CKS College takes pride in recognizing its alumni who are air transport industry frontliners on-duty, despite the current community quarantine. While there are many CKSian pilots and cabin crew in the alumni roster, a few are given flight duties amidst the crisis.

Pilots:

• Eurico L. Chua (蔡榮華), HS Batch 1985 - Hong Kong Air Cargo
• Denise Laxamana (曾國友), HS Batch 2005 - Philippine Airlines
• Tyler Nicki M. Ong Tan ( 王奇祥), HS Batch 2008 - Lanmei Airlines Cambodia
• Kevin Darwin S. Ong (王光前), HS Batch 2008 - Philippine Airlines
• Jonas Y. Kua (邱峻煌), HS Batch 2010 - Vietjet Airlines
• Mitchell Bryan D. Tiujanco (張貽明), HS Batch 2010 - Leading Edge International Aviation Academy / Freelance Pilot
• Jurrick Jaysper Yu (楊為煌), HS Batch 2010 - Freelance Pilot

Cabin Crew:

• Joy Glendy Tan (施明汎), HS Batch 2004 - Philippine Airlines
• Rachelle Joyce Quang (林秀英), HS Batch 2005 - Philippine Airlines
• Vernadette Biado Wu (吳雲菲), HS Batch 2008 - Qatar Airlines
• Sherlyn Mae Chen (陳秋琳), HS Batch 2009 - Philippine Airlines
• Claudette Anne Chloe Chu (朱丽雅), HS Batch 2009 - Philippine Airlines
• Mikel Y. Villamora (高沛如), HS Batch 2013 - Philippine Airlines

Philippine Airlines, our country' flag carrier and the heart of the Filipino people, and some other airline companies continue their mission of transporting essential cargo from point to point, including medical supplies and equipment, donations from other countries, relief goods, even medical frontliners and patients needing air transport, and they are doing these activities even at operating loss.

Thank you! Your CKS College family is proud of you.

Jacklynn Angela Co (施慧靈) of CKS high school batch 2007 works as an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Nurse in University College London Hospital (UCLH) in London, England (United Kingdom) since 2018. Prior to this, she had extensive experience working as a ward nurse at the St. Luke's Medical Center (SLMC) in Bonifacio Global City.

Just like in the Philippines, this has been the most challenging time for hospitals worldwide. In the ICU where Jacklynn is working, the normal 1:1 nurse-patient ratio in the care of a patient on a mechanical ventilator, the life-support machine for patients who are unable to breathe, has now become 1:2-3. In recent times, UCLH has been admitting patients requiring ventilators non-stop, forcing the hospital to convert its operating rooms, recovery rooms and wards to ICU rooms.

Apart from wearing full PPE gear at work and always practicing strict hand hygiene, Jacklynn has to look after her own health holistically in the face of this adversity, especially since she is living alone in London. To boost her immune system, she eats healthy meals and exercises at home. She makes sure to use social media to contact her family and friends in the Philippines as well, to keep her strong and less homesick. And above all this, she maintains her faith in God thru the power of prayer.

While pandemics like COVID-19 only happens once every century throughout history, she believes that it will come to pass and for her, it is a blessing to be able to help save lives during these unprecedented times.

She recalls being a CKS track and field and basketball student-athlete for 6 years, which honed her discipline, persistence, patience, and resilience.

The daughter of retired CKS College office staff Angelita Co, Jacklynn has only this message to say: "I am proud and thankful to fellow CKSian frontliners on duty saving lives. But as a matter of fact, each one of you are the real frontliners. Preventing the spread of the virus in the community is the FIRST LINE of defense. By staying at home, you save more lives. Let us stop Covid-19 together!"

Thank you, Jacklynn and keep safe there always!

Richard Koa Lim, MD, FHM (林俊荣) graduated from CKS high school in 1997 and has been a physician since 2005. He moved to the United States of America in 2009 to further his training in Internal Medicine. Since 2012, he has been working as a hospitalist, mainly doing night shifts (nocturnist). This specialty entails taking care of in-patients and admitting patients into the hospital at night when resources and staff are limited. Doc Richard works in 8 different hospitals around the state of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. His shifts would range from working 9 hours to as long as 16 straight hours. Aside from hospital work, he also volunteers as a primary care provider at the Rhode Island Free Clinic, providing free medical care to the uninsured population of Rhode Island since 2012.

