As I went to bed and do my habit of browsing my Facebook news feed and I came across this image that struck my interest from this page below.
I must say, I was really empowered because it not only for the reason that I am also a Filipino Nurse who experienced the same woes of thousands of newly graduate Nurses in our generation having to work WITHOUT SALARY and labeled as POST GRADUATE NURSE TRAINEES, REGISTERED NURSE FOR SKILLS ENHANCEMENT or simply a mere VOLUNTEER NURSE to gain experience or if lucky to land a job of having a starting salary of php 8,OOO to php10,000 minimum MONTHLY excluding (taxes or whatever fees) for years to stay and not even experiencing an increase. And this has been an issue for decades as I heard from my mother who is also a nurse (graduate of 1979) who had a stipend of Php 6,000 starting salary at a District Hospital back then.
The issue nowadays is that more and more BSN graduates and even newly Registrered Nurses land into different sectors or shift careers with a higher salary due to the increasing standard of living in the country leaving hospitals to lack in manpower of Nurses or really shortage of staff. One factor also is the 1Nurse- 40 to 50 Patients ratio which is devastatingly a struggle for most government hospitals, leaving our nurses BURNOUT! just like the image below (LOL).
The reason why I took up Nursing as a profession because I was inspired by my mother and an incident that took the life of my brother way back 2001. And it is not only for the reason that I commonly came across from my colleagues ( the search for greener pastures) (hehe me being a HYPOCRITE of course!) but also because of me having compassion and having the heart to care for other people. Well that's just me being the only daughter and the eldest to four wonderful brothers including a family who has a wide range of medical background of Healthcare service providers.
As a Registered Nurse having the experience to shift to a different profession (Licensed REAL Estate Broker) and some Business ventures has really affected me greatly due to a vast of discouraging reasons in the GOVERNMENT SYSTEM for the Nurses' Future (ehe). I seemingly had the experience of letting myself go down the drain due to manipulative VULTURES (scammers) lurking out there! (but that's just another story to be told)
I admit that for some reason I was an inch away to submitting myself to a mental health institute due to my self-diagnosed (SEASONAL DEPRESSION) and I know I am not the only one. I even had all the symptoms checked (haha) but then I knew I had to face my own demons and turn to that Light again (That is to take care of my family's health even if my nursing career does not really help FINANCIALLY. sucks) but helping them through the knowledge and skills I have learned as a Nurse to lookout for their health is the least I can do. (including writing this blog and sharing this to open the eyes of NON HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS out there what really goes beyond the Nursing profession)
It is really a tough position to be at. Being a NURSE is not just a simple profession to be in. (Believe me, I know haha). Having to balance your anger and complaints towards your toughest patient converting it into acts of Understanding, Love and Care (in short COMPASSION) is a noble Job for me. I learned from experienced even before I was a student that dealing with even the most impossible people molded me to become a good person and understand them because I know that every person is experiencing some kind of pain they cannot express. It is really a difficult position having to do multi -tasking.. paper works, vital sign checking, medication preparation and monitoring, bedside care... need i say more? here's a link below on what NURSES really do in our society:
http://crazyb8utifullife.blogspot.com/2013/10/what-nurses-really-do.html
Being a nurse really is a difficult task but a worthy one. NURSES! we may not get the appreciation we deserve, but at least we know that we gavel all our best for our patient's well-being. This post in Facebook made me realized my worth. So I encourage everyone who reads this post to share and be aware that NURSES are not merely just MAIDS or JUST ROOM NURSES (as quoted by SEN. CYNTHIA VILLAR) or as labeled by society as TAGA PUNAS LANG NG PUWET ABROAD!
I am enraged by this misconceptions, I say that NURSES are simply REAL LIVING LEGENDS AND HEROES who saves LIVES everyday.
FILIPINO NURSES!!!
I ENCOURAGE YOU TO STEP UP, LET US HELP LIFT EACH OTHER UP for our PRIDE and DIGNITY. We may be silent for decades but it TIME to make a CHANGE!
We often here our own woes, aches and pains after our duty but instead we chose to become vulnerably strong and patient from this system. We have sacrificed our time away from our own families, energy and efforts in rendering our quality care and TLC service and yet we don't get the respect and support that we deserve!
LET US JOIN THIS ADVOCACY to HELP every FILIPINO NURSES nationwide and abroad including our FUTURE NURSES OUT THERE!
THE NEWS IS OUT! LET US BE PART OF THIS HUGE AND MASSIVE ACTION that would benefit thousands of NURSES!
LIKE AND SHARE! https://www.facebook.com/NursesForChangeMovement headed by Dr. Carl E.Balita and support Our Fellow NURSES!
