To ensure healthy lives and promote the well-being of all at all ages is Goal Number 3 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
In support of the SDG, Carmen Copper Corporation, a mining company based in Toledo City, continues to improve the health and emergency care systems in the communities surrounding its area of operations.
Two of its neighboring barangays, Pangamihan and Landahan in Toledo City, were the latest recipients of brand new ambulances that are intended to improve their emergency response, especially when transporting the sick and injured.
To date, Carmen Copper has donated 15 ambulances to its host and neighboring barangays, to the Toledo City Government and other recipients in the province of Cebu.
The use of the ambulance has become a very convenient means to transport high-risk patients, especially women in labor.
In Barangay Pangamihan, a mountain barangay more than 30 kilometers from Toledo City, residents would most of the time bring their patients to Cebu City or Balamban town where the nearest hospitals are located. Travel time to the nearest hospital takes more or less an hour.
Motorcycles for hire or habal-habal is the only means of public transport. To hire one for emergency purposes costs a hefty price.
The ambulance is seen to solve the emergency transport problem of the barangay and provide residents easier access to health care and healthcare facilities.
It shall also complement the other healthcare programs that Carmen Copper implements in the communities under its Social Development and Management Program (SDMP), among which is the Doktor to the Barangay Project.
The Doktor to the Barangay Project sends a hired physician and nurses to the 17 host and neighboring communities every week to provide medical consultations and free medicines. Patients who need laboratory examinations, x-ray and further treatment are referred to the Carmen Copper Corporation Hospital to be attended.
In public schools, Carmen Copper also implements school-based feeding program to improve the health and nutrition of the school children.
Barangay Landahan Captain Edwin Baugbog said that the ambulance will benefit not only his more than 2,800 constituents, but also the residents of adjacent barangays.
“We will share this with other barangays that like us, have limited access to health care facilities. With the new ambulance, we can easily bring our sick people to the hospital. We are truly grateful to Carmen Copper for being one of the recipients of its social development projects,” said Baugbog.
Landahan is 30 minutes away from the city proper of Toledo and its district hospital and birthing centers. The ambulance, Baugbog said, will help save lives while increasing the barangay’s emergency preparedness.
Carmen Copper’s commitment to sustainable development aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals focuses on areas such as (i) quality healthcare services, (ii) quality and inclusive education, (iii) skills and enterprise development, (iv) preservation of cultural heritage, (v) preservation of environmental heritage and (vi) disaster resilience and rehabilitation.