CMZ SCENES ON THE DAYS OF THE ZAMBOANGA CRISIS SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

I wrote this down because I strongly felt how my family and friends worried about us with all the news about the Zamboanga Crisis this September 9, 2013 and still ongoing! 

My first message to reassure everyone went this way...

For our family and friends, don't worry about us...we are okay. However, Zamboanga City is not in a good situation and it enters our minds that there are some people around who want to divert the issue of the Pork Barrel scam and using ZC in the process! But yes, we do need prayers!!!

This message gathered about a 110 likes and about 50 comments. So, I felt I had to be more clear in what I meant by saying OKAY and so I shared this album in Facebook and indeed, I wrote the status in CAPITAL LETTERS... maybe, to emphasize how I felt and maybe, to express our heightened emotions at this time of adversity.

Sharing photos is my way of making visual "how okay we are"... but as my friend Mercy said, "stay safe. we worry about you just the same. everyone is praying".

My Facebook message goes this way:

FAMILY AND FRIENDS...THANK YOU FOR ALL THE PRAYERS AND THE CONCERN... I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE THESE PHOTOS SO YOU KNOW HOW WE ARE. DON'T WORRY ABOUT US! ZAMBOANGA CITY, HOWEVER, IS NOT AS FORTUNATE WITH THE ONGOING CRISIS, WITH THE ENCOUNTERS, VICTIMS, EVACUEES, EVACUATED ZCMC (GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL MOVED TO THE WMSU GYM WHERE GEORGE IS ALSO SERVING!), NO BUSINESSES, NO FLIGHTS! THIS IS A DARK NIGHT FOR Z.C. BUT THIS IS MEANT TO PURIFY US (according to Sr. Mary) ... WE MAY NOT UNDERSTAND WHY THIS IS HAPPENING TO US, BUT I KNOW, THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING GREATER THAT WILL COME UPON US. AS EARLY AS NOW, CMZ LEADERS AND WORKFORCE HAVE EXUDED PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE AND THE VALUES THAT CMZ STANDS FOR... Competence...Integrity...Unity...Dynamism...Accountability...Driven by Results!... AND WE ARE TOUCHED THAT MEGA-POSITIVE VIBES ARE FELT IN SUCH AN ULTRA-NEGATIVE SITUATION! LET US CONTINUE TO KEEP OUR FAITH... AND REMAIN UNITED FOR A UNITED ZAMBOANGA CITY!

The stream of photos and collages still show the Ciudad Medical Zamboanga family with beaming faces... apprehensive... but ever willing to serve... with preparations now ready to be put in action. Our only limitation is that the hospital census is already full in the first place! We can accommodate treatment for those who need immediate care, but we have a limitation to the possibility of admissions.

There are no gruesome pictures in this set. We are "far", but since Zamboanga City is small, far is just about a kilometer away! We are fortunate not to be in the center of things, but we worry for our staff who live in the areas concerned.

Senior Leaders (with President Dr. Joven Monsanto and CEO, Atty. Jhihann Hairun-Natividad at the helm) Situation...Updates...Further planning...READY!!!

Calls flood in....

outside Emergency Room... as we provide service, scene needs to be safe! 

Because we have been preparing for so long ... we can afford to smile at the height of the crisis... we are ready!!!

At the lobby, everyone was listening intently to the LED TV...what is really happening in Zamboanga City? 

just outside the ER, healthcare staff and soldiers ...READY!!!

Emergency Room ...READY!!! Although, there were six injured in the early morning of the Zamboanga Crisis, the patients not related to the disaster still continue to come...

Triaging at the lobby... with our giraffe portable Siemens X-ray!

Radiology... READY!

CT and MRI ... READY!

Laboratory ... READY!

Intensive Care Unit...READY! One of the crisis victims is in ICU...

Wards ... READY!

OR/DR ... READY! If you think about it, our first admission (after the six injured) was a pregnant patient because she could not be accommodated at the government hospital which is located in the affected area!

Food is available to all the workforce, including the support staff and security forces! Thanks to Seafood House for being available considering the difficulty in resources the whole community is in...

Linen and laundry... ready!

Cardio-Pulmo, Security, Central Supply, Maintenance and Physicians... READY!

from afar... effect of the blast and fire in Sta. Barbara!

We thank the whole workforce and support staff for the competence, the positive attitude and the willingness to serve = = Execom!

I am proud of the Ciudad Medical Zamboanga family. We are ongoing with our efforts for the PQA and this, I believe is one of the reasons for the streamlined preparations and efforts. We hope we can further develop these and more so, sustain these for PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE! P.S. 1 Inasmuch as we are fortunate in this side of the City, we feel for our brothers and sisters who are indeed suffering... the mental torture... the fear for the unknown... the emotional surge... the real physical injuries... the reality of danger...so much the loss!  Especially, our own staff who live in these affected places, we have heard their plight of evacuating from their areas through the muddy fishponds and mangroves. We pray for their safety! We also salute our colleagues and friends from the Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC), (including Dr. George Rojo), who is in a most unusual situation since ZCMC's location is in the center of the skirmishes. Never in our wildest thoughts could we imagine the evacuation of a very large institution, who we depend upon to take care of patients from mass casualties and in times of crisis. Over a hundred patients are moved to the SATELLITE HOSPITAL at the Western Mindanao Medical Center (WMSU) gym!  P.S. 2 So proud to hear CMZ Chairman, Mr. Edwin To in the radio for their support to the City Government as the representative of the Business Community. P.S. 3 With this Crisis, the bid of CMZ for the PQA is even in jeopardy since who would want to come to Zamboanga City in this kind of security status! But, we are still hopeful that the circumstances improve very soon so things fall back in place and life goes back to normal! We pray so hard that the Zamboanga Crisis would be solved immediately...THANK YOU for joining us in our PRAYERS!!!