In the late 1990s, the first missionary Sisters of the Siervas de Maria, Ministras de los Enfermos arrived in the idyllic town of Lagonoy upon the invitation of a Dominican priest to explore how they can collaborate with the local Church through their ministry to the sick. Shortly after, in 2001, a new foundation was laid with the support and guardianship of the then Bishop of Caceres, His Excellency, Bishop Leonardo Lagaspi, D.D.
The dismal condition of the locales, in particular, malnutrition, widespread tuberculosis, high incidence of diabetes and stroke and high infant mortality rate alarmed the Sisters, the care of the sick, being the very heart of their mission. At the time, the community either went to "albularios" or indigenous doctors, or found self-remedy in the use of medicinal plants. One of the earliest challenges the Sisters had to confront, therefore, was to educate the people of the need for proper diagnosis and treatment by medical doctors and to assure them of the great benefits they can get from using commercial drugs.
The Sisters soon started to visit the sick in the barangays and care for them in their homes and later on, utilized a small portion of their convent as a clinic. Over the span of 18 years, the Sisters saw the steady rise of the number of their patients often in long queues in the clinic or requesting for assistances for sick loved ones at home. Indeed, an encounter with the person of the sick always takes place, the Sisters attending to their sick body as well as restoring their emotional, psychological and spiritual wounds.
In 2013, with the help of a Spanish NGO, a bigger health facility, the Sta. Maria Soledad Health Center and Nurse Care Home (SMSHC&NCH) , was opened in the fields of Dahat, Lagonoy. The structure was built and prepared with a long-term goal of developing it into a quality mini-hospital for the underprivileged. It was conceived as a place where the poor are dignified and where they are assured of their right to basic health services.
At present, SMSHC&NCH operates an Out-Patient Department (OPD) and a newly-opened Birthing Home. Much work have also been initiated to start a Diagnostic Center in the short-run, its role being indispensable to render the two departments more effective.
A crucial collaboration was also started some years back between the Sisters and Phileos, a Spanish group of medical doctors, that already benefitted thousands of sick people who were attended to during their regular bi-annual Medical Missions in the clinic and barangays.
Divine Providence continues to lay its hand and the Sisters remain unperturbed riding the ebb and flow of their mission's challenging demands.
