Meeting challenges with compassion
Being president and chairman of the board of the Cebu Doctors’ Group of Hospitals is something the youthful-looking Dr. Potenciano “Yong” S.D. Larrazabal knew he would someday be—but not this soon.
His father, Dr. Potenciano Larrazabal, who was never sick in his life, got sick early in June and in the span of three weeks, died of pneumonia.
In the first two weeks of being president, chairman of the board, hospital director, ophthalmologist and family man (and not to forget, runner), Dr. Yong said he got sick. But now he has recovered and is full of plans for the hospital group.
Actually, he has been prepared for his current role. He has sat in the hospital board for the last 19 years. His father actually prepared him for this. Dr. Yong said that in his fourth year in medical school, he wanted to quit and take up architecture, and perhaps get a master’s degree in hospital administration. His father, Dr. Yong said, did not talk to him for three months because his father believed that he could not “actively lead the hospital if you’re not a doctor yourself because the respect for the doctor is different, and the compassion you have in a doctor-patient relationship cannot be achieved in business.”
“What he told me then, I will tell my children, who are all going to become doctors. My daughter Belle who is turning 18 will be a dermatologist. And my sons Cian IV and Gio will also be ophthalmologists like me.”
Dr. Yong describes his father as a compassionate man, “very generous, going out of his way to help others.” Compassion is also something instilled in him, not just by his father but by his early Jesuit schooling where the mantra is: “We should be men for others.”
“That’s why we changed the logo of the hospital to ‘Compassion, Quality and Innovation.’”
He continues: “Dad was very hardworking. That’s his passion. And so am I. Whatever I set out to do, I achieve my goals, whether in the work place, in sports or in my love life and hobbies. The focus he (father) had, I think, was passed on to me. I am very focused on what I do and my vision for the six hospitals under the Cebu Doctors’ Group, to make each of them independent and build up their own identities.”
He has plans for expanding each of the hospitals’ services:
For North General Hospital, he says, “I am establishing one floor for mother and child care which will have one of the cheapest maternity packages in the region. And yes, we do have a drug rehabilitation center at the back of this hospital.”
For Mactan Doctors’ Hospital, he plans “a Medical Arts Center building for the doctors. The emergency room will face the road and Cebu’s first Medical Concierge will cater to the resort and hotel sector of Mactan as well as the export processing zone. Tourists and workers will be assisted by the hospital staff and they will feel the warmth of Cebuano hospitality.”
For Cebu South General Hospital, it will have Cebu’s first trauma center, a freestanding building with its own lab and complete trauma equipment. This, Dr. Yong says, “will cater to the trauma patients in the south, mostly accident victims.”
For San Carlos (Negros) Doctors’ hospital, the number of private rooms will be doubled because it is the only private hospital in the area.
For Ormoc Doctors’ Hospital, it will have a specialized center.
For Cebu Doctors’ Hospital, Dr. Yong reveals: “We are developing a 24-hour parking area with 60 slots, a new building with basement parking in two levels and launching several centers: a center for aesthetics, a center for rejuvenation, a center for men’s health and a breast center. We also plan to train nursing aides.
All this, Dr. Yong says, will be finished within the next three to five years. By then, all the hospitals will be independent of the main hospital, Cebu Doctors’ Hospital. And then, Dr. Yong says, the group will build its seventh hospital in the north of the province of Cebu.
And if all this on his plate is not enough, Dr. Yong has not given up on running marathons. Finally, he says, after 15 marathons, he is now qualified for the Boston marathon in 2018.
“The Sunday after that, I will do London. When I complete that I would have done the six world major marathons which only one female in the Philippines has done. I will be the first male.”
Dr. Potenciano Larrazabal III says that he was able to adjust to his new duties, because he is “mentally strong.” He has also adhered to a schedule that has made him able to accomplish his tasks and responsibilities: surgery first in the morning “because it is the mentally challenging activity of the day,” consultations/office work, lunch with Mom (Zeny S.D. Larrazabal), attend to hospital until 3 p.m., back at his clinic for consultations, run in the evening and back home where wife Donna and children wait for him.
With all his dedication and focus on the several jobs at hand, Dr. Potenciano S.D. Larrazabal is surely going to succeed in caring for the wellbeing of the patients the Cebu Doctors’ Group of Hospitals serves.