LEGAZPI CITY --- The province of Albay does not wait for calamities to happen where it will respond only after lives and properties have been devastated. It must go ahead relentlessly training health and emergency units composed of volunteers represented by various entities, both in the private and public sectors.

        “A total of 100 personnel started training with the Emergency Paramedic Training Unit of the Bicol University Monday,” Albay Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council Chief and Gov. Joey Salceda told the Bicol Mail.

        Cedric Daep, head of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) said “They are mostly nursing graduates who are currently working with various Local Government Units (LGUs), National Government Agencies (NGAs), the media and parishes that nominate them,” he said

        The group will undergo six months of intensive training which would cost P30,000 per ‘student’. The total training cost of the program is budgeted at P16 million.

        P11 million of the total budget will come from the Albay provincial government while P5 million will be contributed by Department of Health’s Health and Emergency Management Service (DOH-HEMS).

        “Emergency paramedics are envisioned to assist in the massive preemptive evacuations during the evacuation mobilization and the health maintenance of the evacuation camps,” Salceda said.

        The program is a joint venture of the Albay Provincial Government, Center for Health Development of Bicol (CHD-Bicol), Bicol University (BU) and the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital (BRTTH)

        The initial batch of 105 completed its course in May 2009 and had already proven its worth during the Mayon evacuation late last year.

        They manned the health stations of the 28 evacuation camps on a 24-hours a day and seven days a week basis and provided ground presence to Apsemo and PDCC.

        They provided immediate feedback loop mechanism which led to timely interventions on health which enabled an outbreak-free evacuation despite the protracted 21-day continuous displacement of 47,500 persons during the imminent eruption of Mt. Mayon.

        Encouraged by these outcomes, the Spanish government, through AECID, has already released about P20 million to establish the three operations centers strategically located in the three districts and a training facility in BU.

        Dr. Eric Raborar, chief of the Albay Health and Emergency Management Teams (AHEM) earlier said that the three major hospitals in Albay are the strategic points for their positioning with or without calamities. They are the BRTTH for this city, the second district towns of Camalig, Daraga, Manito, Rapu-Rapu and even those from the nearby provinces. For the third district towns of Guinobatan, Pio Duran, Jovellar, Oas Polangui, Libon and Ligao City, the designated hospital home for AHEM is the Josefina Belmonte Duran Memorial District Hospital in Tuburan, Ligao City. The Ziga Memorial District Hospital in Tabaco City is also designated for the city of Tabaco and the towns of the Tiwi, Malinao, Bacacay, Malilipot, and Sto. Domingo, all of the first district of Albay.

        Salceda also said that in the event of calamities and evacuation efforts, the other nursing students who want to earn Related Learning Experience (RLE) which is pre-requisite to their diploma may also be allowed to join the volunteers at the evacuation camps originally conceptualized should Mayon volcano continue to bring threat to the province.