WHERE HOPE FINDS A NEW HOME

St. Luke’s opens the Evelyn D. Ang/ Dana Charity Ward, offering free, world-class care to those who need it most.

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At the heart of every hospital are the stories of people whose lives are transformed within its walls. The opening of St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) Evelyn D. Ang/Dana Charity Ward feels less like a ceremony and more like the quiet unfolding of hope. In these new halls, generosity settles into the corners like light, touching lives that enter carrying both fear and faith.

My own family knows this light well. My mother-in-law, Rosalinda, a breast cancer survivor, once walked through St. Luke’s doors seeking healing — and found care that held her gently through uncertainty. Today, that connection has come full circle: my son, GK, is now a physiotherapist at St. Luke’s, lending his own strength to the very institution that once lifted his grandmother. And so this new charity ward becomes more than a facility; it becomes part of a continuum — a chain of resilience, service, and compassion passed from one set of hands to another.

TRANSFORMING GENEROSITY INTO ACCESSIBLE, WORLD-CLASS HEALTHCARE

The Evelyn D. Ang/Dana Charity Ward is a fully free, 40-bed facility dedicated to underserved and indigent Filipino patients. Rooted in the Sanskrit word dana, meaning “the practice of selfless giving,” the initiative reflects the belief that healing is not only a medical duty but a shared human responsibility.

“Let me share with you a very nice story about generosity,” said St. Luke’s Medical Center Foundation Inc. (SLMCFI) president Dr. Benjamin S. A. Campomanes Jr. during the inauguration held at SLMC-QC on Nov. 24. “Early last year, somebody wrote a letter to the foundation. The donor said he wanted to donate some money and asked us to use it for our charity projects. And so we did. We had a successful surgical mission.”

When the foundation reported back, the donor responded with unexpected kindness. “I guess he was happy about it because in his next email, he said he wanted to give more,” Dr. Campomanes said.