Vision

The De La Salle University Medical Center Department of Emergency Medicine is committed to the delivery of excellent primary and acute care services through competent, compassionate, and research-oriented Emergency Medicine Physicians.

Mission

  1. To provide high quality and affordable primary and acute care services

  2. To train competent, compassionate, and ethical emergency medicine physicians

  3. To institute programs and use quality assurance techniques to meet our customers’ level of satisfaction too contribute

  4. To the development of Emergency Medicine as a specialty through relevant research

Our History

Image from DLSUMC Website

The De La Salle University Medical Center - Department of Emergency Medicine can be traced  back to various beginnings, for its history is as dynamic as the medical specialty it represents. Arguably,  the  oldest  of  those  beginnings happened  on  July  31,  1982,  when  the University Physicians  Foundation  inaugurated  the  4-storey,  100-bed-capacity  teaching  hospital,  named the University Medical Center, on a 1.2-hectare land at the heart of Dasmariñas, Cavite.

In  June  of  1987, the  De  La  Salle University acquired the  ownership  and  management  of the Emilio Aguinaldo College of Medicine and the University Medical Center, renaming the hospital the De La Salle University Medical Center (DLSUMC).

Under the ownership of the De La Salle Brothers, both the Hospital and the College have seen steady growth through the years that passed. The Hospital - especially the Urgent Care Unit - had become an indispensable institution around the Metro Cavite Area, which prompted the various stakeholders to recognize the need to have adequately trained Emergency Physicians managing the Emergency Room.

Since the  hospital  opened, the  Emergency Room was  manned  by  Residents-In-Training from the different Clinical Departments. It was Dr. Roberto Espos, then Assistant Medical Director of the De La Salle University Medical Center, and Dr. Armando Sayao who paved the way for that system to be improved. In 2000, the two of them invited Emergency Physicians from the Makati Medical Center, headed by Dr. Reginaldo Panopio, as Active Consultants of the ER. Their Group officially started in 2001, being headed by various Consultants from other Clinical Departments serving as the Emergency Room Officer (ERO). However,  three  years  after  they  came  to DLSUMC,  the  Makati  Medical  Center  Group  of Emergency Physicians, chose to resign as Active Consultants of the DLSUMC Emergency Room. To  fill  the  lack  of  Emergency  Medicine  Physicians, various  Junior  Consultants  from  different Clinical  Specialties tried  manning  the  posts  that  they  left  behind. This  was  when  the Administration  of  DLSUMC  realized the need  of Emergency Medicine Physicians, and invited them again. A consortium of Emergency Medicine Physicians from the Makati Medical Center, University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital, and St. Luke’s Medical Center, then started rendering their services to the patients of DLSUMC.

In 2007, Dr. Gary Carlos was appointed as the Medical Director of DLSUMC. With the continued growth  and  improvement  of  the  hospital, Dr. Carlos  recognized  the  need  to  replace  the Consultants  from  different  Clinical  Departments serving  as  ERO with  Emergency  Physicians.  The same year, Dr. Vilmor Tusing was appointed as the first Emergency Physician Emergency Room Officer. 

Having  been  in  position,  Dr.  Tusing  opened  to the  administration  the  idea  of  creating  an Emergency Medicine Residency Training Program, which was vehemently welcomed by all the other Clinical Departments with  resistance. Being a relatively young  specialty in the field of Medicine, the need and potential for a residency training in Emergency Medicine then was not entertained.   Up until 2009, when the roster of faculty in the Emergency Department worked very hard in creating its residency training program – the faculty, led by Dr. Vilmor Tusing, was composed of Dr. Lyndon Cosico, Dr. April Llaneta, Dr. Martin Luna and Dr. Manolito Gacad – it was late that year, that the De La Salle University Medical Center Emergency Medicine 4-Year Residency Program was established. 

Facing the  challenges of birthing pains, in 2010, the DLSUMC Emergency Medicine  residency training  program  presented  its  pioneer  residents  -  Dr.  Fleurdeliz  Kallos-Guinto  and  Dr. Hendrick Izar Leynes.  Later on that year, the ‘Emergency Room’ was officially instituted as the Department  of  Emergency  Medicine  -  with  Dr.  Vilmor  Tusing-

being  appointed  Department Chairman, Dr. Lyndon Cosico as the Residency Training Officer, Dr. April Llaneta as Treasurer, Dr. Martin E.A.S. Luna as Executive Secretary and Dr. Manolito Gacad as Liaison Officer. During this time, Dr. Gary Carlos was conferred as an Honorary Member of the Philippine College of Emergency  Medicine  (PCEM)  in  light  of  his  invaluable  contributions  to  the  discipline  of Emergency Medicine in our country.  

In 2013, the Department of Emergency Medicine’s First Annual Postgraduate Symposium was held  -  it  has  been  assumed  annually  since.  The  department  proudly  presented  its  first graduates in 2014, with Dr. Fleurdeliz Kallos-Guinto ranking Third in the nationwide Diplomate Oral Examination.    To  date,  the  Department  has  produced  a  total  of  11  highly  trained emergency physicians.

The DLSUMC  – Department of Emergency Medicine  continues to  strive to  achieve its  goal of producing  high  quality  Emergency  Physicians  equipped  with  the  Lasallian  values  -  Spirit  of Faith, Zeal for Service, and Communion in Mission – and guided by its vision of and guided by its vision of extending utmost emergency care to its patients through producing compassionate, competent and distinguished emergency physicians.