COTABATO CITY, Philippines—A US-based physician, who was a close friend of Felomina Nacario-Ferolin—the nurse who died during the Oct. 8 grenade attack at the church of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Pikit, North Cotabato—said he has been organizing medical missions in her honor.
Dr. Anacleto Belleza Millendez, also the founder of The Beautiful Heart Foundation, said on Monday the medical missions would cover Pikit and the nearby Maguindanao town of Pagalungan.
Millendez was Ferolin’s classmate at the Pikit Elementary School.
He said the news of Ferolin’s death in a senseless act of violence was devastating because she was a dedicated public servant, who always had the poor in her mind.
“What a loss to the community considering her long years of dedicated public health nursing career in Pagalungan and Pikit,” Millendez told Radio dxMS here.
At the time of her death, Ferolin was head nurse of the Pagalungan municipal hospital.
Ferolin, 54, was among two victims who died of multiple shrapnel injuries during the grenade attack against the UCCP church in Pikit.
The other fatality was teacher Gina Gabilona.
Millendez described Ferolin as a jolly and friendly person, who was willing to work beyond her working hours to help the poor.
As part of his tribute to Ferolin, whom he called “Mina,” Millendez said he was initially sending boxes of medicine to Pikit to be distributed among the poor.
The medical missions would soon follow, he said.
The conduct of medical missions was not a new thing for the US-based physician.
As an active partner of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate’s I-Watch program, Millendez also previously spearheaded medical outreach in other parts of Mindanao and communities in Metro Manila and Bulacan.
But the upcoming missions to Pikit and Pagalungan would be more special, he said.
“This is in loving memory of my classmate and dear friend, a dedicated public health nurse, Felomina Nacario-Ferolin, a woman with a beautiful heart,” Millendez said.
“Her untimely demise would remind us over and over again, that despite this senseless act of violence and terrorism that claimed the life of this beautiful woman, God has a purpose beyond human understanding why tragedies happen like this—that goodness prevails over evil,” he added.
Also in memory of Ferolin, Millendez is calling for volunteers as he has firmed up plans to put up a chapter of The Beautiful Heart Foundation in Pikit.
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