SM Engineering Team built Emergency Quarantine Facilities for police and military frontliners
THE SM Group, through its corporate social responsibility arm, SM Foundation Inc. (SMFI), together with its infrastructure corporation, SM Engineering Design and Development (SM EDD), recently built and furnished emergency quarantine facilities (EQFs) at a total of seven key medical facilities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to combat the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Purpose
The EQFs were built mainly for the use of frontliners who need to be quarantined and are asymptomatic of COVID-19. These facilities are for the AFP and PNP doctors and nurses, enlisted men and women and their families as well as residents from the surrounding military and police communities.
Those who become symptomatic are transferred to isolated rooms inside the hospital complex, within the grounds where each EQF is erected. These freestanding structures were intended to ease congestion in Department of Health (DoH)-referral hospitals by segregating those with mild symptoms from those with severe or in critical condition.
Provisions
Equipped with 15 beds, ceiling fans, exhaust fans, toilets, with insulation and a centralized nurses’ station, one EQF was put up at the Air Force General Hospital (AFGH) in Villamor Air Base.
Provided with 21 beds, fans, exhaust, toilets, insulation, shower stalls and air-conditioning (AC), two EQFs were constructed at the V. Luna General Hospital also known as the AFP Medical Center (AFPMC).
A 120-bed facility with call systems, toilets, insulation, nurses’ station, shower stalls, air-conditioning units and Wi-Fi, four facilities were built in the grounds of Camp Crame General Hospital (CCGH). Made of hybrid wood framing, plastic enclosures and steel roofing, the facilities were built in no time – and were turned over immediately by the SM Group led by SM EDD President Hans “Chico” Sy Jr. to the PNP leadership led by General Gamboa.
SM Group’s gesture of solidarity
The seven EQFs were built as an expression and manifestation of SM Group’s solidarity with our military, police and medical frontliners. The services these frontliners are giving to our community are much appreciated by everyone. We just need to show that we can take care of them too.
“We’re immensely grateful to every healthcare professional fighting this pandemic, caring for those affected and saving lives nationwide,” explained one of the SMFI trustee.
According to AFP Chief Surgeon Col. Socorro Posadas, “We are working 12-hour shifts for Covid-19 wards for 14 days; then, will undergo Covid-19 testing.”
Boosted by employee volunteerism, encouraged and well supported by the leadership of SM EDD President Hans Sy Jr. in collaboration with William Ti’s WTA Architecture and Design Studio — each EQF took six to 10 days to build and was turned over to beneficiaries furnished with essential items needed for a full service EQF.
“We are here to help you get better. No one is alone in this fight,” shared SM EDD Project Manager Lyndon Arana.
“Indeed, with the Filipino bayanihan spirit (cooperation), we expect patients to have a better chance of getting better with improved facilities. About 75 percent of the total cases and 100 percent of all the cases admitted at Villamor Air Base were discharged, and cleared from Covid-19” — reports Posadas with gratitude.