Trip to PGH

This is all Bea’s fault. No, just kidding haha.

The trip was planned just the night before, for Quennie and I to enroll for the 5 Day BLS/ACLS training program of the Philippine General Hospital. While on the bus, I got a call from Bea and, it changed a lot of things haha. Well, I THOUGHT that the training program, which costed P4,500, included a basic ECG reading training and that there was a certification from the AHA (American Heart Association). But I won’t blame her anymore, since she’s secretly reading this blog hahaha. I also secretly kept this from Quennie until we met

I got to PGH first, and waited at the nearby Wendy’s. 30 minutes later, Quennie arrived and made me order a large frosty despite my objections. HAHAHAHA! And then I told her what I just found out from Bea. We weighed our options carefully, on whether to still pursue it at PGH, or at some other center offering the same trainings, and more, at a less expensive price.

So to the ER department of PGH we went, to confirm things. After asking around, we were led to the Chairman’s office where we got to ask questions. The lady did confirm that there was no ECG training included, and said that “ACLS trainings here in the Philippines are not AHA accredited. It is costly just to have accreditation and there are certain fees that we have to pay for. But our instructors here all had training under the AHA. And this is UP-PGH already, what do you expect?”

Yabang ah. Just kidding hehehe We politely left the office after we got our answers. I was thinking very hard whether to reserve already. Quennie already said she wouldn’t. She told me to think hard and while doing that, we went to look for the ECG department which also held trainings according to Bea. So here’s what we got:

PHILIPPINE GENERAL HOSPITAL
University of the Philippines Manila
CENTRAL ECG STATION
521-84-50 local 3154

ECG Observership Training Program
(3 weeks training on hands-on ECG reading)

Requirements:
- Letter of application addressed to:
Carmelo A. Alfiler, M.D.
Director
Philippine General Hospital
Through Channels

- Biodata with 1×1 picture
- Xerox copies of: Transcript of Records & College Diploma
- Fee – P1,800.00 (payable on first day of training)
- 2 1×1 pictures for ID
- Attire: White uniform or scrub suit

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It was expensive just to come here for 3 weeks, so it didn’t really interest me haha. Quennie said she’ll think about it.

Long story short, I did not make a reservation.

We ate calamares on the way home. Someone saw kwek-kwek and decided to eat some more hahaha. We parted ways after a few minutes.

I rode a jeep to Dapitan from Pedro Gil, not really sure where I was going haha. I first wanted to see Roch, but then I thought of my board certificate which could be available already. So call me crazy, but I went down in Quiapo and walked towards PRC haha. I needed exercise anyway. I reached the window for the claiming of board certicates. Well just my luck: license numbers starting in 503xxx can already claim theirs. My license number was 504xxx. The personnel told me to try next month.

I walked again; this time, from PRC, up to Roch’s house in Piy Margal. So for those who can imagine how far that is, call me crazy again hahaha. It was also raining at that time.

I was ready to collapse at Roch’s. I probably stayed for an hour, making kwento and stuff, and borrowed some DVDs from her. We planned to watch a movie, then eat outside, but we ended up buying drinks at a convenience store haha.

So that was my day. Whew was I exhausted.