MANILA, Philippines - He was a Bagobo orphan left on the banks of a river when he was adopted by

a Davao del Sur family. He wanted to be a pilot, but his adoptive mothers cancer made him decide to
take up medicine. He passed the board, and was on his residency when he was invited to work at an
air base in Saudi Arabia. It was easy for him to leave.
"I was more of an artist at the time. I sculpt, I paint, I performed in a band. I was known as an artist
more than as a doctor."
It was at the Middle East base that he discovered operational medicine; a field that he says isn't as
ripe in the Philippines as it is in other countries. He describes it as the umbrella for emergency
medicine, combat medicine, wilderness medicine, expedition medicine, travel medicine and disaster
medicine.
"I like it more in the field," he says. "I see people fresh in the field. I see how people react when they
are being pinned down, or under a collapsed structure, or inside a bus that has turned turtle. I've
seen how a man looks like he is the most unfortunate creature on earth. And when he sees you,
whoever you are, whatever your color is, he sees an angel in you."
That look is what brought a boy from Davao to the front lines of disaster. The man field operators call
Doc Ted has headed some of the most dangerous rescue operations in the country, including the
Leyte landslide and the aftermath of typhoon Sendong. He is a certified flight surgeon, and was the
expedition doctor for the 2007 team that climbed Mt. Everest.
"It makes it hard for you to go out with all the ugly things happening around when you are trained to
work in a neat, soft environment. And then you are in the midst of so many people wailing and yelling
and destruction all around."
He stops and smiles. "I think it's not very good for a doctor's psyche."
The car
When he was a boy in elementary school, Ted Esguerra broke the rules and went swimming with his
classmates in the middle of the day. The river was fast, and he almost drowned. It is why his goal
has always been to intervene. He was saved, and he hoped he could too. He says being a rescuer is
a way of life, that rescue works its way into how he thinks and acts. There are two knives just in the
cockpit of his car, and another two in his person. He keeps what he considers the basics of
communication here: glow lights, a satellite phone, a spot tracker that can triangulate his coordinates
in case he is taken, and an am-fm radio with a built-in GPS. He carries IDs from the international
disaster response network and accreditation for cardiac and trauma emergency rescue in case he is
asked on the field.
He has a helmet on the dashboard with a headlight that will burn safely even in methane-heavy
environments. He has a flashlight with a blood-tracking light, in case he is hunting for an injured

bleeder, a tactical light, to signal anyone with night vision, and a non-glowing map-reading light. His
other flashlight doubles as a blade. He also carries what he calls the loudest whistle on earth.
He saves packets of sugar from coffee shops to add to his emergency rations. He has medication for
itchy eyes, hand sanitizers, anti-fungal creams, anti-bacterial creams, creams with steroids, as well
as ear plugs for rescues with choppers. He also has a windshield smasher and a seatbelt cutter.
If there is an accident and I am slumped in my car, I can just cut and run, smash the windshield, or
cut out another victim.
And because he believes anything is possible, he also has backup.
This is a seatbelt cutter-windshield smasher-flashlight combo. Redundancy, always redundancy.
Rescue 1 has a built-in searchlight. Behind the drivers seat is a water purification system, an oxygen
pressure gauge, and another gadget to check on surface heat.
The bag
Esguerra has 16 hours of airtime as a helicopter pilot, and was once a professional scuba diver. He
drives a 99 Explorer Pajero he calls Rescue 1. Rescue 1 is responsible for saving a total of eleven
lives, including two infants he tossed into his backseat during waist-deep floods at the height of
typhoon Falcon. He says he gets bored outside the field. He trains in his spare time, while driving he
drills himself through possible emergency scenarios. Every chance he has he unpacks and repacks
one of his four backpacks, loaded with what he suspects is millions worth of emergency supplies he
financed for years using income as a trainer.
"When I open the bag, I know where I'm going to find my trauma kit."
His standard backpack, the 40-pound monster he carries everywhere, has a built-in c-collar and
pelvic sling for trauma victims. The bag has a section for hydration and other basics like trauma
scissors, power scissors, a pen light, a thermoscan for body temperature and a capnometer to
measure carbon-dioxide. Outside he has gauges for blood pressure and pulse rates. He has an
airway kit that includes all that is necessary for everything from needle decompression to suctioning
infants. He has a trauma kit, with bandages, hot and cold packs, a hypothermia blanket, bandages
and antiseptics. He has a laceration kit, an OB kitalthough he has only delivered two babies in the
fielda burn kit, and a kit for blood borne pathogens. He has emergency rations, and the treatment
necessary for everything from malaria to open chest wounds. A small black box holds invasive
medication: cordarone, epinephrine, dopamine, sodium bicarbonate, adenosine, morphine.
He carries condoms in his hydration kit, along with Betadine antiseptic. Eight drops can be used to
purify water. The condoms are for storage.

