TOGETHER with Mr. Jorge Malig, we have designed a Community Health Electronic Examination and Reporting System (CHEERS) that will be housed in a converted shipping container van.
The idea for CHEERS originally came from Mr. Malig, who wants to make available to all Filipinos several simple and affordable procedures such as urine and blood tests.
Based on our research, we found out that a simple urine test might be good enough to measure the blood sugar count of a patient, although his or her doctor might still want the patient to get a blood test, to get more accurate data.
Aside from urine and blood tests, more services will be added to CHEERS. According to Mr. Malig, he wants CHEERS to have solar panels so that it could have its own source of electric power.
He also wants to install a water condenser and or a rainwater collection, so that CHEERS could be partly independent of the local water supply. With sufficient solar panels, it may be enough for water filtration also.
On my part, I would like to include a small biogas unit, so that the methane produced gas could help reduce the electric power costs. The biogas may be used for cooking, for boiling and for the autoclave of the clinic instruments.
Hopefully, the savings from electric power and LPG expenses will help lower the costs of the testing services, because the goal is to keep the prices low and affordable by all patients.
VILLAGE INTEGRATED COMMUNITY SQUARE
Together with Mr. Malig, we have also designed a four-in-one facility that we have named the Village Integrated Community Square (VICS). It is composed of four shipping container vans that will be formed into a square, hence the name.
The middle of the square shall have a food garden that shall also double as a mini community park.
One of the container vans will function as a police outpost, another as a convenience store, another as an internet cafe, and another as a public toilet.
All the four vans are supposed to complement each other in terms of their individual functions.
The police outpost will protect the internet cafe and the convenience store. The public toilet will draw the customers for the internet cafe and the convenience store.
As it has been conceptualized, the owner of the convenience store and the internet cafe will share the rent for all the four vans, meaning that the police outpost and the public toilet will be rent free.
This idea was originally conceptualized by my late friend Mr. Fernando U. Juan, but it was too early in time when he proposed it many years ago. I now dedicate this project in his name.
This project is actually very easy for Mr. Malig to build, because he has already built many construction projects all over the country, using both container vans and prefabricated buildings under the brand name of Smarthouse Philippines.
Among these projects are private homes, dormitories and condominiums. It was his company that built the massive COVID-19 facility near the Solair Hotel and Casino in Paranaque. Depending on their population and total land area, a barangay could have at least one VICS facility.
The square could be constructed in any vacant space in both the urban and the rural areas. This design would also be ideal for the implementation of the Tourist Rest Area (TRA) project of the Department of Tourism (DOT). The TRAs will be built along national highways and within tourist spots. These could be also be funded by the LGUs./PN
