Cebu-based AppleOne Properties Inc. (API) has ventured into the health care business.
Known for the development of global hotel brands in the Visayas and Mindanao regions, API formed the AppleOne Medical Group (AMG) in 2020 to assist provincial hospitals which have been facing rough sailing for years.
“When we established the AMG, it was the proverbial ‘leap of faith’ as we forayed into the unfamiliar territory of hospital management, guided only by our years of experience in property development,” revealed AppleOne president and CEO Ray Go Manigsaca.
“We aim to build better health care experiences through competence with a more patient-focused approach,” he added.
The first to forge a joint venture with the new firm was the Visayas Community Medical Center (VCMC), a Level 3, 200-bed hospital in Cebu City with at least 700 affiliate doctors.
Rebranded as the Visayas Medical Hospital, it has transitioned into specialized care and has been expanding its services to managing the health care of companies. Bringing in its hospitality expertise, the facility features a mixed-use, medical arts building which has hotel-like features for locators.
“VCMC is close to my heart as our family have been patients here when we were children,” Manigsaca said. “We would like to repay and pay it forward for its health care to the Cebu community by making it more responsive to the changing times.”
VCMC was established by the United Church of Christ (UCCP) in 1952 as the Metro Cebu Community Hospital, with a grant from American Presbyterian missionaries.
The second facility admitted to the AMG fold was the Davao City-based AppleOne Brokenshire Medical Corp., a 200-bed Level 3 general training hospital which was rehabilitated after experiencing financial problems in the 1980s.
The latest addition to the AMG portfolio in 2022 is the level 2 100-bed United Shalom Hospital in Tacloban City, with some 140 affiliated doctors.
Formerly the Bethany Hospital, it is a pioneer medical institution in the Leyte-Samar area founded by the Presbyterian Church in the USA in the pre-World War 2 era. Partially damaged by supertyphoon Yolanda in 2013, it reopened a few years later to resume its healing ministry.
AppleOne Properties is the builder of the Sheraton Mactan Resort, and its adjunct high-rise The Residences, a luxury development in Cebu.
Its current projects are the soon-to-open soon Fairfield by Marriott Inns and Suites, Mahi Center near the Mactan airport, the ongoing JW Marriott Panglao Island Resort and Spa in Bohol, and Radisson Blu Hotel in Cagayan de Oro City.
