» Belo Touches My Skin, and My Heart Too

20 Aug, 2008

Belo Touches My Skin, and My Heart Too

“Only Belo touches my skin,” so goes their tagline. Apparently, they don’t only touch your skin and other physical attributes, they also touch your heart. Mushy, you might say, but read on and you’ll find out what I’m talking about.

What comes to mind when you hear the name Belo? Surgery, right? Prior to the long weekend, I used to think of the same thing. Belo is surgery. Even if I knew that Belo had other services aside from liposuction and breast augmentation, I still could not avoid equating the name Belo with surgery. Until the past weekend.

I, along with other bloggers, got the chance to meet Dra. Vicki Belo and Dr. Hayden Kho of the Belo Medical Group. When I received the invite through email for a Belo Open House for Bloggers, I did not think twice and immediately replied in the affirmative. This is Belo we are talking about. Of course, there’s that wishful thinking that I would finally meet the H-O-T Dr. Hayden Kho Jr. Little did I know that this wish was going to be granted on that fateful weekend. And I got more than just a meet-up with Doc Hayden!

During the event, Hayden discussed what the Belo Medical Group was about through a presentation titled Beauty and the Best. Through this presentation, I found out that I actually knew too little about Belo and what they do. Hayden gave a quick rundown of all their surgical services (Belo Surgical Solutions) as well as their nonsurgical and non-invasive services. I knew they also offered facial treatments and the like but that was all I knew. I didn’t know about Tenor, Aurora Photofacial, Spanish Peel, and QuickTan (among others. For a full list of their services, visit the Belo Medical Group website). Hayden also talked about beauty (but of course!) and how it is both superficial and not.

I must admit that some of the terms and items discussed in Hayden’s presentation were a little bit too technical, but I did not mind it since I was quite familiar with most of the terms. This is due to my research and writing experience about dermatological information for a confidential freelance job I had taken more than six years ago. Botox, rhinoplasty, Restylane, collagen infusion and induction, Obagi, are just a few of them. But since I am interested in anything and everything beautiful, my attention remained focused on the godly Hayden Hayden’s presentation.

Dra. Vicki Belo (whom I did not expect to be there) arrived gracefully in the middle of Hayden’s talk about the history of the Belo Medical Group, Vicki’s personal story included. Vicky shared her very heartwarming personal history sincerely (I’m not just saying this. She really was sincere). I will not share the story here as I’m sure I will not give due justice to it. Suffice to say that her life is indeed one heck of a rollercoaster ride.

AJ gets a Tenor Treatment (photo courtesy of Sophie Uy)

So how did Belo touch not just my skin but also my heart? No, not with her life story and the beginnings of the Belo Medical group (it has a bit to do with it though, but not fully). It was after the presentation was over. For many, Belo seems like it is all about business. And since this was a new media event of sorts, I expected them to just tell us about their services and products, probably try out one or two treatments (I tried the Tenor, see photo above), get a freebie, and then bye bye. I was surprised when Hayden and Vicki announced that the reason why they invited us was because they wanted to work with bloggers, get their ideas and suggestions on how to spread word and make better their foundation.

Yes, the Belo Medical Group has a foundation! And by foundation, I’m not talking about the make-up kind (although that may sound like a good idea for Belo Essentials!). I’m talking about a charity foundation. This touched my heart deeply becuase I was truly mistaken about the whole Belo brouhaha. I thought it was all about business and superficial beauty! The Belo Medical Group recently launched the Ike and Nena Belo Foundation. It is a non-profit corporate charity meant to shape lives, with education, surgical assistance and environmental protection as its advocacies.

The foundation aims to educate needy children, help in the rehabilitation of burn victims, provide free surgery to children with cleft palate, and call for environmental awareness. And since they are a “beauty” company, it is quite smart of them to have a foundation whose advocacy is geared towards physical, mental, and social welfare of its beneficiaries.

Dr. Vicki Belo says that the foundation carries the legacy of her parents and that it is her and her company’s way of giving back to society, after being the business for 18 years. She adds that the Belo Medical group wants to be part of shaping people’s lives by fulfilling their goals and giving them a sense of value and satisfaction not only through physical, but also through other means.

The Ike and Nena Belo Foundation will include annual scholarship grants to poor but deserving students, community outreach, public service, medical missions, surgical assistance and environmental drives. These are evident in the projects that they have already completed: outreach to the less fortunate at Baseco Compound in Tondo, the Belo Goes Green enviromental campaign, treatment of burn victims and scholarship grants to a grade school and college student. The foundation will also engage into a partnership with Sa Aklat Sikat, a non-government organization that gives funding for reading to public schools in the provinces.

I commend the Belo Medical Group for these efforts and for inviting us bloggers not merely to promote their products and services, but primarily because of this charitable and selfless cause. They want to help out the less fortunate and they want to do that the best way they can. So if you have any suggestions or ideas on how the Belo Medical Group, through the Ike and Nena Belo Foundation, can give back to and help the society at large, please do share it with us! After all, real beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but life will be more beautiful if beauty is shared to the world!

My photos from the event:

via my Flickr account

More photos from other bloggers:
Belo Open house For Bloggers By Jehzeel
Vicky Belo Meets a Few Bloggers by Jayvee
Belo Bloggers! By Ethel
Belo Med Open House for Bloggers by Nan
Belo Open House – Bloggers Event by Azrael
Belo Open House for Bloggers @ Belo Tomas Morato Branch by Toshi
The First Belo Open House for Bloggers by Mica
Only BELO touches my skin! By AJ
Belo Open House for Bloggers by Mac