Since the COVID crisis started, Doc Richard has been tirelessly working a lot and had less than 10 off-nights since February 8 to recover and rest. This is due to the increasing need for providers in hospitals, resulting from the surge of patients coming in as USA COVID cases are on the rise, especially in New York and New Jersey Cities, which are just 3.5 hours drive away from Rhode Island.

Recently, he also received privileges to volunteer for the largest health system in Rhode Island for COVID disaster, which is a cluster of 4 different hospitals.

Doc Richard has had many heartbreaking experiences, especially with family members not being able to see their relative in the hospital at a dying stage. The emotion that he felt during his patients' phone conversations with their family is something that he had never felt before, the hardship of losing someone you can’t see and bid goodbye.

With this novel virus, Doc Richard admits that there are no proven treatment and everything they know about treating and preventing it are mainly anecdotal.

On a personal note, he takes care of himself by eating enough nutritious food, exercising religiously, and sleeping at least 7 hours a day, if possible. He also takes Zinc supplement, which he believes prevented him from getting cough, colds, and flu in the past 4 years. Prior to taking it, Doc Richard gets sick every year since 2009. He hopes that by doing so, he would not get infected with the COVID-19 virus and he will be able to continue helping out until the crisis is over. Of course, he also wears PPE and observes proper hygiene as part of his normalroutine.

As a CKSian for 12 years, he is very proud of his formative years in Chiang Kai Shek College. He mentions how his teachers deeply enrooted in him the values of discipline, perseverance, and hardwork, which he continues to carry on today. He credits his alma mater for giving him the foundation that prepared him for another 12 years of education before becoming a physician. And now with this COVID-19 crisis, he is strongly facing the hardest challenge in his medical career, thanks to the character built by CKS College.

He also draws inspiration from his mother, Mrs. Julie Koa Lim (柯婉玲老師), a Chinese instruction teacher at CKS College from 1996 to 2018.

Dr. Richard K. Lim is a pride and honor of CKS College in the East Coast. May his star shines brighter more than ever.

Lenina Ryce S. Guerra (蔡宜君) of CKS high school 2014 started working as a Clinical Pharmacist at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City just this January, 2020. Still considered a trainee, her role is to monitor the appropriateness of a patient’s drug regimen and to make sure that all the medications are suitable to the patient’s diagnosis and condition, and being a newbie, this pandemic has turned her first job into a somewhat scary and trying experience.

Despite all uncertainties during these days of the pandemic, Lenina boldly goes to work everyday knowing the risks that she has to face. But as what she has learned in her many years at CKS College, one must be selfless and committed to his or her passion to serve those in need.

She expresses her deep admiration for her seniors, the CKSian alumni, who raise money through donations for food drives and other needa of frontliners and the suffering community, as well as those who sacrifice by simply staying home to help flatten the curve. She also takes pride in working alongside experienced frontliners, who are doing their best to help beat this virus.

Beaming with hope that humanity will defeat this virus soon and emerge from this crisis with more compassion and strength than ever before, she cheered: "Here’s to a better year ahead for all of us!"

A "barkada" through thick and thin, in good times and in bad times... that's what KJWM is all about.

All belonging to high school batch 2013, Kylie Olano (施愷俐), Jenna Fan (范绵绵), Wynette Lorenzo (黃妹妹), and Mariniell Co (許惠敏) have maintained their bond as sisters even after high school days. The girls have always been in constant communication with one another and during chit-chats, they would discuss things happening around them. In the case of the current pandemic, they felt uneasy for frontliners who are risking their lives, despite lack of appropriate gears to ensure their safety. They are also deeply saddened for countrymen who do not have enough food to eat during these times. As a result, the "barkada" decided to deal with the issues more seriously.

The girls initially talked about the rising number of COVID positive cases and they felt somehow worried about it. Then Kylie mentioned that she saw posts on donation drives and she thought maybe they, too, can help. Being empathetic, the girls were inspired to do something.

They started brainstorming and came up with the idea of buying packed meals from the branch of Ate Rica's Bacsilog that is owned by batchmate Jae Yap, thinking they will have direct contact with the owner and get discounted price. Then, they opened a group chat calling for donations among friends, relatives, and peers, where they got many positive responses. Another issue propped up - how will they give the goods to frontliners, especially since there are so many hospitals?

