Written by: V. Stuart Cox, M.D. Ear, Nose & Throat Specialist
It all began in 1978 when two Minnesotans visited the Philippines on a mission trip to Asia. During their visit, they saw many poor, orphaned children in the barrios of Cebu in urgent need for food, shelter, education, and medical care. Upon their return home, they began spreading the word of their experience and soon began to gather people, funds, and support to help the children of Cebu. With a significant amount of collaborated efforts, the Children’s Shelter of Cebu (CSC) opened in 1979.
In 2005, Dr. Cox was asked to become a board member of CSC. He was chosen as a board member because at the time, they were in process of building a small hospital for the orphans and they needed a physician to provide guidance. Many of the orphans have serious medical conditions and all children must be quarantined for several days upon arriving at the orphanage. The infirmary was a growing necessity. Dr. Cox helped provide guidance and health care support to the orphans.
The Children’s Shelter of Cebu continued with developing the hospital and now has several units available for the children. The units are separated based on the acute illnesses of the orphans and hosts a lab for blood work. The hospital is primarily staffed by nurses and often requires transfers to city hospitals to receive the adequate care necessary. It is rare and appreciated when medical experts contribute their time and efforts toward the orphanage.
Recently, Dr. Cox traveled to the Philippines for his second trip since becoming a board member. He worked onsite at the infirmary of CSC. The infirmary was full, keeping Dr. Cox busy seeing children and developing health care plans for the kids. During this trip, he played a key role seeing patients from surrounding neighborhood clinics.
As an even greater contribution, Dr. Cox’s daughter was able to come along on the trip to help provide support at the orphanage. She was very involved in all activities including daycare for the babies and helping provide education at the school.
The Children’s Shelter of Cebu is extremely grateful and appreciative of all efforts contributed towards the orphanage. It takes many hands, lots of love and support, as well as funding to provide adequate shelter, food, education, and health care for these poor, abandoned children. Dr. Cox and his daughter are extremely thankful for the opportunity to be involved in such a meaningful organization. Providing education and health care to these orphaned children is a wonderful and rewarding experience. There is much love and gratitude expressed from the Children’s Shelter of Cebu. To learn more visit www.cscshelter.org.
