Surgeon repays debt to homeland

"You see thousands of faces. We used to take pictures of them, but we stopped. After a while, they live in your memory," said Dr. Virgilio Victoriano, an orthopedic surgeon who is a parishioner of St. Francis de Sales Church in Loudonville.

He was referring to the poor people in his native Philippines whom he treats during regular visits to free clinics there. He goes with other surgeons and healthcare workers.

"There really is no access to healthcare there for the very poor," he explained. "If they can't be treated by the free clinics, they just remain where they are. We do what we can."

Pills aboard

When he packs to go to the Philippines, Dr. Victoriano leaves plenty of room for vitamins collected by parishioners of St. Francis. The vitamins deter illness in an area where people live in Third World conditions and where disease is rampant.

Dr. Victoriano sees people suffering from various maladies: bowel obstructions, cataracts, enlarged thyroids, tumors and cleft palates. Several plastic surgeons usually travel with the medical retinue to take care of the latter condition.

Dr. Victoriano said the medical personnel see cases that require long-term care, something they are not equipped to handle because they are there for only a week or two.

"We try to refer these people to specialists in Manila, the capital," he said. "Often, I will either give a surgeon there a call or write a letter of recommendation."

As an example, the surgeon remembers "treating a young boy about three years ago who was seven or eight years old. Other doctors had treated him for a large lump on his foot, which appeared to be cancerous.

"When I examined him, I advised his parents to expect the worst, but that we would explore the situation. Fortunately, it turned out to be a benign tumor.

"We were able to remove it. When he left, he was no longer limping. His story had a good ending."

When Dr. Victoriano returns to the U.S., he is emotionally and physically drained because there are so many people he has treated -- and so many he wasn't able to see.

"Each year, we leave hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people behind that haven't been seen. It can make you depressed until you think about next year and going back.

"I always go back."

(Dr. Victoriano travels at his own expense to treat Filipinos. "I've made a good living with my medical education here," he said. "This was a dream I had as a young man in my home country, and many people there helped me to realize it." Because of their shelf life, the vitamins he takes with him must be donated shortly before he travels. For information, call 489-8386.)

(3/9/06) [[In-content Ad]]