Aspiring doctors enrolled in the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) hosted a collaborative event to celebrate Filipino culture and heritage on Wednesday, Feb. 24–and right off the top, the news was exciting.
More than a dozen MDs of Filipino descent attended, and they were asked to stand and introduce themselves. As each did so, we learned the room was filled with surgeons, radiologists, oncologists, pediatricians, internal medicine and infectious disease specialists. Their collective message couldn’t be more clear. Young Filipinos in Hawaiʻi should be encouraged to consider filling the top jobs in health care — becoming a physician or even an MD teacher of physicians. They not only CAN do it. Some are already. But we need more of them.
Thirty-one of the MD students now attending JABSOM identify themselves as at least part Filipino. That is 12% of the MD student body, a jump from only seven percent of Filipino medical students in 2015.
The program included remarks by Hazel Abinsay, MD (JABSOM Class of 2009) and Charlene Cuaresma, Program coordinator of the Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity (SEED) office at UH Mānoa.
L-R: Dr. Hazel Abinsay, (JABSOM Class of 2009) and Charlene Cuaresma.
Cuaresma, who also serves as community director of the Hawaiʻi chapter of the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness and Training (AANCART), noted that Filipinos are now the second-largest ethnic minority in the state. Generally, those of Filipino heritage suffer from diseases (including cancer and high blood pressure) which go un-noticed until it is too late to overcome their illnesses. Cuaresma said Hawaiʻi badly needs more doctors who understand Filipino culture and traditions and know how to communicate with older Filipinos who may not speak English.
“It’s so important to study, to learn how to document [these things] and how to reach into the hearts and souls of our nanas and tatas (grandmas and grandpas),” Cuaresma said.
“The struggle is real.”
Dr. Abinsay, born and raised in Kalihi, said “the struggle is real.” By that, she meant that financial security for many Filipinos can seem far away. By far, most Filipinos currently hold jobs in the service industry in Hawai’i, not always earning a living wage in the high-cost Aloha State. Abinsay said she was motivated to become a physician when she recognized that Filipino residents seeking health care needed someone who could relate to them on a cultural level. Now she wants to overcome the barriers that keep some high school students of Filipino ancestry from becoming doctors. These are barriers which include the high cost and decade or more of training required to receive a medical education and become a physician.
“When you talk to young people about becoming doctors,” Dr. Abinsay said, “they say itʻs easier to go into nursing, you will make money faster (four years of training versus eight years or longer to become a practicing doctor). I can’t do it.” She said her own husband, also an MD graduate of JABSOM, was discouraged this way by his own parents.
“All they need is that one person in their life who says you CAN do it, and donʻt worry about the finances. Yes, take loans, that’s fine, but it will be okay. They just need a push, us..the med students..the young physicians going into high schools ourselves and talking to kids is the best way to communicate this,” said Abinsay. Hher husband’s parents couldn’t be prouder now of their “doctor son”, Abinsay added with a smile.
MD students and guests appreciated the discussion.
Medical professionals who attended the conference also contributed to the discussion. Some talked about other health risks that Filipinos commonly face and emphasized the importance of educating Filipino patients and their families when a major health risk occurs.
Dr. Dee-Ann Carpenter, Native Hawaiian Health professor and internist at the University of Hawaiʻi JABSOM operated Lau Ola Clinic, said it is critical that patients have a doctor whom they trust — and cultural intelligence and sensibilities go a long way toward building that bond.
“It’s about having that trust factor [with the Filipino patients],” said Dr. Carpenter, who worked with Filipino patients in Wahiawā for a number of years. “Even though I’m not Filipino, I threw in a little linguistic [flavor] into what I do know so that they can understand me on a mutual level. Those little things in the community that you can do which communicates, ‘I’m here for you.’”
Dancers Nichelle Soriano and Gabe Torno preform the Kappa Malong Malong. Photos by Amanda Shell of UH Med Now.
Before the discussion, Filipino foods, including tasty lumpia and pancit were served outside, while inside, members of the Katipunan Club (a Filipino club at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa) performed a traditional Filipino dances.
Among the traditional dances was a colorful and mysterious dance called Kappa Malong Malong, also known as Sambi sa Malong. It originates from the Maranao tribes of Mindanao in the Philippines. The dance shows the many ways of wearing a “malong,” a simple tubular yet highly-functional piece of cloth. The malong is a traditional “tube skirt” made of hand-woven (and sometimes machine-made) multi-colored cotton cloth, bearing a variety of geometric or ‘okir; designs – a term used for geometric and flowing designs. The malong is akin to the “sarong” worn by the peoples of Malaysia, Brunei Darrusalam, and Indonesia. The malong is traditionally used as a garment by numerous other tribes in the Southern Philippines and the smaller Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines. The malong can function as a skirt for men and women, a sun-shade, a bed-sheet, a “dressing room,” a hammock, a prayer mat, and just about any other purpose depending on how creative the user is.
The dancers included Nichelle Soriano, a student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa majoring in Communicology. She is Corresponding Secretary of the Timpuyog Ilokano Student Organization.
Joining her was Gabe Torno, founder and choreographer of Tekniklingz. He is a former student and president of Katipunan Club at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
The Filipino Heritage Event was sponsored by the Ka Lama Kukui and Filipino Student Interest Groups at the University of Hawai’i medical school, and held at the Sullivan Center of the adjacent UH Cancer Center at Kakaʻako.
See our slideshow from the event!
Note: In an earlier version of our story we mentioned Dr. Abinsay being raised by her single father. That was only during the time when her mother was in MD Residency Training on the US mainland. A first-generation Hawai’i resident of Filipino Ancestry, Abinsay had two loving, caring and very, very hardworking parents. “My mother is my heart and soul. I attribute a lot of who I am today to her,” said Dr. Abinsay. We are sorry for any confusion.