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The story of the NOPH Dialysis Center began with a vision of Dr. Eusebio "Benny" Denemerito, a native of La Livertad, Negros Oriental and a former rural health doctor in Mabinay. Now a renowned nephrologist and president of the Rotary Club of Port St. Lucie Florida, Dr. Denemerito frequently returned to the Philippines for medical missions and saw the need for a dialysis center in a government hospital for the poor and needy at an affordable cost.
In 1995, Dr. Benemerito approached the Rotary Club of Dumaguete for his vision of the dialysis center. He proposed this to be a joint project with the rotary Club of Port St. Lucie, through the matching grant program of Rotary International, for the expensive dialysis machines and other equipments. The government's contribution would be the building and medical staff. The Rotary Club of Dumaguete, thru then President Felimon B. flores, accepted the challenge and the hard work of the succeeding club presidents continued with lots of correspondence exchanged across the seas. In the late 1997, the matching grant was approved and put in place. The club created a committee chaired by PP Lelel Martinez to coordinate with the provincial government and the hospital to realize the beginnings of the dialysis center.
The center opened in 1998 with two dialysis machines in operation. The club also provided the water drilling and water system and furnished the center with basic amenities such as air-conditioning units, a TV for the patients and kitchenette for the medical staff. A private donor, Mr. Robert Sy, gave the water tank. Dr. Denemerito continued to send dialysis supplies and additional machines. In December 2001, he sent a 20-foot container van with four dialysis machines and other hospital machines, beds and supplies. At present, the center has eight units in operation. No private hospital in the city can boast of that number of machines. As of December 2003, the center has run 5,984 dialysis sessions.
Since the ceter became operational in 1998, it has accomodated patients from the province, from Negros Occidental and those from the neighboring areas of Siquijor and Dipolog. Dr. Denemerito pledges to continue his support for the center and envisions assisting other government hospitals in the region that need dialysis machines to put up a dialysis center.
To date, five years into the opening of this dialysis center, the Rotary Club of Dumaguete remains actively involved and considers the center as ira major project. Unlike other projects, this one project the rotary Club of Dumaguete continues, a tribute to the continuous support of its members and generous contributions of the Rotary Club of Port St. Lucie and the provincial government through former Governor Emilio Macias and incumbent Governor George Arnaiz.
Indeed, this worthy project of two active Rotary clubs and support by Rotary International, have made a difference. It has touched the lives of many. The vision of Dr. Denemerito has grown many fold. People have asked how a project this size could survive and grow, considering the prohibitive cost and maintenance; the answer is in the rotary spirit of Rotarians like Benny Denemerito and the support of the provincial government, and above all, the blessing from the Almighty.
When people serve selflessly nothing is impossible. as the rotary motto says; "Service above Self.".
