Yellow Care Bikes for medical frontliners in Cebu

 MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – Aboitiz Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of the Aboitiz Group donated bicycles to 50 medical front liners from 15 medical institutions in Cebu in support to the “Yellow Care Medical Frontliners Bike project” of the Gothong Southern Foundation that aims to increase mobility of these essential workers to respond better to the pandemic.

Aboitiz Foundation president and COO Maribeth Marasigan said that mobility has been a challenge for medical frontliners since community quarantine was implemented in various parts of the country.

“Through the Yellow Care Bike donation, Aboitiz Foundation was able to help the frontliners by making transportation less of a problem for them especially since they are at the forefront of the nation’s battle against COVID-19,” Marasigan added.

Gothong Southern Foundation, Inc. president Caroline Joy Gothong-Ong expressed her gratitude to Aboitiz for taking part in the initiative, Bikes for modern-day heroes. The Yellow Care Bike Project helps ease daily commute of Cebu’s medical frontliners.

“We cannot thank you enough for the success of this program. We hope and pray that your generosity will come back to you a hundred-fold to continue to share and bless others,” Ong said, noting that the campaign will draw more beneficiaries from various Cebu hospitals in April.

Amie Adiong, a nurse at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center used to borrow her neighbor’s bike so she can go to work during the early days of quarantine.  But now she won’t have to do so.

“This bike will remind me that we, nurses, are cared for and appreciated. I will proudly ride this every day from home to work with a happy heart. Thank you, Aboitiz Foundation from the bottom of my heart,” Adiong said.

Chelsea Cimafranca-Mayol, a medical frontliner from Chong Hua Hospital, receives her Yellow Care Bike.  She works on night shifts and she said the Yellow Care Bike inspires and boosts the morale of ‘tired’ frontliners.

“This is a big help to us frontliners; we can definitely extend more of our time caring for the sick and perform our duties every day. This is what we truly need in these trying times. Together, we can fight COVID-19,” Mayol said.

Mayol comes from a family of nurses, with an aunt and a sister inspiring her to follow the same path despite financial challenges. “It is really not a matter of how much money you get paid with but the love we have for the profession and how it gives us contentment knowing that in every single shift, we help the sick get well, we help save lives,” she stated.

To date, the Yellow Care Bike project has raised 338 bike and has assisted around 150 medical frontliners in Cebu. (Photos: FB Page Yellow Bike Project/Google Files)