Nurse in mishap would have turned 45 today

She came to Cebu City to save a life, but ended up losing her own in an ambulance crash three days before she would have turned 45 years old.

Trecie Abaño Cariaso, a Singapore-based nurse and mother of three, finished her nursing degree in Velez College in Cebu City.

At one time, she worked as private nurse of Cebu Archsihop Cardinal Ricardo Vidal before she went to Singapore for work.

Cariaso’s remains were flown to Manila where she will be buried on Sunday.

Cariaso was sent by her employer, Hope Ambulance,a private rescue firm in Singapore, to fetch an American patient from Chong Hua Hospital for further medical treatment in Singapore.

The ambulance was on the way to the airport Tuesday when a pick up driven by 20-year-old Anthony Logarta hit the ambulance’s rear in the junction of MJ Cuenco – Juan Luna Avenue in barangay Mabolo at 12: 20 a.m.Seated by the ambulance’s backdoor, Cariaso was thrown off upon impact.

Cariaso, a native of Bislig, Surigao del Sur, was the youngest of 13 sibling, hence her name “trese” which means 13 in English.

She married an architect. They have three children in Singapore.

Her sister Jessica Selisana, dean of the College of Business and Accountancy in the University of Cebu-Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue (UCLM) campus, said Cariaso was excited to return to Cebu which she had not visited for 12 years.

Selisana’s 37-year-old son fetched Cariaso at the airport 11 p.m. Monday and brought her to Chong Hua Hospital to fetch her Singapore-bound patient.

“She (Cariaso) even told my son to buy mangoes because she missed eating Cebu mangoes,” Selisana said. She learned of her sister’s death when his son called her past 1:30 a.m. about the freak accident.

The pickup driver, who tested positive for alcohol use, was charged in court for reckless driving and homicide.