Ladion, Herminia de Guzman (1932–2008)

Herminia de Guzman Ladion was an educator, health lecturer, renowned author of books on natural remedies, writer of many health articles, and one of the pioneer advocates of a healthy lifestyle and natural remedies in the Philippines.

Early Life

Herminia de Guzman was born April 24, 1932, in Lucena, Quezon Province, Philippines, to Monica Bayocot and Gil Jurado de Guzman, both pioneer church leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Philippines.¹ Gil de Guzman served as a church administrator and missionary, serving several church institutions both in the country and abroad.²

Ladion was the second of four siblings. The eldest was Elnora, who was born in Singapore while their parents were serving as missionary elementary school teachers. Elnora eventually became a dentist. The third was Leslie, who became a medical technologist, and the fourth was Sophia, who died in childhood. Ladion was baptized into the Adventist Church on November 25, 1943, in Iloilo City by her own father, Pastor Gil de Guzman.³

Education and Marriage

As a daughter of church workers, Herminia’s spent her early life in different places. She grew up in Lapaz, Iloilo, and then in nearby Jaro Iloilo. Eventually the family moved to Cebu, where she attended East Visayan Academy in Cebu City, now Adventist Academy, Cebu. Her high school years were partly spent at Philippine Union College.⁴

Herminia pursued her pre-nursing course at Philippine Union College, Baesa. She also attended East Los Angeles Junior College for one summer. She completed a Bachelor of Nursing at Manila Sanitarium and Hospital, School of Nursing, Pasay City, on June 26, 1955.⁵

Ladion continued her education in California, finishing her B.S. in Physical Therapy from the College of Medical Evangelists (now Loma Linda University) in the year 1959.⁶

On May 27, 1960, Herminia married Samuel Ladion at Pasay English Church, Pasay City, Philippines.⁷ Samuel Ladion was a Doctor of Philosophy in Education, and later served as president of Philippine Union College (now Adventist University of the Philippines) from 1987 to 1990. They were blessed with two sons and two daughters. The eldest was Laverne, born October 9, 1961. The second child, Marjorie Ann, was born August 29, 1962. The third, Samuel Winston, Jr., was born March 17, 1965. The fourth child, Jannine Grace, was born January 26, 1989.⁸

Ministry

Ladion started her denominational work in June 1955 as a staff nurse at Manila Sanitarium and Hospital (now Adventist Medical Center, Manila), Pasay City. She worked in this capacity until April 1960.⁹ Ladion was the first Filipino to finish a B.S. in Physical Therapy at Loma Linda University, and was a member of the American Registry of Physical Therapists.¹⁰ She worked as Instructor and Physical Therapy Supervisor from 1960 until 1977 under the School of Nursing of Philippine Union College.¹¹ From 1977 to 1990 she served as a full-time PT Supervisor of Manila Sanitarium and Hospital.¹² From March 31 to September 31, 1983 she was granted an observation tour in the United States. From September 25, 1990 until October 31, 1998 she served as the Department Head of Physical Therapy at Manila Sanitarium and Hospital. ¹³

Upon her parents’ motivation, Ladion wrote books related to her expertise. Among her publications are the books Healing Wonders of Water and Healing Wonders of Herbs, which were translated into the Indonesian language,¹⁴ Healthy Moves¹⁵ (Healing Wonders of Exercise), Alive After Heart Attack, Cough it Out with Asthma, and Therapeutic Exercises Manual. She also published many health-related articles in Health and Home, the health journal of the Philippine Publishing House.

Later Life

Ladion applied for retirement on November 1, 1998, at Southern Asia Pacific Division, Silang, Cavite. She was already beyond the retirement age and had served the institution for more than 39 years.¹⁶ After retirement Ladion was awarded the distinction of being the one who pioneered the Physical Therapy Department at Manila Sanitarium and Hospital in 1960s. Moreover, she also started the School of Physical Therapy at School of Medical Arts. After retirement, Ladion lived with her husband in Camarino Drive, Buho, Silang, Cavite, and continued her ministry through writing books on physical therapy and natural healing.¹⁷

After retirement, she spent most of her time in her garden and writing health articles. She was active in giving lectures to the community, churches, schools and other companies. She was a regular health contributor to the Health and Home magazine. Even during retirement, patients came to her house for treatments, and elderly patients who could not walk due to stroke received free treatments.¹⁸

Herminia de Guzman Ladion died July 9, 2008, at Manila Sanitarium and Hospital, Pasay City, due to massive ascites secondary to liver metastasis secondary to breast cancer.¹⁹ She was 76 years old.

Legacy

As the first physical therapist in the Philippines, her patients were from all walks of life, and they were made aware of the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle focusing on a vegetarian diet. Because of this they tried eating at the Manila Sanitarium and Hospital’s cafeteria and started buying processed vegetable products from the hospital cafeteria.

Also, it was through her patients’ suggestions that she was able to write her three books. These books made a huge impact on the literature ministry to the evangelists’ sales, and on those who read them, because they were able to use and apply the techniques taught, saving on medical bills and expenses.

Sources

Catalogue of Philippine Publishing House. https://issuu.com/healthhome/docs/pph_catalog_2017. Accessed June 2, 2021.

Far Eastern Division Retirement Fund Application, Herminia de Guzman Ladion, Southern-Asia Pacific Division Archives, Silang, Cavite, Philippines.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1691520.Herminia_de_Guzm_n_Ladion. Accessed June 2, 2021.

“NPUM News Bits.” Far Eastern Division Outlook, July 1976.

Personal Service Record of Herminia de Guzman Ladion, Southern Asia-Pacific Division Archives, Silang, Cavite, Philippines.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, 1961; 1962; 1963; 1977. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Notes

1. Personal Service Record of Herminia de Guzman Ladion, Southern Asia-Pacific Division Archives.↩

2. Ibid.↩

3. Ibid.↩

4. Ibid.↩

5. Ibid.↩

6. Ibid.↩

7. Ibid.↩

8. Personal Service Record of Herminia de Guzman Ladion.↩

9. Ibid.↩

10. “NPUM News Bits,” Far Eastern Division Outlook, July 1976, 17. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/FEDO/FEDO19670701.pdf. Accessed June 6, 2021.↩

11. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, 1961, 266. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, 1962, 276. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, 1963, 303, 338.↩

12. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, 1977, 426.↩

13. Personal Service Record of Herminia de Guzman Ladion.↩

14. See https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1691520.Herminia_de_Guzm_n_Ladion. Accessed June 2, 2021.↩

15. See also the catalogue of Philippine Publishing House. https://issuu.com/healthhome/docs/pph_catalog_2017. Accessed June 2, 2021.↩

16. Far Eastern Division Retirement Fund Application, Herminia de Guzman Ladion, Southern- Asia Pacific Division Archives.↩

17. This information was given through email dated April 7, 2021, by Marjorie Ann Ladion, daughter of Herminia de Guzman Ladion.↩

18. Ibid.↩

19. Ibid.↩