He flips over another panel. Ted Esguerra carries an oxygen tank. Daily.
His other backpack has a stretcher.
The doctor
Every rescue team, says Esguerra, needs a doctor.
"If I see my superior working with me in the front lines of disaster, I am more comfortable. And
believe me, I would render my salute. Not only to the rank, but to the person."
Esguerra is the Officer in Charge of the Philippine Coast Guard's elite rescue team, and is sent with
his crew to disaster zones, often rappelling down from helicopters to rescue sites. Their mandate by
law is to save lives.
He takes his team through repeated training. The situations change, and include earthquake,
hazardous materials, flood, bombing, combat and trauma. He admits he has gotten into trouble for
hiring prostitutes for demonstration work.
"I used a prostitute--sorry for the word--and she earned money in the right way, not hanky-panky
things on the bed."
In Esguerras program, the prostitutes are paid to act as casualties all the way to the second
assessment on the field. Esguerra's students work as if the ambulance is still on the way. They are
required to strip the prostitute and make a full patient assessment of injuries set up by Esguerra. It is
training especially for situations with multiple trauma victims. He says students are more confident on
the field after handling real people on training instead of dummies and diagrams.
"In EMS, we have a rule. You cannot treat what you cannot see. How can you treat me if I split my
testes and am wearing dark pants? If I'm bleeding, will you see the blood? You have to open up the
pants, look at the testes and look at the anus if there are injuries there as well."
Esguerra's technique became an issue. He stopped hiring prostitutes, and paid ex-cons instead.
They volunteered for the work when they found out Esguerra was looking. He was responsible for
training many of them into volunteer firefighters.
The man
The worst, he says, is when there are children on the field that he cannot save.
I cant stand by and watch when children are hurt. Its like I dont see the justice. I deserve being
hurt, being injured, with all the ugly things in my head, all the evil intentions and all the ways of
waging war against somebody. But not these young, innocent children.

He smile is almost apologetic. Sometimes the tears just come.

He admits his work takes him away from his family. Esguerra has three childrenall of whom are
trained to react quickly in case of disaster, although his smallest one still cries at the thought of their
house burning. His wife, whom he met during his residency, is also a member of the Coast Guard.
She has a ready smile for his random guests, and jogs with her husband in the morning. He says
she hates that he is always at risk, and sometimes he agrees. He has tried to quit emergency work,
tried often, but then a text message would come, a thank you for a brothers life saved or word of a
storm in Cagayan de Oro. Then he goes back, because its what he does.
It is difficult to classify Esguerra, although McGyver and Rambo are possible references. Then he
picks up a guitar and begins singing. His songs have won national awards and presidential
recognition. He is doctor and soldier and maybe poet, maybe saint.
He solves the dilemma quickly, as he does on most field emergencies. Three things, he says.
Humanitarian worker. Husband. Father. He grins, then unpacks his bag again. Rappler.com
(Video by Patricia Evangelista, Adrian Portugal and John Javellana. Scoring Diulan by Moon Fear
Moon.)

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Profile: Dr. Ted "Everest Doc" T. Esguerra, A Hero for All

Seasons (and Disasters)

Dr. Ted Esguerra, He's the Man

Meet the Unsung Hero during every major and minor disasters that hit our country,
name it, he's there, been there and done that. Let this page serve as a tribute to him
and an affirmation of his greatness specially in this time of Typhoon Yolanda Disaster .

I had an opportunity to meet up with Dr. Ted 'Everest

Doc' Esguerra despite his busy and erratic schedule for our wilderness rescue,
advance disaster life support, mass casualty incident management training. I would like
to introduce to you this amazing guy, friend, Scintillan brother, Philippine's pride and
gem and unsung hero. He is all over the country specially in times of heavy and
ordinary disasters, rescuing, healing and touching people's lives, training local
government units, teaching in rescue academy etc. etc., he's not just the man, but a true
man of action. Doc Ted known to many is a wilderness rescue and expedition
physician, a member of Philippine Coast Guard elite rescue and medical team
and The Philippine Mt. Everest team. He is a sought after lecturer, speaker and trainer
here and abroad, many countries are offering him "no one can refuse salaries" but he
choose to stay for the love of country, that's a true idol. He is the only Rescue and
Wilderness physician with special skills in Polar Medicine, Aviation Medicine,
Combat Medicine, Dive Medicine, Mountain Medicine and Expedition Medicine.

