Vicky Fernandez is now 17 years old and the youngest of the four children of Ma. Sonny Fernandez, 44, with her first husband, Victor, who died from a liver ailment in 2003 in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.

Ma. Sonny remarried and her new husband is Oscar Fernandez, a welder, and the cousin of her late husband, with whom she has no children.

They are now living at Burgos Street, Kabankalan City.

At 17, Vicky should already have graduated from high school but, because she is afflicted with what doctors call "cretinism secondary to congenital hypothyroidism," she looks like an 8-month-old baby, a press release from the Kabankalan City government said yesterday.

Until now Vicky still can not stand or crawl, and she can not speak. She also has to be carried like a baby.

Her mother says Vicky is a jolly "baby" who always smiles at the people around her. There are times when she even appears to be listening to conversation.

Ma. Sonny cites two possible reasons for her "baby's" condition: the genetic defects in their family, and Vicky's navel infection three days after she was delivered by a "hilot," or midwife.

Ma. Sonny says she loves her "baby" and her only worry is over who will take care of Vicky someday because her three other children already have their own families, the press release added.*

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Lucio Tan to donate
school building, nebulizers

Nebulizer equipment and kits will be turned over by Dr. Lucio Tan and his family and the Tan Yan Kee Foundation tomorrow to the health centers of barangays Sum-ag, Granada and Montevista and the ABCS and Mabini Health Plus, in Bacolod City, a city hall press release said yesterday.

The activity is part of the Project Asthma of the TYK Foundation which is aimed at providing medication to residents suffering respiratory heart ailments.

Several barangays of Murcia town, Negros Occidental will also receive nebulizers.

Tan, who will be installed as honorary mayor and an adopted son of Bacolod, will also lead the symbolic turnover of a school building for the Bacolod SPED Center, under the "Operation Barrio Schools" of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc., of which he is chairman emeritus.

Tan and his family will arrive in the city tomorrow to attend the 1st Bacolaodiat Festival of Bacolod.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said Tan's philantrophic acts show his concern for Bacoleños, especially the disabled, the press release added.*

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Joint medical mission
ongoing in Kabankalan

A joint medical mission is being held Wednesday to Sunday by the San Diego Majestic Lions Club of California and the Kabankalan City Lions Club, at the ERAMS gym in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental, a press release from the city said yesterday.

Hundreds of residents from different barangays in the city have availed of free medical and dental services rendered by the San Diego team led by Jay Ruiz from Quezon province and composed of 13 Filipino members, a doctor, three dentists and three nurses, with the assistance of doctors from Kabankalan.

Mayor Pedro Zayco Jr., a Lions Club member, welcomed the group and thanked them for their services, the press release said.

The San Diego team will also render medical services in Capiz and Quezon provinces and in Olongapo and Capas, Tarlac, it added.*

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PSA schedules wet clinic,
induction of Negros officers

A wet clinic on "Vital Capacity Inhalation-Induction with Proseal Laryngeal Mask Airway" will be conducted by Drs. Gerard Raymond Ona of the University of Santo Tomas Hospital and Arnold Grageda of St. Luke's Hospital in Manila, at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, in Bacolod City, a press release from the Philippine Society of Anesthesiologists said yesterday.

Ona will talk on "Proseal LMA" while Grageda will discuss the "Influence of Anesthetics during Pressure Support Ventilation with Proseal LMA."

The lectures will be certified by the PSA National with CME-credited units for attendees.

The PSA National Committee on Continuing Education will have a dinner symposium at 6:30 p.m. at the Ricardo 1 and 2 of L' Fisher Hotel.

On Sunday, a joint induction of the PSA-NOC officers for 2006 and luncheon scientific meeting will be held at 11 a.m. at the Cinco de Noviembre of the Casino Filipino Hotel with Dr. Romulo Buzon, PSA national president, as the guest of honor and inducting officer.

To be inducted are Drs. Antonia Erlinda de los Reyes - president, Carolyn Yu - vice president, Maristel Sanchez - secretary, Rose Soldevilla - treasurer, Stephen del Mar - assistant treasurer, Rycela Hinolan - public information officer, Pamela Marchadesch - immediate past president, and Board of Directors Noel Agraviador, Herbert Cabaluna, Teresita Galon, Jose Enrique Gonzaga and Rey Tejares.

Ona will also give a lecture on "Introduction to Clinical Practice Guidelines," the press release added.*

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