“We are first and foremost doctors, and so health and well-being go in hand in hand with the beauty aspect of our jobs.” — Dr. Aivee Teo
By Alex Y. Vergara
Once a doctor, always a doctor. The husband-and-wife team of Drs. Z and Aivee Teo of the Aivee Group may have taken a different path professionally, choosing to help soothe emotions or at least boost the confidence of their countless happy, satisfied patients by enhancing their looks, be it their skin, hair, figure and what have you.
But the couple, both of whom are trained dermatologists who own and manage a chain of beauty clinics in Metro Manila and Singapore, where Z was born and raised, are also cognizant of the fact that their fellow healthcare professionals, including nurses and various hospital staff, need every help they could get now that the entire country, like the rest of the world, is in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since March 16, the Aivee Group, through its own volunteer doctors, nurses, aestheticians and office staff, has been distributing free personal protective equipment (PPEs) to a number of hospitals in Metro Manila where countless frontliners face clear and present danger themselves of getting sick, as they tirelessly attend to critically infected Filipinos as well as persons who are starting to show symptoms of the dreaded viral disease.
Such PPE kits consist of masks, gloves, alcohol, hand sanitizers, head covers and booties, among others. Now, more than ever, PPEs have become necessary for healthcare professional to wear inside the hospital for safety and hygienic purposes.
These materials were first sourced from the Aivee Group’s own clinic supplies. Given that the situation requires immediate action, the company also purchased other PPE items before the current Luzon-wide lockdown took effect to give away to frontliners.
“We are first and foremost doctors, and so health and well-being go in hand in hand with the beauty aspect of our jobs,” Aivee reasons.
At the same time, Aivee mobilized her Aivee Café kitchen staff to prepare, on certain days, packed meals to be distributed to a number of Metro Manila hospitals to help feed harried frontliners.
Love begets love. As soon as some of Aivee and Z’s loyal patients and good friends, what the couple affectionately dub as “Aiveeleaguers,” learned of their effort, they lost no time willingly donating to the cause, Aivee shares.
“Z and I initiated the idea as a way to help people in times like these, especially our frontliners. Since we still have some medical supplies left and our clinics will be closed (due to the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine), we thought it would be prudent to donate them first to people in need. What’s heartening is certain members of the Aivee team volunteered to help in this project,” she adds.
If there’s a will, there’s a way. Despite the difficulty to procure rubbing alcohol these days, Aivee, apart from mobilizing her team to make an inventory of the clinic chain’s remaining supplies, also contacted a few of the companies’ loyal suppliers. Some of them responded and delivered. A few members of the team also fanned out to source individually for alcohol and other scant PPE supplies.
“Thanks to our staff and patients who donated and helped us with this endeavor,” she shares. “To date, we have already distributed PPE kits to a number of hospitals. We are aiming to distribute to 50 hospitals in Metro Manila as well as share with them healthy food through our Aivee Café. We are also providing food and snacks to the hospitals whenever we deliver the PPEs.”
It’s all in a day’s for work for the Aivee Group, actually, as the company, since its inception 10 years ago has always endeavored to foster a culture of giving back “in whatever service we can for the community,” says Aivee, especially in a time of crisis.
The company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm is a brainchild of the couple themselves, which stemmed from Aivee’s regular practice, even when she was still a young, single doctor, to attend pro bono to skin problems (and we’re not talking of dark under eyes and wrinkles here, but pathological ones like severe skin allergies, eczema, warts, scabies and even psoriasis) of people living in poor barangays in her native Las Piñas.
A few years ago, Z, accompanying his wife and a couple of their doctors and nurses to one of these medical missions in a semi-outdoor gymnasium in Aivee’s favorite city, saw for himself the gravity of the situation while appreciating the nearly single-handed efforts his wife has been doing since the early 2000s. He suggested that they formalize the medical mission for it to become part of the company’s many CSR projects. Thus, the Aivee Group’s “Beauty Beyond Borders” was born.
“Our country as well as the entire world is going through an unprecedented situation. Like everyone else, we deal with it one day at a time. On a personal note, we deal with it by keeping ourselves updated with the news and continually adjusting to developments. Manpower, logistics, supplies and safety during an enhanced community quarantine, of course, doesn’t make it easier, but still, there’s a lot that could be done,” says Aivee.
In keeping with the country’s age-old “bayanihan” spirit, Aivee also shares that “our staff and doctors actually took the initiative and volunteered. They personally sent us messages that they wanted to help.”
The Aivee Group didn’t set a timeline for its latest CSR project. As long as the company has enough stocks to provide and give out to the country’s frontliners, the Teo couple will continue to help as much as they can.
