LOPECILLO, Dr Geoffrey
Philippines - family doctor
What work do you do now?
For almost thirty years now, I have worked as a family physician in the Philippines. This entails seeing patients with various complaints/illnesses, physical, or otherwise. Of course includes common diseases in a tropical country like mine, such as dengue.
But what interests me most in practice, is the knowledge I impart to the patients regarding prevention of complications. My medical training gave me the skills to handle diabetic and hypertensive patients. As a family physician, I was overwhelmed when the Philippine Society of Hypertension awarded me the title of a certified specialist of the said society. This pushed me further to hone my skills as a family physician. I also work as a school physician in a college institution which is close to the place of my clinical practice. On top of these, I was given the privilege as a visiting consultant in family medicine in a secondary level hospital in our community.
How did you end up as a family physician?
When I arrived thirty three (33) years ago in this small municipality. There was just a handful of medical practitioners. But what I saw and observed was that, the community badly needed a doctor, who had the heart and mind of a total/complete family physician.
What other interesting things you have done?
Outside my practice as a family doctor, I am the chief executive officer (CEO) of our health cooperative. As the CEO I am responsible for the day to day operational activities of the four (4) branches of our diagnostic clinics/laboratories.
Photo: The life of a rural doctor in Philippines - Island schools activity asking medical mission group for assistance of renovation of the school - Geoffrey at left of poster
Also, recently I was elected as one of the Board of Directors of the Philippine Red Cross (Province of Albay chapter) and, as such we are given the task to raise funds and chart the direction of the Red Cross in our province. Our region by the way is one of the disaster prone places in the Philippines. Partly I am also involved in the training of safety officers in local industries. This is the BOSH and COSH which stands for basic occupational Safety and Health and Construction Occupational Safety and health. This is a very fulfilling task for me because I am able to apply medical issues in a much wider context. My work and background also gave me the chance to be a lecturer in legal medicine – lecturing to fourth year college level students in the field of Criminology.
I am also interested in medical volunteerism - one volunteer work worth mentioning is my involvement in the worldwide mission of the Tzu Chi Compassionate Buddhist Foundation. This work helped me channel my expertise to the less fortunate, but more importantly, it has given me the bigger chance to develop deeper compassion and understanding for the victims of the tragedies as Tzu Chi workers visit victims of calamities worldwide.
Photo: Geoffrey (with roller brush) helps out with painting the local school
Your interests outside work?
I am into serious scuba diving. But then again much of my interest is working for uplifting the lives of marginalized members of the society. Since our country is a third world country, this stimulates my interest to work a little bit better and with more passion as a Family Physician.