At the height of Typhoon Ondoy in Marikina

Coast Guard team in a sunken ship

Rescue as a way of Life

Our Fraternal brothers, so inspired by this brother motivated to have our own disaster
and rescue team led by Dr. Ted, Dr. Wenceslao (Wency) Marcos Blas, Dr. Gesel
Agustin, Dr. Hector Alvarez, Dr. Jon Takeda, Dr. Cyril Merin, yours truly Ronnie
Bernardo, Ana May Endonilla, Auden Perucho and Atty. Lito Ferrer formed the SJAS Disaster Team, to be a support group in time of disasters. We are proud to be
trained by Doc Ted.
"Complete gear, complete mind set, complete heart for saving life"-Doc Ted

Me with Doc Ted's Rescue Pajero, loaded with full battle gear

He is a man of God and faith, a man of sports with

martial arts and self defense as one of his expertise, a man of science and medicine, he
revolutionized traditional concepts & practices in rescue and disaster management,
reinvented the Austere Medicine, a man of peace for his peacekeeping efforts in
Mindanao and as a combat physician in Afghanistan for the Filipino troops, a man of
arts and music, he composed poems and songs (tulawit) both in English and Tagalog
with beautifully crafted words and message for peace and environmental awareness,
very impressive, he could play many musical instruments like guitar, kulintang and flute
and not not only that a voice that can mesmerize and raise funds for a worthy cause,
voice that can move over other singing groups and rock bands (you should watch and
listen to his music, it's in YT), unknown to many he also changed the lives of many, in
prisons, drug addicts and make them productive in the society, a life coach to many.
I wonder what else this doctor can not do? We just hope and pray that his tribe may
increase and God to bless him more. Thank you Doc Ted for the support, we are proud
to be trained and disciplined by you.
- See more at: http://www.heliconprojects.com/2013/11/profile-dr-ted-everest-doc-tesguerra.html#sthash.tG9u9Web.dpuf

By Henrylito D. Tacio
Wednesday, April 14, 2010

DOCTOR Teofredo T. Esguerra, a flight surgeon who is an expert on emergency medical services, part of which is
high altitude medicine, said those words in 2006 when he was part of the Filipino team who scaled the world's highest
peak, Nepals Mount Everest. He stayed for the most part at the base camp, which is 18,000 feet above sea level.
"We stayed for three months around the Himalayan ranges to acclimatize our bodies to high altitude," he tells M. "We
climbed lower peaks to train and adapt to the environment where we were in. Nobody just climbs the highest peaks
there without acclimatizing."
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Aside from taking care of the health of everyone, Doc Ted as he is popularly called by his friends and colleagues -also took charge of the nutrition, the safety procedures, the rescue evacuation if something happened, and the
acclimatization training before the climb.
Doc Ted became the most popular figure in the mountain when he rendered medical treatment for free (where
charges were as much as US$75 for checkups and treatments). "Along the way, I ended up a doctor to everyone
Tibetans, Spanish, Italian, South African, Israeli, Belgian, Indonesian, Singaporean, Malaysian, American, French,
German, Swiss, everyone!"
Doc Ted had his initial studies in Davao Medical School Foundation (from 1989 to 1991). "But I was so active in the
world of activism and music which cost my studies," he admits. "I stopped for a year and concentrated on pursuing
music and arts."
Then, he had the chance of going back to school. He attended the Bicol Christian College of Medicine, where he
finally graduated in 1994. He took his medical board examination in 1996. He had his aviation medicine training
when he was working at the Armed Forces Hospital Southern Region in Saudi Arabia. "I was an ambulance doctor
there handling both ground and air," he admits. "I like flying. My childhood dream was to be a pilot."
Today, Doc Ted is with the Philippine Coast Guard Medical Service handling air medical evacuation, remote and
wilderness rescue and conducting training anywhere.
"I usually handle the difficult advance life support interventions," he says. "Right now, I am busy teaching rescue and
humanitarian operations to several local composite rescue teams. I found glory in that. Well make each day a safer
one by training anyone how to save lives."
He is also part of the Balangay team as assistant expedition leader. Balangay is a wooden watercraft adjoined by a
carved-out plank edged through pins and dowels. It was first mentioned in the 16th Century in the Chronicles of
Pigafetta.
Unknown to many, Doc Ted considers himself "a hard core humanitarian worker." He is connected with the
Knightsbridge International Humanitarian Organization, which extends works particularly in the hostile areas of the
world.
"I always render and facilitate humanitarian support locally and internationally," he says.

