May 15, 2003 - Sixth of a series

Aries speaks up

The series at a glance: 1 - It's the teachers turn 2 - Doctors bailing out 3 - Arthur's tale 4 - U.S. nursing shortage 5 - Nurses and recruiters 6 - Aries speaks up 7 - A price to pay C - The real war (and other views)

     Last week was a big disappointment. People magazine came up with its list of 50 Most Beautiful People and I am not on it. Imagine that.

     I mean, how could they? It's like making a list of "Roxas Hall's 2 Most Eligible Bachelors" and Dr. Binayas is not on it. If you ask me, he should be the only one on that list. He should be both of them.

     So I guess, I went into a little depression and one of this dreaded "writer's block" disease. Of course, I get it more often than real writers but it's very disappointing having envisioned a column for a whole week only to have it all replaced by the nagging thoughts that I could have easily replaced Collin Farrell on that list.

     The good news is, I am only writing about half of the column today. Dr. Aries P. Bajoyo (1992) e-mailed me over the weekend to share his thoughts on my "Filipinos packing up" series. Aries is one of the College's alumni who has successfully trained in the United States. He is currently practicing Internal Medicine in Oklahoma. As far as I could remember, when we were still in school, Aries had already made up his mind to train and practice in the U.S.

"From experience, I know for a fact that material wealth by itself does not bring happiness but as a graduate of WVSU College of Medicine, I do not think I would have as much professional fulfillment if I was here practicing as a nurse instead of practicing as a physician." - APB ('92)

     Aries was a classmate and a very good friend who impressed me once by successfully provoking Dr. Mes Granada to a fight on the basketball court. We were then junior interns playing the residents in a supposed-to-be friendly basketball game on the University Hospital's basketball court. Sparks flew after Dr. Granada accused Aries of giving him a "cheap shot" (dirty play, not within the rules, but, hey, still subject to interpretation). No punches hit (I am not sure if punches were even thrown) and Aries was very apologetic afterwards and insisted that wasn't a cheap shot and he did not intend to hurt. (The real reason, of course, is, he was not through with his Surgery rotation yet.)

     I was both the coach and cheerleader of that junior interns team, and since I know more about basketball than anybody else on this Earth, I have to say, that was part of the game and was not a cheap shot. But could we have done anything differently? We just did the most reasonable thing as mere peons and came up to Dr. Granada and apologized.

     But let's just say, for the sake of this conversation going further, that it was indeed a cheap shot. What was Intern Bajoyo thinking? Didn't he realize Dr. Granada was a resident? As I was driving to work this morning, I thought of myself as Aries and started making up reasons why I did what I did and ended up with a top ten list.

     And so, with due apologies to David Letterman, I present my Top Ten list - "Intern Bajoyo's top ten excuses why he gave Dr. Granada a cheap shot during a basketball game."

1. "Someone told me it was 'Hit A Resident Today' day."
2. "Just my best Charles Barkley impression."
3. "I missed my chance to do it during pre-op/post-op."
4. "That was just half of what the coach ordered."
5. "Jerry Gomez bet me I wouldn't do it."
6. "Dr. Granada? I heard 'Dictator from Grenada'."
7. "We were beating them up so bad, I wanted a little excitement."
8. "Let's see, 10 beers and not do something stupid?"
9. "You're not just yourself after weeks of endorsement tortures."
10. "From my angle, he looked exactly like one of Saddam's sons."

     Aries married his long-time girlfriend, Glenda, and they are now happily settled in Oklahoma city with their son, Elijah Jordan. I wrote a column about Elijah before and I am happy to report that he is currently doing very, very well. He recently got his first belt in Taekwondo.

     As promised, here's Dr. Aries P. Bajoyo, unedited:

     "Persistence is a hallmark of success and Dr. del Rosario definitely had persistence. He is a great role model for younger physicians to follow."

     "I had to go through a similar route but the Good Lord made sure that the process I had to go through was not as arduous since I do not think I would have had Dr. del Rosario's persistence."

     "After post graduate internship, I took the Philippine Board Exams and within a month I also took the USMLE Step 1 and 2. The review for the exams was truly memorable. We stayed at this hell house at St. Ignatius Village whose owners were determined to squeeze as much money out of us "promdi" doctors to be as possible. I still remember the slop made up of weeds and fish boiled in water that they would try to pass off as soup."