Later, they found out Dean Kyle Ang and his high school batch 2012 were also doing donation drives. Being a close friend of Kylie, Dean willingly volunteered to deliver whatever KJWM have solicited, alongside donations from his own batchmates. The final hurdle was finally solved!

With delivery and distribution issues also done with, KJWM started sourcing for suppliers of goggles, masks, gloves, alcohol, and other medical needs. The focus was to procure items where there are suppliers who are family friends or kins so that hot commodities like these would not be sold to them at exorbitant prices.

In summary, KJWM was able to solicit nearly one hundred thousand pesos, which were used to support frontliners and other needy people in the following forms:

- 250 Ate Rica’s Bacsilog packed meals

- 31 trays of egg (30 pieces per tray)

- 31 packs of noodles (each pack good for 3 to 4 persons)

- 10 gallons of rubbing alcohol

- 45 boxes of gloves

- 25 aerosol boxes

- 189 goggles

- 3 boxes of Mega brand sardines

- 3 sacks of rice

- 10 boxes face masks

Jenna Fan also teamed up with her boyfriend, Paul Samonte (施躍波) from high school batch 2012, in securing donations of face shields and aerosol boxes, worth around two hundred fifty thousand pesos, and these were distributed by Dean Kyle Ang to hospital frontliners as well.

KJWM was inspired to move amidst the crisis by an article entitled "Doing Good Recklessly". Thinking how they can help others, reach out, and simply making other people's lives better with their actions, no matter how little, without thinking of receiving anything in return, that was their common mindset.

Kylie, Jenna, Wynette and Mariniell, you are models of selfless CKSians. Continue doing good, because by doing good, you make this world a better place to live in!

Zharlah Gulmatico-Flores (蔡慧蓮) of CKS high school batch 1994 is a professor at the Department of Biochemistry of Our Lady of Fatima University since 2010 and at the Metropolitan Medical Center - College of Medicine since 2015. She is also the Training Officer at the Department of Dermatology of the Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center, where she has served as an active consultant since 2012. Her job as the Training Officer is to teach, assist, and oversee the dermatology resident doctors during their three years of residency training. She is also the Assistant Program Director of the Dermatologic Surgery Unit in the same institution; overseeing, managing, and treating skin cancer patients.

With the suspension of out-patient services at the Jose Reyes Hospital and the temporary closure of her private clinic due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she and her peers at the Department of Dermatology launched the Teledermatology, “Sakit sa Balat? Huwag Mangamba! Isang Tawag Lang, Pwedeng Ikonsulta.” This is a free online dermatology consult which aims to provide safety, while still attending to the dermatological needs of patients, by minimizing their unneccesary exposure during this pandemic. Doc Zharlah takes an active role in this program by making herself available for online consultations on medical issues related to skin, hair, and nail diseases.

In addition, she spearheaded calls for donations to help Jose R. Reyes Memorial Center raise funds for Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) of frontliners, to which she is endlessly grateful that several friends, classmates, and parents from CKS College positively heeded her plea.

Doc Zharlah still reports to the hospital for administrative work and observes all necessary precautions to avoid getting infected, whether in the hospital and at home.

During off-duty and as resources are available, Doc Zharlah and her family prepare and cook meals for fellow frontliners. To-date, they have delivered personally-prepared packed meals to four different hospitals and also to military soldiers and police officers. With the consent of donors, she and her husband has turned-over numerous PPEs to different hospitals.

Doc Zharlah treasures her basic education from CKS College, which she said molded her to be enduring and to be resilient during these difficult times, to become resourceful, to find ways to give back to the community, and to see the positive in things amidst these tough circumstances.

She urges everyone to take positive action in changing our current situation, rather than just complain at how miserable life has become due to this pandemic or being anxious on what the future might bring. Only then, she says, that we will find solace and happiness despite the crisis we are in.

Thank you, Dr. Zharlah Gulmatico-Flores. Your alma mater is not only proud of your CKSian spirit, but also your selfless service reminds us of your two aunties who served with dedication and loyalty as our teachers, Mrs. Belinda dela Cruz and the late Mrs. Eleanor Tumanan.