By Eugenio Jose F. Ramos, MD

In our individual careers, we encounter people who draw our attention, pique our interest, challenge our comforts, and as our engagement with them evolve into something more intimate, touch our lives. I don’t think it is entirely luck that they land in our midst. I think it is more about being open to whatever is out there that crosses our path. With our senses laid open, we become vulnerable to possibilities and opportunities. When we embrace them, a connection takes root and grows, sometimes in directions that are not planned. What keeps that connection alive is the energy that glows like ember in the recesses of our memory just waiting to spark when passion is stoked.

This is how a legacy is created – both of the people who inspire us and of ours, as well. We are moved by the clarity of their insights and the breadth of their wisdom because of which the course of our lives change. The younger generations that learn from us in return give significance to what we ourselves have done for them (even when we didn’t seek out to) perhaps as a mere by-product of our own quest for self-actualization. When we think about it, we really need not worry about leaving a legacy; all we need to do is live a life of generosity in the service of humanity.

When one gets older, as we all do, priorities change. Those things that we used to consider important lose their luster. The decline in physical prowess, the ascent of new knowledge and technology, and the restless energy of the youth around us would not be too kind to the once-too-powerful ego, particularly of those in positions of stature, as the matter of relevance – more accurately the loss of it – comes to fore. The call to make a significant contribution – to the community where we live, the profession that frames our careers, our government that is in a perpetual need of a vision, and Philippine society that makes progress ever so challenging –  becomes louder and more compelling as we realize that time is no longer on our side, and wealth unspent and unshared is of very little value. This is that time of our lives when self-awareness either confronts or consoles us, and self-mastery gives us comfort.

I first met Professor Eduardo Morato at the launch of the Medical City Institute of Personalized Molecular Medicine (IPMM). He was one of the first patients under our Regenerative Medicine program, and he was there to give a testimony of his personal experience. Soft-spoken, humble and very pleasant to talk to, he manifested a certain graciousness that belied a snobbish intellectual appeal. There was always a smile on his face as if everything was alright, even when something was not alright. (I think the word is equanimity).

I became his cardiologist after that, and then we became friends. I would facilitate hospital admissions and referrals to other doctors; he would feed me useful information on certain flaws in our hospital processes. Conversation with him I sought for – in my clinic, at the hemodialysis unit, or at his bedside.I relished listening to his cynical remarks about certain doctors and hospital staff, delivered with a mischievous smirk. I guess many doctors were caught off-guard handling his questions, expecting a patient who would just believe and follow what they’d say. Not Professor EdMo; his confidence with himself and what he had learned about health and medicine, his sense of humor and ability to respectfully disagree truly made him a good model for our Patient Partnership philosophy.

When he turned 73 in July 2020, he was honored by family, friends and his students and colleagues from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and the Ateneo Graduate School of Business (AGSB) with a book GURU. What a book! More than just a tribute to his character and competence, it is actually about his impact through the years on the quality of thinking and reasoning, planning and organizing, leading and managing of people he had engaged with – including his family members and house help. Since the first time that I met him, and the subsequent times that he would be in my clinic and the hospital, what had impressed and inspired me was mainly how he thought, spoke and carried himself, how he took his illnesses and discomfort matter-of-factly. He had been sickly for many years, and yet one cannot really say that he was ill.

Self-awareness and self-mastery in living color. Irreverence towards norms that appealed to my own healthy disrespect for rules that don’t make sense. A sense of humor that put a permanent grin on his face. An easy ability to say ‘no’ with a chuckle.

When he invited me to give a short talk along with Gina Lopez in a book launch more than 4 years ago (he had written more than 50 books), that was the first time I realized that I was friend to a very important person. A person of influence.  A highly respected guru. Which was a good thing, because it told me that my appreciation of him had nothing to do with who or what he was in the literati society.

I would EdMo in our hemodialysis unit regularly until his demise; he gave clear instructions when it would be time to let go. He writes about his physical health in GURU in the last pages allotted to him by the book’s author, Exequiel Villacorta, Jr. (edited by Paulynn Paredes Sicam, published by Rex Printing Co, Inc., Philippine copyright 2020). Admirably, in spite of his many ailments for many years, he was no less prolific than he ever was. He had been his own healer, driven by a strong desire to survive. He writes that his most productive, most fulfilling, and happiest years came when his physical health was turning from bad to worse. He attributed his longevity to the love and support of his family and friends and to his devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

“I want my family to remember me as someone who cared about them more than himself, and I want you to care about somebody other than yourself.”
– Eduardo A. Morato, Jr
GURU: A Tribute

From family to friends to colleagues to students to doctors to the younger generation that now acquire important lessons from their interactions with him, from the erudition of his books, the lessons remembered from his lectures, from the graciousness of a life lived well, from his own person as he manifests self-mastery over his illness and the unpredictability of the conditions in him and around him, Professor Eduardo A. Morato, Jr.  has truly established a legacy that should be emulated, propagated and perpetuated.  He will live forever. In the minds and hearts of the fortunate people he has touched.