     "Those shameless $#@%^&* were also thieves. One of our co-reviewees had a bucket of fried chicken which she had requested to be heated. By the time it got back, it was obvious that there were several pieces that had been taken. The last straw was when they tried to serve us a meal consisting of a slice of bread and a smear of peanut butter on a plate so small it looked like skidmarks on underwear. I remember being so angry I was speaking "Ilonglog" (Tagalog and Ilonggo). "Ano dumdum mo sa amon,hayop?"

     "As a result of this, we often ate at Cubao area establishments. I remember our group descending on a local Pizza Hut. For 88 pesos it was all you can eat and drink. Being competitive by nature we all decided to see whose GI tract had the largest capacity. I thought I was doing well after consuming a whole family size pizza and a jug of Sprite but that was just the appetizer for Dr. Dexter Dale Briones. If I remember right, he went through more than 2 family size pizzas and 2 jugs of drinks and he was still licking his chops. Only the dirty looks from the owners prompted him to stop. What was surprising was Dr. Moody Erum eating just 2 slices and I think Dr. Tina Lopez (current Mrs. Erum) consuming 6 slices. Way to a woman's heart is through her stomach?"

     "There was also this other chinese all you can eat (or as my my friend Rolour would say, "Eat you can 'ol") buffet that we went to, the name of which escapes me at the moment. It was not really all you can eat since the catch was you had to be able to fit all your food on their plate and you can only go once. They also made sure that their plates were small. I remember filling our plates up to the edges and then we placed our hands under the plates with our fingers sticking out at the edge of the plates. We then stacked more food over our fingers. I can still remember the comments of the people there, "Tingnan mo nga itong mga praning."

     "At night, to calm our weary spirits we would sit at Farmer's Market in Cubao and listen to live bands playing whatever music was popular at that time (Isang Linggo ng Pag-Ibig?). We had some of our review materials with us but I am not sure how much of that was actually perused although we did make sure that we were well-hydrated. Traffic was terrible and I remember going back to St. Ignatius on top of a jeepney in the middle of the night and having to throw rocks at the windows so someone would open the gate. This practice was repeated for one last time after the exams. I had gone to the rest room and when I went back I was surprised to see one of my companions in conversation (negotiation?) with a member of the opposite sex who was obviously plying her wares for commercial purposes rather than for family and companionship. He must have been suffering from malt-induced potomania since even Dr. Antonio Tan would have ran in the opposite direction of this apparition. I managed to drag him out of harm's way but I never could go back to Farmer's Market for fear that I would be associated with what transpired there."

     "All of our trials and tribulations during the review must have worked since I passed all the exams. I headed off to Manapla, Negros Occidental while waiting for my interviews. This was probably one of the best times I have ever had. Young, free and single was way too much fun. Under the tutelage of Dr.Pabalinas I learned the importance a good diet (balut, inasal and hot Victorias sardines with egg), physical exercise (volleyball and basketball), keeping your surgical skills in top shape by making sure your hands are kept limber (they played Mahjong and pusoy all the time) and to always remember that nurses are an integral part of a good healthcare team."

     "Those halcyon days were punctuated by trips to Bacolod in the guise of Continuing Medical Education. During one of our trips, I remember stopping at Tortosa and having one of the best meals ever. A humungous mound of crabs had been boiled by one of our friends in a cauldron and there was steaming white rice on banana leaves. We had to go through a sugar cane field to get to this hut by the beach. We also went on a trip with friends most of whom were nurses, to an island with white sand beaches off Cadiz City. I would be glad to discuss details of this trip at another place and time. Let's just say that, although I was there less than a year, I made a lot of very good friends."

     "I obtained a B1 visa for interviews to the U.S. and ended up in Oklahoma City. I took the Step 3 of the USMLE and again passed. I was on a J1 visa at the time but during my second year of residency I was already looking for a place to obtain a J1 waiver. Ended up in the small town of Elk City a little over an hour outside of Oklahoma City and stayed there for about 4 years. I am now practicing here in Oklahoma City. It was hard but it has been more than worth it."

