JPPHSC boosts indigent mothers

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

A GROUP of 20 indigent mothers are benefiting from the livelihood projects of the Jose Panganiban Primary Health Service Cooperative (JPPHSC).

They belonged to HAMIS Mother Club, which aims to reduce morbidity among family members by giving them proper knowledge on how to take care of the health of every member of the family.

Hamis stands for Health and Management for Innovative Service.

Likewise, they were also trained in running livelihood projects that involved cooking, sewing and cosmetology.

Because of the co-ops performance, the Hamis Confederation of Awardees, Inc included JPPHSC among groups given financial grants of P125,000 to promote its livelihood projects.

Encouraged by the generous assistance, the co-op set aside a counter fund of P150,000.

The co-op is funding its Hamis project from such funds.

For three months in 2012, the 20 indigent mothers attended a workshop every Saturday, where they learned about responsible parenthood, child care and nutrition.

In the afternoon, grouped into three, they attended special classes at the Jose Panganiban National High School (JPNHS).

The first group took up a course in cosmetology, the second cooking and the third garment-making.

After three months of training, members of the cosmetology group were each provided a livelihood kit, which they now use to service women in their neighborhood, who needed manicure and pedicure jobs.

Those in cooking were each provided food cart, which they now use to sell cooked food and snacks in front of the cooperative hospital.

The sewing group has been given jobs to produce drapes and curtains, bed sheets and blankets, pillow cases for the hospital.

To evaluate the beneficiaries' performance, the livelihood committee has required them to meet regularly at the co-op office.

JPPHSC has also shouldered each of the mothers' medical/healthcare expenses under PhilHealth for one year.

After this period, the mothers would have to pay for their own healthcare expenses.

Co-op chairperson Priscilla Mariano said that the project is the organization's way of giving back to the community.

"It's part of our social responsibility," she said.

Mariano said a team from the co-op regularly visited the homes of the beneficiary mothers to evaluate the results of their projects.