The burden of healthcare is being shouldered by women. This was according to a volunteer-based organization in the Philippines serving indigent Filipino cancer patients and this is their story. Cancer patients at the corner of OPD Building in East Avenue Medical Center (Photo courtesy of PFBCI / Facebook)
Ignited by the spirit of volunteerism, the Philippine Foundation for Breast Care Inc. (PFBCI), a hospital-integrated organization, was established in 2001. It began with a simple goal: to support indigent women diagnosed with breast cancer. Aileen Antolin, 50, PFBCI’s Trustee for Program Development, proved how powerful it is when women help women.

Volunteerism matters

In 2000, East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) saw an increase in its breast cancer cases. This prompted then EAMC Head of Surgery Dr. Florentino Doble along with a team of surgeons and nurses to establish the first breast care center in the Philippines. They called it The Breast Care Center (BCC). Through its partnership with EAMC, being a hospital-integrated organization, PFBCI invested in improving the BCC. “We thought of developing a support group so that patients can be followed up and be supported in the journey,” said Antolin, adding that the organization’s office was initially placed at EAMC’s basement right next to the morgue. “You can imagine how morbid the scenario was when women diagnosed with breast cancer had to walk through a hallway and pass to the morgue while carrying a deadly diagnosis such as breast cancer,” she recalled. More than 10 years ago, the support group was only a “once-a-week thing” where breast cancer patients and individuals interested to help meet. But the need for operating an actual breast care center grew further when more patients came in asking for help. With nothing but the spirit of volunteerism, PFBCI accommodated a small room at the hospital and manned EAMC’s breast cancer center.

Women helping women

From 2004 until 2015, the organization managed the hospital’s breast care center. PFBCI was able to make radical changes through partnerships such as being able to install a mammogram and stereotactic biopsy system at the hospital. “Due to financial burden, we later turned over the breast cancer’s clinical functions to the hospital. We are no longer operating it so we focused on caring for patients alone,” Antolin told Manila Bulletin. Despite the redirection, the women-led PFBCI continues to serve indigent breast cancer patients. Currently, the team is composed of 12 key members — with 11 of them being women and one man.

From diagnosis to survivorship

Apart from offering emotional and psychological support through patient navigation, PFBCI ensures that patients are getting the right treatment. “The government has a program called Cancer Medicines Access program. But through this, not all patients’ needs are met. In between cycles, laboratory and diagnostics tests are not covered. That’s where we come in — patients ask us for help for their tests that are not covered by the existing assistance available for the indigent,” explained Antolin. “Patients need other things apart from chemotherapy. There are also supplies and medicines needed to be taken to prevent fever or vomiting. We also help cover that,” she added. Majority of PFBCI’s beneficiaries are patients of EAMC while some are from areas where the team held breast cancer awareness seminars. Antolin explained that they automatically reach out to the hospital’s breast cancer patients, especially the ones already going through treatment, so they can help them with needed diagnostic and laboratory tests. To date, the organization has 600 patients under its beneficiary programs. All of them are women under the so-called “surveillance period” which means that they already had chemotherapy and radiation and some of them are still under “maintenance medicine.”

Aileen Antolin: A daughter, a wife, and an advocate

“In truth, it is not cancer that kills most. It is the lack of access to treatments and facilities and medicines that they need,” lamented Antolin. In 2022, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported cancer as one of the leading causes of mortality in the Philippines. “We represent the voice of the patients and I hope we will be given more opportunities to convey the patients’ voice when it comes to crafting and evaluating cancer-related programs of the government,” she told the administration. 50-year-old Antolin is a licensed Nurse but she stressed that she neither hoped nor dreamed of doing what she does now. Her involvement with PFBCI was accidental and it was because of her mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009. “I was with her during every check up and treatment. That’s how I found out about the foundation,” said Antolin, adding that her mother was among the beneficiaries of PFBCI. In spite of notable hardships, Antolin said this is her purpose in life. “I wish I could romanticize the whole work of volunteerism. It came at the cost of my relationships and finances. I have had to face battles in order to stay. [But] I believe I was called to do what I was doing now. I am obeying the call of obedience in my life.” According to Antolin, through PFBCI and its beneficiaries, she was able to see the lapses and how the society could treat women better. “The burden of healthcare is on women. For so many years, women have been trying to make the world listen. We have been disappointed by society [and] we have been called so many names. But we have proven time and again that we can do so much more. It is time for our society to take care of its women,” Antolin concluded.