Who We Are
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The Flora Apalisok Free Children's Clinic (FAFCC) is a California-based non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the lives of the most undernourished and the medically and surgically needy indigent children of Bohol, Philippines.
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What We Do |
* Provide milk and vitamins to the severely undernourished on a long-term basis.
* Recruit patrons who can sponsor the surgeries of children with cleft lips/palate, hernias, cystoceles, patent ductus arteriousus and colostomy closures, to name a few. * Advocate and refer parents and caregivers to local government and non-governmental health care resources. * Educate parents and caregivers on disease prevention and management. * Counsel parents and other adults on reproductive health, providing financial support to obtain the various family planning methods they choose. * Educate parents and other adults about the “real world” consequences of poor family planning on the health of the children and the family as a whole. * Provide financial aid for laboratory and diagnostic services related to a child's specific medical/surgical problems. |
Our History |
The Island Province of Bohol is located in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. It is approximately 1,861 sq mi in land area, with approximately 1.3 million people. Thousands of residents of Bohol, or Boholanos as they are known, are underserved families in the remote barrios (villages) of the island. They have little or no access to healthcare. Weighed down by the rapid population growth in these barrios, the government of Bohol is hard pressed to offer them family health services. Most gravely affected by this health care deficit are the mothers and their children. Illnesses such as cerebral palsy can be found among many of the poor families.
When first organized in 2000 a "free clinic" was a bi-annual two-day event when an average of 120 children from a town received free medical screening and medications for common pediatric ailments like respiratory infections, dermatological and gastrointestinal infections problems to name a few. A different barrio was picked for each event. Each child received a toy and a nutritional hot lunch. Each received a month's supply of vitamins. In subsequent years we realized our goals were too ambitious requiring a much larger and better financed organization. We decided to pare down our activities to a level more commensurate with our means and resources. HOW WE EVOLVED OVER THE YEARS In 2006 we decided to narrow down our medical screening to include only the children of the 15 or so most indigent household of a particular town. These families were referred to us by the community doctor or nurse. What we discovered was that the poorest families have the most number of children who suffer from severe malnutrition, cardiac defects, cleft lips and/or palates, gastrointestinal anomalies. cerebral palsy to name a few. We shifted our work to focus more on helping children with medical/surgical needs. We believe the Clinic's interventions such as paying for surgical procedures, providing milk supply and maintenance medications are truly making a difference in the children's lives. Since its organization in March of 2000, the clinic has operated entirely on private donations. The clinic was named after the founder's mother Flora Apalisok, who was born and raised in the province of Bohol. |