Indeed, Doc Ted has a long, long way since he was a little boy growing up in Bansalan, Davao del Sur, where he had
so many fond memories.
"I biked around the town," he recalls. "I played along the Miral River and took a bath. I feasted on durian during its
season, watched waling-waling blossomed at the backyard, and hunted wild ducks on some occasions."
But there were some regrets though. When he became a man of his own, he left his family and went to Luzon.
"I never had the chance to visit my parents often while they were still alive," he laments. "The time I went home, they
were already gone not your way of saying goodbyes. Worst is that I am a doctor and my parents died not in my
arms. I could have extended some skills I have on them. I mean my expertise is saving lives in the field. I could have
done it on my parents."
Although he is now a practicing Muslim, he respects other religions. "In the humanitarian world, we dont talk about
politics and religion. We just talk how we can redeem the poor."
Doc Ted is also song writer and poet. In one of his poems, he wrote several lines about his existence in this world.
Part is this rhyme: "Saving life is my sole game, Careful teaching is my fame."

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Dr. Teofredo 'Ted' Esguerra

Flight Surgeon & OIC
Philippine Coast Guard Elite Medical/Technical Rescue Team
www.coastguard.com.ph
Dr. Teofredo Ted T. Esguerra is the Expedition & Wilderness Emergency Medical
Services Physician of the Philippine Mt. Everest Expedition Team and the Voyage of the
Balangay. He is a Flight Surgeon and the Officer-in-Charge of the elite medical rescue
team: The Specialized Medical Assistance Response Team (SMART) of the Philippine
Coast Guard. He is trained on Urban and Wilderness Rescue, Aviation Medicine,
Expedition Medicine for Tropical and Alpine Mountain Operations, Tactical Medicine,
Disaster Medicine, Aquatic/Dive Medicine and high altitude medicine.
He is once one of the hosts of the new TV program of UNTV titled QUICK ACTION TEAM
(Q.U.A.T.), which deals on the issues of life saving, disaster management, safety and
rescue.
He is a certified American Heart Association (AHA) Instructor for the Basic Life Support
(BLS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), and Paediatric Advanced Life Support
(PALS); Consultant of the TAO Corporation Emergency Operations Center; the Medical
Officer of the International Tribal Games; the Wilderness Doctor of the The North Face
(TNF) international marathon events; the Medical Control for Emergency Medical
Services (EMS) composite teams for the Guinness World Record marathon for the Pasig
River; Head of the composite EMS teams of the Quezon City International Marathon
(QCIM); and over-all Medical Control of the CamSur International Ironman 2011.
He is also a senior instructor on Technical Rescue, Advanced Life Support, Wilderness
Rescue, Mountain Medicine, Mass Casualty Incident Management, and Tactical Medicine
for the International Emergency Response Training Academy (IERTA); for the Coast
Guard; for the Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician Course of Bright Center; and
for some of the rescue organizations and communities around Southeast Asia.
He is an active member of the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA-USA), Aerospace
Medical Association of the Philippines, Humanitarian International Services Group

(HISG), International Disaster Response Network (IDRN), International Society of

Mountain Medicine (ISMM-USA), International Urban Search & Rescue (IUSARSingapore), National Association for Search & Rescue (NASAR-USA), National
Association of Emergency Medical Services Physician (NAEMSP-USA), National
Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT-USA), Physicians For Peace
(PFP), Wilderness Medical Society (WMS-USA), and the World Association of Disaster &
Emergency Medicine (WADEM-USA).
He is the founding Vice President of the Philippine Association of EMS Personnel
(PAEMSP), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Search & Rescue Unit Foundation,
Inc (SARUFI), the assistant Expedition Leader of the Balangay Expedition, and an avid
supporter of the humanitarian and environmental organizations like the Knightsbridge
International, Saving Lives Together, and the Kaya ng Pinoy Foundation.
He is frequently invited to talk on TV and radio, interviewed by print media and do
lectures around Southeast Asia mainly on the topics of disaster preparedness, mass
casualty incident management, high altitude and wilderness medicine, security and
safety, advanced medical and technical rescue operations, and on the issues of the
Balangay and Everest Expeditions.
He received numerous national and international awards and commendations for his
outstanding feats in saving lives, in promoting humanitarian and pre-hospital care, in
protecting the environment and in preserving the culture and the arts.
He can be contacted on these addresses:
www.balangay-voyage.com
www.philippine-everest.mozcom
rted@mail.emsvillage.net
+639209115428
Operational Medicine, CG Medical Service, Philippine Coast Guard,
139 25th st., Port Area, Manila, The PHILIPPINES
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