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Manila Bulletin devider Lifestyle devider Health and Wellness devider Breaking the 'too late' care health habit

Breaking the 'too late' care health habit

SM Foundation launches Wellness Hub for early detection and holistic health

Published Oct 18, 2025 12:22 pm
The San Juan Medical Center Wellness Hub was meticulously restored with sustainability in mind, incorporating air-cleaning paints and eco-friendly materials to ensure a healthy environment for both patients and staff.
The San Juan Medical Center Wellness Hub was meticulously restored with sustainability in mind, incorporating air-cleaning paints and eco-friendly materials to ensure a healthy environment for both patients and staff.

Studies on the health-seeking behavior of Filipinos reveal a common tendency to delay formal medical care until symptoms become severe or when home remedies no longer work. The cultural value of “Bahala na” often reinforces this passivity and causes individuals to seek help only when conditions worsen and more intensive interventions are required.
However, in matters of health, time is of the essence.
Delays in seeking medical attention can lead to serious consequences. It affects not only patient’s physical well-being but also their emotional, mental, and financial stability. This deeply rooted mindset, then, contributes to a healthcare system that is heavily focused on curative rather than preventive care, ultimately straining resources that could have been used to promote long-term wellness and disease prevention.
The San Juan Medical Center Wellness Hub is designed to prioritize the patient’s needs, promoting preventive healthcare while delivering comprehensive services.
The San Juan Medical Center Wellness Hub is designed to prioritize the patient’s needs, promoting preventive healthcare while delivering comprehensive services.
“This wellness center is part of changing the culture,” San Juan Medical Center (SJMC) Medical Director Dr. Joseph Acosta said as they inaugurate the hospital’s Wellness Hub with SM Foundation.
“Kung palalakasin natin ito at dadami ang ganito (Wellness Hubs), mas less ang gastos sa ospital kasi mas less ang nagkakasakit kasi dito pa lang makikita mo na ang problema. Ito ang magandang pag-focusan, wellness, kasi preventive ito eh, hindi ka na magkakasakit,” Dr. Acosta told Manila Bulletin. (By strengthening and expanding facilities like this, we can reduce healthcare expenditures because early detection limits serious illness. These Wellness Hubs allow us to identify problems at the initial stage. Our focus should be on wellness and prevention, which is key to avoiding disease altogether.)
Rehabilitation medicine specialists, dieticians and fitness coaches provide personalized nutrition counseling and various fitness classes.
Rehabilitation medicine specialists, dieticians and fitness coaches provide personalized nutrition counseling and various fitness classes.
According to Dr. Acosta, the facility is envisioned as a blueprint for wellness, serving as an inspiration and guide for preventive healthcare in public hospitals. It stands as the first-ever prevention and wellness center established by the SM Foundation, and notably, the first of its kind to be integrated within a public hospital.
Each area offers a calm, healing environment away from high-stress clinical zones, yet remains close enough to enable prompt medical attention when needed.
The Wellness Hub ensures that comprehensive, holistic health services and essential preventive healthcare are available to all residents of San Juan.
The Wellness Hub ensures that comprehensive, holistic health services and essential preventive healthcare are available to all residents of San Juan.
Designed to advance preventive healthcare, it delivers comprehensive services that strengthen community well-being while supporting the country’s healthcare workforce. The Foundation ensured that every space, such as the Nursing Lounge, Changing Area, TeenThrive Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Lifestyle Medicine, Comprehensive Care Suite, Sight and Sound, Diagnostic Suite, and Meditation Chapel, was thoughtfully planned to provide comfort, accessibility, and efficiency.
Focusing on people-centered features, the Wellness Hub incorporates energy-efficient LED lighting, inverter appliances, and air-cleaning systems that span nearly 80 percent of the facility. Through this initiative, the SM Foundation reinforces its mission to promote preventive, accessible, and sustainable healthcare, creating a model that aligns medical innovation with compassion and community service.
Patients who have hearing or vision concerns can receive check-ups at the Sights and Sounds lounge.
Patients who have hearing or vision concerns can receive check-ups at the Sights and Sounds lounge.
“With the thousands of residents of San Juan, this Wellness Hub aims to shift the Pinoy health habit from late care to early prevention, providing holistic care, good health, wellness, and diagnostic services, offering counselling, mental health support, and a lot more,” SM Foundation Executive Director for Health and Medical Programs Connie Angeles echoed.
SM Foundation stands with the San Juan Medical Center in its mission to pioneer green healthcare and reach the national 2030 health goals. This partnership is specifically focused on delivering universal access to quality health services and strengthening the prevention of noncommunicable diseases. The Wellness Hub will also add further services such as the Bite and Smile (Dental), Clear Imaging (Radiology), and Kinetics and Vitality (Gym), strategically expanding its offerings.
The TeenThrive Women’s Health lounge empowers women by integrating specialized care and education focused on women’s health concerns
The TeenThrive Women’s Health lounge empowers women by integrating specialized care and education focused on women’s health concerns
For Dr. Acosta, the SMJC Wellness Hub is just the start of a long crusade toward promoting better preventive healthcare in the Philippines, although things are already falling into place. The new facility has now become an essential part of its goal of becoming a tertiary-level training hospital.
The foundation, staying true to its mission of nurturing healthier communities, continues to champion preventive healthcare by rolling out its medical missions and revitalizing public hospitals and centers.
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