Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital (Lourdes Hospital), a tertiary hospital located in Sta. Mesa, Manila, celebrates its 75th anniversary this year with a new mission and vision and the “One Big Mission” campaign to make health care accessible to Filipino families and communities.
Since its inauguration on July 15, 1948, Lourdes Hospital has grown from a 50-bed 3-story hospital into a 200-bed facility with a work force complement of over 700 talents. Its annual gross revenue breached the P1-billion mark in 2020 with a pre-pandemic admission census of about 12,000 patients annually.
Lourdes has 400 active and visiting physicians. As a training hospital, it is home to five medical residency programs—Internal Medicine, OB-Gynecology, Surgery, Pediatrics, and Radiology.
“Lourdes Hospital is 75 years old now, and a pillar in the healthcare industry,” said Paul Richard T. Camangian, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital’s President and CEO. “We are a proud member of the Metro Pacific Health network and a committed partner to our patients’ lifelong health-care needs. We cater to patients from every sector including the marginalized sector.”
Replacement of hospitals destroyed by war
The hospital was founded as a 50-bed, three-story hospital by Dr. Basilio J. Valdes, a Major General in the Philippine Army, and Dr. and Mrs. Carlos Casas. Lourdes Hospital was established primarily to augment the requirement for medical facilities, most of which were destroyed during World War II. Then Archbishop of Manila Most Reverend Michael J. O’Doherty, inaugurated the hospital on July 15, 1948.
Dr. Valdes became the first Medical Director, while Dr. Casas was appointed Hospital Administrator. Joining them were four sisters from the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS).
Dr. and Mrs. Casas relinquished ownership of the hospital when it was sold to SSpS in November 1957. Sr. Irmingarda Feld, SSpS, was appointed hospital administrator, Dr. Valdez remained medical director, and Dr. Casas became his assistant medical director.
Turning point
After more than six decades, the SSpS sisters finally decided to turn over the management of Lourdes hospital to East Manila Hospital Managers Corp. (EMHMC). SSpS and EMHMC entered into a long-term lease agreement allowing EMHMC to manage and handle the day-to-day operations of Lourdes Hospital. EMHMC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Metro Pacific Health Corporation.
“We saw the need to review our mission and vision statements and our values because they were no longer attuned to the sign of the times,” said Camangian. “In our new mission statement, for example, we highlighted that Lourdes Hospital is a community of professionals sharing expertise in delivering safe, holistic, and innovative people-focused care.”
On the other hand, the vision statement indicated that Lourdes Hospital is the preferred institution that provides “professional and service excellence.” The patients are our topmost priority. We will never compromise on that. We don’t just provide health-care service, we make health care accessible by providing reasonably priced services. The new values included compassion and innovation.
Camangian adds, “As our way of spreading the word about our new mission, vision, and values among our doctors and staff, we launched the Alagang Lourdes Campaign the first week of April 2023. Alagang Lourdes is a service culture hinged on three propositions: alagang may puso, alagang tapat, and alagang abot-kaya. It is important that our doctors and staff imbibe this so that we will be able to deliver the care that our patients deserve as well as improve their experience.”
CSR campaign
To celebrate Lourdes Hospital’s 75th anniversary, the hospital launched “The One Big Mission” corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaign. As the hospital pays it forward to the community, Lourdes Hospital will conduct a series of medical and surgical missions, community outreach programs in identified barangays and provinces, bloodletting with partner institutions and local government units, and a recycling program called “Resiklo Lourdes.”
This is a yearlong activity, and they have programs scheduled every month. They kicked off the activity with medical missions in January and February. In March, they had the Adopt-a-Patient program where they gave a free gallstones surgery, and last month, they launched the Resiklo Lourdes program.
The yearlong activities will culminate in the hospital-wide “Paskong Lourdes” celebration in December.
“We all know what happened three years ago,” said Camangian. “People are going back to see their doctors and get themselves checked. They now realize the importance of keeping healthy during these uncertain times, and we are just grateful to our patients for trusting Lourdes Hospital with their health and healing. This is our commitment to the nation and Filipino families, and this is what we do best day in and day out.”
