She could not ask for more

She is happy at her job and it shows.

When asked if there is anything that could be done to make her working conditions better, kitchen head Jenny Barrequatro answers a firm “No.”

Jenny is happy with her staff of six and the spacious kitchen in which she cooks up nutritious, filling, and some would argue, fattening meals.

She has seen MPF-RBR grow in the 10 years she has been here and related that all her requests for a bigger kitchen and more staff have already been granted.

‘There used to be a small kitchen and the stove was small as well. I asked for a bigger one and I got everything I asked for,” she said.

The only challenge she has encountered in the time she has been serving staff and patients is the individualized meal plans that were created since the resident nutritionist came over in January 2008.

She explained that it is doubly challenging because they have to monitor the food that comes out of the kitchen to make sure they follow the nutritionist’s diet plan.

In addition, she said, patients need to be informed of the said diet plan.

“It is difficult to explain especially to patients why they had to be put on such and such a plan. Sometimes they start arguments asking why they were put for instance on a low sodium low fat diet. Sometimes I don’t know what to tell patients,” she related.

However, she maintained that she is generally happy that the hospital has grown and that it serves more patients now because it means more people suffering from mental illness are getting treatment.

Moreover, she said that the workload is light and the hours are not demanding.

Aside from being given the tools and thq manpower to perform her job well, Jenny also found satisfaction in her personal life when she met life partner Lito Lazaro, who is a nursing attendant, here three years ago.

She has a history of working for MPF-RBR executive director Dr. Benita Sta. Ana-Ponio’s family. Prior to MPF, she worked for Dr. Ponio’s household for four years. Ms. Barriquatro then left to look for employment as a factory worker but had no luck because she suffers from asthma, but came back when she heard MPF needed kitchen staff

If the bosses remain satisfied with her service, Jenny declared she is staying put here, where she is happy and satisfied.

His first and last

His job at Metro Psych is his first; he is determined it will be his last.

MPF was Mr. Marwynne Rivera’s first employer and while he dreams of going abroad to work, he hopes it will be his last in the Philippines. This is not to say though, that Marwynne is solely preoccupied with finding opportunities offshore.

These days he is busy trying to make a reality his vision of making the institution a world class and eventually self-contained facility for psychiatric clients and rehabilitation trainees. Particularly, he plans to improve staff training, facilities, provide better activities for clients and offer new services each year for clients.

On top of his mind though is the enhancement of training for staff that has direct contact with patients. He explained that the current education provided by the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH), for instance, does not reflect what is acceptable worldwide. In addition, he noted that most caregiver students are only exposed to providing psychiatric care when they rotate in institutions such as MPF.



“If it were up to me, I would really emphasize hands-on learning. Lectures are easy, it is best to learn through experience,” he noted.

Marwynne himself speaks from experience. He started from the bottom rung of the MPF ladder when he was hired as a fresh graduate to perform Occupational Therapist and Nursing Attendant duties back in 1999.

This head honcho, who first became General Manager in Cebu, also did time monitoring patient hygiene and manning the facility’s gates during that time.

“When MPF first opened, there were 11 of us and we were still feeling our way around. You needed to do everything. I really learned through experience,” he noted. The most valuable lesson he learned in his stint here in MPF? “Patience. Patience with the patients and patience even with your co-employees,” he stressed.

He may not have a definite number of years when he plans to stay on at the facility, but his hopes of working abroad does not diminish his dreams of making MPF a world class facility.

“My dream is for MPF to become number one. I want us to be on top of the consciousness of clients so that when they seek help, they will come to MPF and not any other center,” he added.

Part of this dream is to develop MPF into a state of the art, self-sustaining facility that could serve the patients’ every need. Marwynne added that MPF has already started in the right direction. The other jewel in the MPF crown is its Cebu branch, a sprawling facility that is the extension of the work of the hospital’s founders in the south.

And while he declined to give a definite answer about the length of his stay in the facility, it might be safe to say he’ll stay on for a good while yet.

"This is my first job and it is difficult to leave a place that you saw started from scratch. I want this to be my last job here in the Philippines,” he said.