Dr. Kerry Kate Wang (王英俊) of CKS high school batch 2007 works as the Chief Resident at the Department of Internal Medicine of the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center. Two months ago, she also hurdled the Philippine Specialty Board of Internal Medicine (PSBIM).

Doc Kerry laments that during this pandemic, medical staff live on a day-to-day basis. For one, no one knows when any colleague may become infected with the virus. Since everything now is quite delicate, everyone is treading on thin ice and no one can predict what might happen in the next few minutes, days, or even months. While social media shows frontliners wearing their personal protective equipment (PPE) like there are no difficulties, what most people don’t know is that these protective gears are very uncomfortable, especially during prolonged periods of time, with some of resident doctors and nurses having to wear them up to 8 hours straight, without even eating or drinking, due to the scarce supply of PPE.

With the current situation, doctors, like her, understandably always have a high index of suspicion in treating patients. There are patients who have no prior history of exposure and with no symptoms at all but eventually turn out to be COVID-19 positive. In addition, as reiterated by the Department of Health, they wear masks, practice good hand hygiene and social distancing at all times.

As a former CKSian student from preschool to high school, Doc Kerry learned to be compassionate and empathetic. As everyone is currently faced with different challenges, she tries her best to understand and help others, seeing things from the other person's perspective during such challenging times. She also attributes to CKS College the solid foundation for her work ethics and the dedication that helped her reach the current status in her career as a physician.

Speaking on behalf of fellows in the medical community, she said many of them are in constant fear and worry that they might contract the virus and bring it to their homes. However, she believes that this is not the time to be afraid, since this is their oath and responsibility as medical practitioners. She further quipped the saying, “Medicine is a calling, not a profession”, and this battle is a call for doctors and nurses to help those who are inflicted with the disease.

Doc Kerry reminded everyone that they, too, can be heroes in their own little ways. As such, she encourages everyone to stay calm and face everyday with a positive attitude, spread hope and love instead of fake news, stay inside their homes, follow rules and cooperate, and come up with ways to be productive and contribute to the society. She believes that together, Filipinos can hurdle this trial and emerge as better individuals.

On a personal note, Doc Kerry expresses her appreciation to CKS high school batches 1984, 1988, and section 5 of batch 1994 for donating PPE and masks, particularly to her department. She also extends her utmost gratitude to the people, pharmaceutical companies, food establishments, and foundations for their unrelenting support to medical frontliners.

Dr. Kerry Kate Wang, thank you for your service to the nation. Your CKS College family in proud of you!