Senior citizens of Barangay Telabastagan prep up for cataract urgery at the Sacred Heart Medical Center last Tuesday.
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Firm in the belief that “no one in the society should be left behind for a more progressive country,” the JENRA Foundation, Inc. (JFI) has continuously offered its assistance to mostly poor Kapampangans by offering food supplements and conducting feeding programs to organizing medical and dental missions in its desire to help babies and children as well as senior citizens.
In line with this belief, some 58 senior citizens from Barangay Telabastagan here were the beneficiaries of free cataract, pre and post, operations at the nearby Sacred Heart Medical Center. According John Bonifacio, JFI’s head coordinator, this is the first free cataract operation offered by the foundation to senior citizens.
He said the first batch consisted of 13 senior citizen- beneficiaries who will be operated first in the left eye and then the right eye next week. The second batch will also follow the same way, he said.
However, due to the health conditions of some of the beneficiaries, not all were qualified for the initial batch since one of them had high blood pressure. Bonifacio said the patient-beneficiaries should pass all health requirements before they could undergo cataract surgeries.
Bonifacio also said some senior citizens in the same barangay were given free reading glasses since they do not need cataract surgeries. Dr. Joy Chua of the Chua Eye Clinic in Balibago, Angeles City did the cataract surgeries. According to its Facebook webpage, “JFI was established in 1990 by its chairman Tan Song Bok. It was created as a way of giving back to the community of the Tan Family.”