BALANGA CITY — The Philippine Heart Association (PHA), an organization of cardiologists in the country, has for its new president a physician here known for advocating Hands Only Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) even in the remotest villages.
Dr. Orlando Bugarin, practicing cardiologist in this city, got the highest number of votes during the association’s recent electronic polls. His winning was announced during a virtual business meeting of the PHA.
Past president Dr. Aurelia Leus turned over the post to the new PHA leader witnessed by his wife, Dr. Maricar Banzon–Bugarin and sons Joseph and Joshua.
Also elected were Drs. Gilbert Vilela, vice president; Jude Erric Cinco, secretary; Ronald Cuyco, treasurer; and directors Rodney Jimenez, Walid Amil, and Luigi Pierre Segundo.
As immediate past president, Leus is part of the incumbent Board which has two lay officers — VP for external affairs Atty. Darlene Marie Berberabe, and VP for finance Romeo Cruz, both presidential appointees.
Bugarin will now lead the 1,924-member PHA which has a campaign since 2015 to “bring CPR to every Filipino home.”
In Bataan, Bugarin has conducted various seminars on Hands Only CPR.
“Ito ay ginagawang advocacy ng PHA. Tinuturuan natin ang mga pangkaraniwang tao na gumawa ng CPR bilang pagsalba sa mga taong may cardiac arrest gamit ang kamay lamang,” Bugarin said in one of the trainings.
He explained that the CPR training before was more in the use of mouth to mouth method but ordinary people found this hard to learn unlike the new technique that uses hands compressed to the breast.
