| Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
This column discussed, on February 13, 2022, the details of the American Medical Center launched in Manila (Philippines) more than 120 years ago. The article, More Back-to-Basics Data about Manila’s U.S. “MedCenter” in the 1900s, can serve as a model for the City of Oakland if it wants to become a new modern-day “Mecca of Medicine,” as discussed last Sunday.
This columnist summarized how the United States “reinvented” education in the then-new American colony, the Philippine Islands (P.I.), especially in medicine, healthcare, and medical research. He wrote: “In trying to win the hearts and minds of the Filipinos, the U.S. brought American teachers to the P.I., starting in 1901. Later, they called these teachers Thomasites, as the first batch of instructors arrived on board the transport ship, USS Thomas, on August 23, 1901.
“David Barrows, the director of education in the P.I. from 1902 to 1908, stressed academic curriculum. He also inaugurated a program for talented young Filipinos to study in the U.S. The Filipino students were called pensionados, the first 100 sailing for the U.S. in October 1903. More and more Filipino high-school valedictorians and salutatorians were sent for college education every year after that. For those who managed to excel, an additional opportunity to earn masters and even doctorate degrees.”
The easiest way to reinvent, nay, resurrect (sic) Holy Names University (HNU) in Oakland Hills — and other financially-distressed institutions of learning not only in Alameda County but also in the entire State of California — is to repeat the American experience in the Philippines in the early 1900s. After all, the world will have a shortage of at least 13 million Board-certified nurses and millions more other medical professionals as early as 2030.
“The easiest way to reinvent, nay, resurrect (sic) Holy Names University (HNU) in Oakland Hills — and other financially-distressed institutions of learning not only in Alameda County but also in the entire State of California — is to repeat the American experience in the Philippines in the early 1900s.”
The American “MedCenter” project in the Philippines successfully paved the way for the fielding of Filipino nurses, physicians, and other medical professionals in the United States. In less than a century, more than 600,000 Filipino nurses came to the United States, often finishing their medical studies in American nursing colleges, and got Board certified in many states. At the same time, more than 22,000 Filipino physicians came and became — together with the nurses and other medical professionals — prized workers in many American hospitals from sea to shining sea. Almost all of them became American citizens. Often their children and descendants studied too in medical-and-nursing colleges and continued the family’s commitment to medical science as their parents got older and retired.
As this column suggested, teaming up with Filipino-American medical professionals with their Mexican-American counterparts can make everything easier. Yes, raising human and financial resources can transform the City of Oakland, Alameda County, and the State of California into the paramount prime movers of the best, back-to-basics, and affordable universal healthcare. Of course, starting with the education of medical workers. More details of this visionary idea by this Sunday.
