Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS
President, SPSA, 1981
The Korean War (1950-53) and the Vietnam War (1954-75) had depleted the healthcare manpower in the United States. As a solution to this medical urgency and unsafe vacuum, the United States opened its doors fully and invited healthcare workforce from around the world. The Fly Now – Pay Later incentive facilitated the newly established Exchange Visitor’s Program for the rapid immigration of physicians, nurses, and other allied personnel to America from various countries around the world, especially from The Philippines. The proficiency of Filipinos in speaking English fluently, as a second language even in their native country, made them more attractive candidates.
The trek of the physicians to the United States, which mostly started in the 1950s, brought in thousands seeking for internship and residency training in various specialties, a great number in surgery. Many of them later realized their dream of becoming American citizens. A significant number of these Fil-Am surgeons trained at prestigious medical centers in the USA and some even excelled in academia. One of them is Hernan M. Reyes, MD, FACS, who eventually became Chief of Surgery and Head of Pediatric Surgery at Chicago’s famous Cook County Hospital, Professor of Surgery at Rush Medical College and the University of Illinois.
Wanting to establish a collegial bond among Fil-Am surgeons in America and Canada, an organizing committee from Chicago, headed by Hernan M. Reyes , with Isaias D. Sunga, as secretary, and the following as members, Vivencio R. Battung, Pedro A. Lucina, Juanito Bartolome, Jr., Carmelita Carriaga, and Andres O. Botuyan, all general surgeons, initiated the move on January 26, 1972 and determined there was enough interest among other Fil-Am surgeons around the country and neighboring Canada. Following three more meetings early that year, he Society of Philippine Surgeons in America was born and incorporated on April 6, 1972.
The first full meeting was held October 20, 1972 in San Francisco, in conjunction with the Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. On that fateful day, the San Francisco Holiday Inn and the Fisherman’s Wharf became the historical venues of the first official SPSA membership meeting, where about 50 Fil-Am surgeons from various sectors of the United States and Canada pledge their commitment to the refreshing vision, noble goals and societal objectives of the Society.
Official 2016 government data estimated about 22 percent of the more than 850,000 practicing physicians in the United States (216,182) were graduates from international medical schools, India, 23 percent (49,563), the Caribbean, 17 percent (35,971), The Philippines 6+ percent (13,507), and Mexico, 5 percent (10,111). This significant medical work force has helped strengthen the healthcare system of the United States for more than six decades, providing state-of-the-art medical/surgical care to Americans and Canadians.
Auto self-vanishing tribe
Just like life itself, the longevity of a specialized ethnic group in any place on earth is naturally and expectedly limited to attrition from various causes, most specially the ages of the members. The Fellows of the SPSA knew that from the day they decided to bond themselves to this Society of Fil-Am Surgeons. But like our own sojourn on earth, albeit not permanent, eternal, and quite finite, the SPSA, all its Fellows realistically realize, would one day vanish. The historic significance of this prestigious professional society is that, beyond its ethereal and physical presence, its accomplishments, positive societal impact, the individual contribution of its Fellows to humankind, like our own individual personal legacy we are leaving behind when our time comes, the SPSA, as it gradually walks into the sunset with head up high, etches its lasting footprint in history with pride and dignity.
SPSA 2.0 – The epilogue
Reminiscent of the October ’72 galvanizing consensus day in San Francisco, the next chapter in the life of the SPSA, naturally the last, is being chartered with the creation of The Past Presidents Council, to replace the traditional organizational structure of the Society, in view of our diminishing breed from natural attrition and the lack of interest among the few second and third generation Filipino descent surgeons in America, who consider themselves American surgeons, and rightly so.
To achieve this new objective, SPSA President Honorio Cruz created an Ad Hoc Committee to amend the By-Laws of the Society, with the following members: Hernan M. Reyes and Danny C. Fabito, co-chairs, and Ed Barcelona, Philip S. Chua, and Bayani Ignacio, and Ed Quiros as members. The president also appointed Danny C. Fabito as the Executive Director, Philip S. Chua, Convention Chair, Hernan M. Reyes, in-charge of the Golden Souvenir book.
To commemorate the 50th founding anniversary of the SPSA, a golden meeting of the SPSA Fellows will be held during the October 16-20, 2022 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons in San Diego, purposely chosen as the venue for its historical, full-cyclical, significance. At this commemoration, the SPSA Golden Anniversary Yearbook will be distributed and the Fellows will determine the next path for this last chapter of the Society.
The remaining noble question now is how the “remodeled” Society, which I chose to “carbon-date” as SPSA 2.0, could continue or even improve our humanitarian and educational services to our native land, The Philippines, and its suffering people, while most of us, now in our 70s and 80s, still could.
As proposed the SPSA Past Presidents Council, upon approval of the proposed amendments to our By-Laws, shall commit itself to continue and improve on our previous ongoing medical missions to minister to our marginalized fellow Filipinos in the hinterlands in The Philippines, who practically do not have access to adequate healthcare, to aid in the education and training of our fellow surgeons in the country in cooperation with the Department of Health, the Philippine College of Surgeons, the Philippine Medical Association, other local medical societies, and the various Philippine medical school alumni associations in the United States.
I would like to end this piece of nostalgia and a glimpse to the future of the SPSA by quoting the last segment of the history of the Society of Philippine Surgeons in America by our founding president, Hernan M. Reyes, published in the SPSA Silver Anniversary yearbook and our SPSAtoday.com website (Redirected: Today.SPSAtoday.com)
“What is in store for the SPSA? Only God knows. But whatever it will be, one thing is for certain: The Fellows of this exclusive and prestigious brotherhood of Filipino-American surgeons in the United States, who have honorably practiced their art in this country and have served the American people with dignity and pride, will leave behind an exalted and lasting legacy of professionalism, integrity, excellence, service to humanity, and compassion for their fellowmen.”
SPSA 2.0, von voyage and God bless!