This year marks the beginning of the QUILTS Awards, an annual event that celebrates the hard work of dedicated frontliners in the fight against HIV. One of the winners of the first-ever QUILTS Awards includes Luntiang Silong-Bulacan Medical Center, which won two awards for Linkage to Care and Differentiated Service Delivery (DSD) and Case Management.
QUILTS stands for Quality Uptake and Improvements in Lifesaving Treatment Services and was inspired by the AIDS Quilts – a global symbol of solidarity in the fight to end HIV and in remembrance of those who died from AIDS.
“The QUILTS Awards is a collaboration between the Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC) project, which is led by FHI 360 and supported by PEPFAR through USAID, the AIDS Society of the Philippines, and various Department of Health Centers for Health and Development in CALABARZON, Central Luzon, and Metro Manila,” according to Teresita Bagasao, Project Director of EpiC in the Philippines. “With these awards, we hope to highlight the work being carried out by health facilities, local civil society organizations, and local government units (LGUs) to provide quality care and treatment for people living with HIV (PLHIV). May they all be empowered to continue the fight to end HIV in the Philippines by 2030.”
One of the commendable facilities is the Luntiang Silong-Bulacan Medical Center, a DOH designated HIV Treatment Hub in Central Luzon. Ronchie D. Santos, the Hub Manager and HACT (HIV and AIDS Core Team) Nurse, cites the strong collaboration between the hub staff, the hospital, and the LGU as a key factor that helped them become the Linkage to Care Champion. The Linkage to Care Award is given to the facility or organization that reported the shortest turnaround time from diagnosis to treatment within April 2021 to March 2022.
Luntiang Silong is also the DSD and Case Management Champion, an award given to the facility or organization that offered different approaches in providing continued treatment to PLHIV clients during the coverage period while COVID-19 lockdowns were in place, resulting in little to no service interruptions. According to Santos, one of the challenges that their patients faced was getting their medication regularly when their area of residence was under strict lockdown. In order to assist patients, the facility collaborated with hospital counsellors and staff, social workers, as well as people from the local government unit to help continue the delivery of treatment services despite challenges in mobility.
Garnering the DSD and Case Management Award also means that Luntiang Silong-Bulacan Medical Center has provided the best high-quality, person-centered, and stigma-free case management, resulting in improved access to services for PLHIV within their areas.
One of the ways they have done this is by providing holistic care. Aside from regularly following up with patients regarding their medication, the facility also initiated an online mental health support session. Santos shared, “Sa gitna ng pandemya talagang nagtaasan yung kanilang mga pangangailangan, lalo na sa mental health dahil sila ay na-lockdown. So nagkaroon kami ng online learning group sessions na tinatawag naming QuaranTalk. Kahit sila ay under lockdown, nagkakaroon pa rin tayo ng mga kumustahan, at ito ay nagpatuloy hanggang sa bumaba yung ating mga lockdown protocols.”
It helps that all the counsellors at the facility are also members of Usbong ng Bulakenyo Inc., a non-profit that raises awareness about HIV in their communities. In addition, the facility has included people living with HIV from within the community as volunteers and staff members at Luntiang Silong, empowering them to advocate for themselves among stakeholders and within the greater community of their area. One of them is Miguel Atoli, a former client and now Case Manager at Luntiang Silong. For Atoli, his work and advocacy are personal.
“Every time na may namamatay na pasyente, hindi ko lang nilalagay dito (points at his head), inilalagay ko dito (points at his heart). Kailangan pa namin tumulong. Kailangan pa naming mag-reach out para itong mga pagkamatay na ito ay hindi na ma-experience ng mga people with HIV na hindi nakakapagpa-test.”
All of us here are college graduates. We have been told to leave because we have greater opportunities outside. But do you know what makes us happy, why we stay? It is not the money, but the clients. Especially since these clients are lifelong clients. The babies in our community, we are godparents to almost all of them. As a counselor, knowing that this child is the result or benefits from our careful management of their parents or of the kids themselves, that is one of the best feelings.
Atoli adds, “Sa program na ito, bigyan mo lang sila ng two to five months, makikita mo na kaagad yung pinaghirapan mo bilang counselor.”
Other winners at the QUILTS Awards include Meycauayan Social Hygiene Clinic and Batangas Medical Center (Treatment and Care Adherence Award); SHIP and SAIL Clinics (Treatment and Care, Recall Award); Laguna Medical Center (Treatment and Care, Early Adopter Award); and Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital (Top Rapid HIV Diagnostic Algorithm Facility).
Santos encourages other facilities and organizations as they continue to deliver high-quality care and treatment to PLHIV. While raising awareness and being evidence-based are necessary, the key is work that comes from the heart.
The PEPFAR- and USAID-supported EpiC project provides strategic technical assistance to HIV programs in more than 40 countries. It was developed to accelerate progress toward HIV epidemic control. Through the QUILTS Awards, the EpiC project in the Philippines hopes to continue empowering and encouraging key stakeholders, partners, and the PLHIV community in making the vision of HIV epidemic control a reality.