The COVID-19 crisis has taught us many important lessons that should guide us in the decisions that we make as we put order in, and add value to, our lives – individually and as members of society. The disruption that it has caused has removed deterrents and distractions that we had to live with in the decades that preceded it – the Old Normal that defines us as a people and explains why we are where we are.

We all have our own stories to tell, but none more compelling than stories of triumph – of life over death, resilience over fear, human kindness over greed and indifference, and enlightened leadership over mediocrity and bigotry. COVID-19 has shown us many silver linings, and provides opportunities for leadership to those who have an accurate appreciation of reality. Unless we give ourselves the time to reflect deeply on what has happened, we would just remember the fear, pain and inconvenience, and miss out on why humanity is so inspiring.

My team and I started 2020 with a lot of confidence and enthusiasm, eager to build on our achievements in 2019 and to start the year right. The Medical City enterprise – all of 5 hospitals and 50 ambulatory clinics in the country – was evolving, gunning for an agile and integrated network through digital transformation, establishing its footprint in the health ecosystem by pursuing innovative programs in partnership with LGUs whose leaders saw health as central to human development. We had the usual challenges to hurdle, resistances to address, and old ways to discard, but there was a lot going for us; the momentum for change was accelerating.

Now, 6 months later, we are nowhere near our financial targets for the year at midpoint, but what we have achieved is so different from what we planned. Something out-of-the-ordinary happened – we found purpose and pride by serendipity! The months in-between have been a blur, punctuated by the human drama of fear and loss, grit and joy, relentless work and little rest. Effortlessly, strength of character and resiliency that we did not see before the crisis unraveled and presented themselves, unshackled from the job designs that had limited our expectations of our employees. The crisis removed the blinders to the promise of the future provided by the young; in the same light, it exposed the helplessness of those who could not move forward because of fear.

What has happened is a journey of discovery that reveals to us a more profound understanding of ourselves, and sets us up with more clarity for bigger things ahead. In the intervening months, we were faced with fear and uncertainty – legitimate and otherwise, perpetuated and propagated by the media that seeks to inform but also succeeds to obfuscate. One day at a time, we confronted the overwhelming number of severely ill patients in our ICU, the spill-over of very sick patients in the ER, the physical and psychological exhaustion of our front-liners, and the threat of a rapidly dwindling supply of PPEs.

In the frenzy of life-and-death situations and threats to one’s person, the power of the collective emerged. Doctors finally saw the value of forming into teams, and acceded to the convenience of group practice, anathema to the lone-wolf practice model that has persisted through the years and which contributes to the high healthcare costs and unhappy patient experiences. If and when alone, a staff’s fear is magnified; as part of a team driven by adrenaline, sweat and tears under those PPEs to get things done and save lives, that fear would disappear.

With fear, emotions are on overdrive; decisions become flawed. Without fear,no time is wasted, and the outcomes are invariably positive. Indeed, it is through fear that people’s true character is unmasked. It is through empathy and open communication, the experience of being a member of a team, that the wants of one comes second to the needs of many. It brings to the fore the necessity to evolve our mindsets from the individual to the institutional, from a mishmash of ideas to the coherence of a well-told story. Indeed, from an ordinary snapshot to an extraordinary tapestry – of a health system in motion.

Covid-19 has removed cobwebs from our minds that used to obstruct a clear vision of what lies ahead. It has led us to discover that so many things that we have been doing are irrelevant and of little value, that life is short and death ends it quickly. This crisis has exposed the inadequacies in our health system, the ineptness of the decision-makers, and the wasted opportunities for genuine leadership. We know now that the political leaders of many a country are ordinary people just like us, and being first-world or third- world has absolutely nothing to do with their capacity to think clearly. Fear, if not ignorance and incompetence, shows in the ways they decide, communicate and behave. They proceed from what they believe in, and what they believe in may not have anything to do with facts that stare at them but which they cannot see.

Our decisions and behavior emanate from what we believe. I believe that everything is interconnected, that interdependence is what would make us surmount and survive this crisis. I believe that we are undergoing a period of profound cleansing, that what will come out of this is renewal, a chance to reboot, to embrace the new and discard the irrelevant. Courage and resilience require us to be present, to be in the here and now in spite of fear and uncertainty. The best versions of humanity will always be there when we need help, and even when help is not sought. Our national leaders do not know more – and, in fact, may know less- than we do in matters of health and technology, and that’s okay, for as long as they do not arrogate unto themselves the mischief of alternate reality. In the end, there can only be a good thing if and when we communicate clearly, share scientific knowledge, and collaborate with everyone else towards a common goal: Health for the Filipino people.

The coronavirus transmission can be prevented by wearing a mask, observing physical distancing, and washing our hands. We will win over it by removing the mask that hides our humanity, shortening the distance between the truth and the lie, and getting our hands wet in the service of our fellowmen. With a newfound confidence that no longer quakes at every reminder that things can go awry, the Medical City enterprise stands ready for the next wave of the COVID-19 crisis. As their leader, I say that with conviction.