The agony of a young father and how SIGN helped restore his faith in modern medicine

Alix Japitan, a young Filipino father of three small children, the primary bread winner of his family stopped believing that he could ever walk again without support and go back to work and provide for his family. He has fractured his femur two years back while trying to cut wood to thatch his roof. He had been treated conservatively with skeletal traction and splint at a center near his village. He had no money to travel to the nearest tertiary hospital, a six hour bus ride from his place. For months he kept his faith strong in the treatment provided to him that he would be able to go back to his work again but his fracture had never really fully healed.

After suffering like that for two years his brother convinced him to visit Davao Medical Center. He was reluctant. Going to a big center for him meant more waste of money because he wouldn’t be able to walk again,  his little children would remain hungry just the way they were, his wife uncared for and his old parents just as dependent. A SIGN implant was used to treat his fracture at Davao Medical Center. The patient couldn’t believe when his doctors told him he could walk again and go back to his work. With tears in his eyes the father thanked them and said ‘I’m so grateful for the people who have provided me with a new life. I can now look into the eyes of my family members without guilt. I can be the same person once again. The father who worked hard to provide for his children, the husband who helped his wife run the family and the son who had promised his parents he would take care of them in their old age.”
 

AFRICA

1.COAST PROVINCE GENERAL HOSPITAL

Mombasa, Kenya

Named in Recognition of: Kiwanis Club of Richland- The Max Kreiter Family 

Eldoret, Kenya

Named in Recognition of: Kiwanis Club of the Valley-Auburn, WA-In Honor of Sylvester & Doris Neal 

3. NYANZA PROVINCIAL GENERAL HOSPITAL

Kisumu, Kenya

Named in Recognition of: Division 18, PNW District In the name of Jack Nicolson.

4. HOSPITAL CENTRAL DE MAPUTO

Maputo, Mozambique 

Named in Recognition of: Kiwanis Club of Richland WA. In honor of Ralph and Miriam Curran 

5. MUHIMBILI ORTHOPAEDIC INSTITUTE

Dar es Salam, Tanzania

Named in Recognition of: Kiwanis Club of Port Townsend In Honor of Conrad Oien.

6. UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL

Lusaka, Zambia

Named in Recognition of: Division 18 Kiwanis, PNW District

CENTRAL AMERICA 

1. HOSPITAL REGIONAL UNIVERITARIO JOSE MARIA CABRAL Y BAEZ

Cabral Y Baez, Dominican Republic

Named in Recognition of: Division 4, PNW District In Memory of Paul Beardsley

2. ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL

Guatemala, Guatemala

Named in Recognition of: Kiwanis Club of Richland Milton and Rhoda Lewis Memorial.

MIDDLE EAST

1. EMERGENCY HOSPITAL KABUL

Kabul, Afghanistan

Named in Recognition of: Kiwanis Club of Tri-cities Industry

2. KANDAHAR REGIONAL MILITARY HOSPITAL

Kandahar, Afghanistan

Named in Recognition of: Patty Fraley- CTTS Team

3. AL-JUMHOORI TEACHING HOSPITAL

Named in Recognition of: Tri-City Industry Kiwanis Foundation- in honor of John & Margery Yegge

4. MERCY TEACHING HOSPITAL

Peshawar, Pakistan

Named in Recognition of: Kiwanis Club of Bellingham

5.GILANI HOSPITAL COMPLEX

Abbottabad, Pakistan

Named in Recognition of: Yale, Abbotsford Collegiate & Robert Bateman Key Clubs of Abbotsford Canada

ASIA

1. KOSSAMAK HOSPITAL

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Named in Recognition of: PNW District Kiwanis International

2.  DR. ZAINOEL ABIDIN BANDA ACEH

 Ganda Aceh, Indonesia

Named in Recognition of: Kiwanis Club of Klamath Falls The McKellar Clinic

3. YANGON GENERAL HOSPITAL

Named in Recognition of: Division 46 PNW Distritct

4. TANSEN HOSPITAL

Kathmandu, Nepal

Named in Recognition of: Kiwanis Club of Seatle In Memory of Ed Beiersdorf

5. CORASON LOCSIN MONTELIBANO MEMORIAL REGIONAL HOSPITAL

Bacolod, Philippines 

6. DAVAO MEDICAL CENTER 

Davao City, Philippines

Named in Recognition of: Kiwanis International Foundation

7. 108 MILITARY HOSPITAL

Hanoi, Vietnam

Named in Recognition of: Kiwanis Club of Richland Ken and Peg Young Memorial

8.  HUE CENTRAL HOSPITAL

Hue, Vietnam

Named in Recognition of: Kiwanis Club of Tri-City Industry