com.