There are six areas of health and wellness covered by the SM Foundation’s health and medical programs. These include: Medical Missions with Mobile Clinic Services, Felicidad Sy Wellness Centers for the Elderly, Felicidad Sy Activity Centers for Children, Hospice Units, renovation of Community Health Clinics, and the renovation and refurbishment of Military Health Facilities.
Medical Missions. Started in 2001, the “Gamot Para sa Kapwa” program is a comprehensive medical mission for SM employees and their relatives, as well as indigent families living within the vicinity of SM Malls, including remote communities and disaster-stricken areas. It serves as a tangible and proactive response of corporate advocacy and civic mindedness. The program also provides literacy programs to enable communities to address in the long-term the prevention and management of diseases.
Medical missions are conducted in partnership with the Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Red Cross (PRC), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Local Government Units (LGUs), non-government organizations (NGOs), various medical and dental societies, as well as private institutions.
SM Foundation also provides medical assistance to financially-constrained individuals, which involves providing financial support for special medical cases through the Kapwa Ko, Mahal Ko Foundation.
Since its introduction in 2001, the “Gamot Para sa Kapwa” program has conducted some 1,406 medical missions benefitting 1,097,758 individuals.
SM Mobile Clinic. To make health services more accessible, SM Foundation has five mobile clinics stationed in Luzon, the National Capital Region (NCR), Visayas, and Mindanao. These mobile clinics support medical missions by providing needed diagnostic and laboratory services, such as X-Ray, ECG, urinalysis, bone density scanning, fasting/random blood sugar, uric acid test, cholesterol determination, and dental tooth extractions. All services are free of charge.
SM Wellness Centers. Established in 2002, the Felicidad T. Sy Wellness Centers provide a therapeutic environment in identified hospitals or health centers through renovation, refurbishment, and enhancement of identified structures. These structures serve dedicated sectors such as children, the elderly, the terminally ill, soldiers, and persons with disabilities. With the center’s bright and patient-friendly environment, it is hoped that patients’ fears of doctors and hospitals can be eased, as well as their pain and suffering. As of December 31, 2018, some 152 Felicidad T. Sy Centers have been established in various government hospitals, community health centers, senior citizen centers, and military facilities.
Health facilities assisted and upgraded by the SM Foundation include 57 Pediatric & Neonatal Wards, 13 Wellness Centers for the Elderly, 31 Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Military Health Facilities, four Philippine National Police (PNP) Health Facilities, 44 Community Health Centers, and three Special Projects, namely: the rebuilding of the Tacloban City Hospital, building of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Day Care Center, and the building of the Brgy. Calayo Multi-Purpose Center in Nasugbu, Batangas.
Oral Health Program. Started on Feb. 20, 2012, this five-year program is in partnership with the UP Pahinungod Society and the teachers, parents, and the kindergarten and Grade 1 students from the Bulihan Elementary School in Nasugbu, Batangas.
The program adopts the Preventive and Restorative Dentistry approach. It aims to prevent children from being future denture wearers by not having them experience the removal of their permanent molars. For the past five years, toothbrushes and toothpastes, including plastic cups have been provided on a quarterly basis to students during dental health lectures and Oral Health Care activities such as flouridation and prophylaxis treatments.
SM Foundation has seen prevention as the most effective way to resolve the problem of dental carries and carious lesions in children.
SM Employees Blood Bank. Established in 2011, this Blood Bank helps SM employees source blood during emergencies without resorting to paid blood donations. The blood is free of charge.
For this effort, SM Foundation was hailed as a pioneer in Virtual Blood Banking: no physical blood bank but we “bank blood” for SM employees through the DOH’s Philippine Blood Center. It has received the Jose Rizal Award for five consecutive years—the highest award given to an organization due to the Foundation’s quarterly bloodletting activities conducted with different SM Groups. The harvested blood products are banked with the DoH-Philippine Blood Center as an exclusive SM Blood Bank account.