     "If I had to do it over again though, my advice to those just heading out of high school would be, take up nursing. There is a tremendous need for nurses here. But, do not go to the U.S. right away. If you are interested at all in becoming a doctor, go ahead and apply to medical school after finishing nursing school. Enter the U.S. as a nurse, get all your immigration papers in order, then while working as a nurse, take the USMLE. With sufficient study and dedication, graduates of WVSU College of Medicine can definitely handle the USMLE. While it is hard to enter a residency program, given time and diligence you will be able to get in."

     "Nurses work hard and are paid well here. Expedition, Explorer, Lexus, Mercedes, a nice house, whatever makes you feel fulfilled, as long as you're willing to take on the debt, there are thousands of businesses here who will take your money, and you will be able to get all this while working as a nurse. However, if you are a physician here in the U.S., depending on your specialty, you can definitely make much more than what the average nurses earn."

     "From experience, I know for a fact that material wealth by itself does not bring happiness but as a graduate of WVSU College of Medicine, I do not think I would have as much professional fulfillment if I was here practicing as a nurse instead of practicing as a physician." - APB

     A few days after my previous column was posted, I got an e-mail from a reader basically saying, "the collusion between recruiters and employers doesn't stop with nurses." She gave me a number of somebody who she said is a victim of greedy recruiters but isn't a nurse. I called the number the next day.

     The person at the other end of the line wanted to share his story but would not mention his name. He came to America about 2 years ago on a working visa - H-1B, the visa for foreign professionals from A to Z, basically from accountants to zoologists. He was recruited along with others to work in South Dakota as housekeeping at a popular hotel chain. It was perfectly legal, he said. The recruiting company even had seminars at city-area hotels, most notably the Amigo Terrace. The idea of getting a U.S. visa to fold linens or make beds in South Dakota was just too much to ignore. Well, he was very willing to go to South Dakota even if it meant trimming Lincoln's beard at Mt. Rushmore.

     He said he paid an extravagant amount of money as recruitment fee. He did not disclose the amount but added one could never recoup it in six months of working with minimum pay. But, like the others, he was disillusioned by the thoughts of going to the U.S. with a job waiting and a six-month contract to start. They were also promised that the contract could be extended. They got their U.S. visas without a problem.

     The story quickly turned ugly. Upon arrival in South Dakota, there were no bed-making jobs at all. Heck, the hotel wasn't even built yet. They were quickly deployed as workers to help build the hotel they were originally supposed to fold linens for. They were paid the minimum (about $5.50 an hour) as construction workers, told they were non-union workers, justifying the low pay, and were threatened with deportation if they complained.

     It turned out, they became victims of the "scam" I described in my previous column regarding nurses. Philippine-based recruiters would charge thousands of dollars per recruit then share the money with the employer who signed the attestation to the U.S. Department of Labor, whether the job is available or not. The really sad part, is, these employers are Filipinos themselves and the supposed-to-be ringleader in South Dakota is or was associated with a Philippine consulate office. My source mentioned a name (he also worked for him on weekends finishing his basement) and a consulate office but I purposely ignored it. There is no way I could prove this to be true, and I am not about to waste my time finding out if I am being told the truth or not. I believed him, that much I can say.

     It dawned on these workers that their contracts will not be renewed so they planned among themselves where to go next, a majority of them went to their nearest relatives in the U.S. Those with relatives were kind enough to take the others without one. They gave each other their contact numbers and made a promise to call if a job is available. Although my source felt he was cheated, most of his companions believed they were lucky to be in the U.S. The question remains - were they victims or beneficiaries?

     Several months ago, a distant relative wondered about the state of South Dakota. I told her about Mt. Rushmore and how it gets real cold there during winter. I asked her why she was so interested. She replied she's getting a job at a hotel there.

     I wish I knew about this story much earlier than last week.

     This week's FINAL WORD comes from Dr. Mi-an Pama-Ausan:

     "...It was a pleasant surprise for you to mention me in your column."

     I probably deserve an extension for not remembering your married name.

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     The author's e-mail address is at drgarcia@wvsumedaa.com

     Views expressed on this column and any other by-lined articles on this site are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organization or its members. For comments, please e-mail the author.