A heart-to-heart talk with Alice Eduardo

Woman of Steel" Alice G. Eduardo always speaks from the heart, even if in the softest of tones. So it wasn't a "shock" when the graduating class of the Adult Cardiology Fellowship of the St. Luke's Medical Center asked her to be the guest speaker in their commencement ceremony, held recently at the Novotel in Quezon City.

- JOANNE RAE M. RAMIREZ

Life begins and ends with a heartbeat, according to a surgeon in one of my favorite medical dramas, The Resident. It is an amazing organ. It is a powerhouse.

According to online medical sources, the heart "continuously pumps oxygen and nutrient-rich blood throughout your body to sustain life. This fist-sized powerhouse beats (expands and contracts) 100,000 times per day, pumping five or six quarts of blood each minute, or about 2,000 gallons per day."

During her commencement speech, Alice paid tribute to the graduates, first and foremost.

"May it never be lost on you that what you do matters...that YOU matter," she said.

"The Dr. Homobono Calleja Heart and Cardio-Vascular Institute of the St. Luke's Medical center demands a high level of academic performance and cardio-vascular medical training, which can be overwhelming to the weak of heart," she pointed out. "Balancing course-work, hospital duties, assignments, exams, and extra-curricular activities while maintaining a healthy work-life balance is no easy task."

She also said that greater knowledge should be accompanied by compassion.