BANTAY KALUSUGAN Project

BANTAY KALUSUGAN: Health Check-up is a chance to have a private, face-to-face assessment and conversation with a Health Care Provider (Physician, Nurse, Pharmacist) to better understand their health conditions and how/when to take their medicines, what they are doing for the patient and how to control any side effects. This is a Free Health Check-up/Assessment and Free Basic Medicines Program given to community people of Mansalay. As a nurse I am striving to achieve long term and self-sustaining healthy communities where extreme poverty and lack of basic  education and healthcare are a problem. I believe that through spiritual healing and preventive care a healthy community can enable itself to withstand the challenges of tomorrow.

Nurse to the Mountains.

     

During Health Check-up in Sitio Lukban, 50kms away from low lander communities.

 Being a local politician and an independent Nurse practitioner in our municipality is an opportunity for me to learn the values and culture of Mangyan tribes and to live a unique personal and professional experience that is simply not available in any hospital or health care employment setting. 

      Not only will you encounter a fascinating people and culture, but your expertise as a nurse will be broadened and valued. In my practice as an independent professional nurse, a broad spectrum of services, I have the opportunities to explore different specialties and gain additional skills in the field. I also see how your efforts to care for advocate for and educate patients and constituents which can have a ripple effect on the entire community.

      One of my nursing goals is to “ensure that comprehensive, culturally acceptable personal and public health services are accessible and available to all Mangyans and Native people in this country.

Geriatric patient from Brgy. Bonbon

Kilapnet Mangyan Settlement

Cabuyao Mangyan Community

With sitio leader (community chieftain)

Health Check-ups & Free Medicines (Outreach Program)

Many thanks to Unilab, Pharex & Natpharma for donating boxes of medicines and to our outreach partner, Bukluran Outdoor Club & KHA volunteers who spent 3 days in the mountain to provide basic medical & nursing care, health education and other valuable services to the people in Cabuyao & Kilapnit Mangyan communities.  A special thanks to Sir Greg & Nurse Myra for their outstanding commitment as well as to Bahay Kubo Foundation. Volunteers give of their time and money to walk and travel great distances to deliver assistance to people who have no other access to basic health care. On behalf of my constituents touched by this fabulous team of volunteers, we say Thank You! 

Medicines from Unilab

Medicines from Pharex

Medicines from Natpharma

Volunteers

Villagers transporting goods

I can’t even begin to write about all the different experiences I had, people I met, and how much this mission climb changed my life and my perspective on things; living in an urbanized area you really take for granted necessities like clean water, food, medicine, and even electricity.

 

Nurse Myra explaining the dosage and intake of the medicine

The team transformed a local school into a triage unit, clinic, and pharmacy over the course of 2 days and saw over 200 patients.

Kilapnit Children

With Kilapnit Elementary School teachers

New Role as Councilor: Principles & Platform

POLITICAL PRINCIPLES
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My role as Councilor will endeavor to realize my commitment to God and all the residents of our municipality, a commitment that revolves around these five principles of government:

Austerity

• Our town needs government that is efficient and which makes careful use of financial resources. The current difficult times demand that we do more with less, that we eliminate the non-essential, and that we act responsibly to achieve better government with resources which belong to everyone.

Information

• All activity of our Town Hall must be transparent. Our government must be committed to supplying information about its activities on a constant basis. Provide maximum advance information and transparency in all future decisions, making use of new technology such as the internet in order to do so, publicizing plenary meetings, carrying out public consultations, etc.

Standards

• I believe in improving the town’s image, to act responsibly and openly, and in accordance with the highest standards of public office as well as government by rule of law. Ensuring that the future development of Mansalay be planned and supervised through legislative processes according to the real needs of people, not based on short-term and unsustainable speculation.

Dialogue

• I believe in continuous dialogue and will work towards finding the best solutions, in broad-based political agreements that join together and benefit all our people.

Freedom

• I believe that a free society is also more equitable. That is why we must ensure that when we act in the name of freedom, in whatever form it might take, that that freedom is real for all the citizens of our municipality.


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PRIORITIES & PLATFORM
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1. HEALTH

• Work towards improving health services in Barangay level, including availability of regular health check-ups and free medicines, exploring all avenues to rectify inadequate services to the outlying and remote areas.

• Review community health and sanitary problems related to incomplete infrastructure such as the sewage and waste disposal system as part of primary health care and attempt to address them.

• Work towards improving existing local health services, especially regards to the health and nutritional needs of the children, child bearing population, elderly and indigenous population.

• Endeavor to sustain Feeding Program and Healthy Teeth Campaign at Community Day Care Centers and elementary schools I personally started five years ago.

• Conduct regular health teachings and family education with regards to local health concerns, nutrition, morbidity and epidemics.

2. EDUCATION

• Provide maximum advance in terms of education through the use of new technology such as the internet and computers.

• Improve the town educational status through teacher empowerment, without forgetting to invest in and maintain the indigent Mangyan communities which have traditionally been overlooked.

• Promote opportunities for college and technical education.

• Attempt to accelerate the provision and construction of low-cost education and training programs.

• Endeavor to ensure maximum transparency in the municipal budget, as well as equitable allocation of services and funding for education.

3. YOUTH & EMPLOYMENT

• Encourage recreation activities for young people such as sports and other skills training.

• Encourage participation of young citizens in matters related to town activities.

• Encourage to increase youth participation in all major decisions affecting the town, encouraging attendance at public gatherings and meetings

• Increase activities to facilitate meaningful integration of the different Christian & Mangyan youth groups.

• Help in providing opportunities for technical skills training, scholarships and college education.

• Help in coordinating the town’s tourism plans such that local businesses are supported.

5. ENVIRONMENT & TOURISM

• Encourage the creation of sustainable employment, particularly in sectors related to the development of tourism and the town’s historic & ethnic heritage, sustainable construction and maintenance, or workshops in new ecological activities, etc.

• Help in designing a comprehensive tourism plan highlighting the town’s historical and ecological value, encouraging participation of all commercial sectors of the town.

• Encourage a professional workshop for the introduction of and experimentation in ecological agriculture in Mansalay.

• Promote the reforestation and proper garbage disposal

• Lobby for and promote usage of a municipal tourism site built according to ecological and sustainable principles.

RN Heals Batch 3: 13,000 Nurses, Midwives to be Deployed Next Month

         The Department of Health (DOH) announced yesterday that 10,000 nurses and 3,000 midwives will be deployed next month to the various provinces in the Philippines to augment the inadequate nursing workforce in DOH hospitals and other health facilities of local government units.

        According to the report, the government deployed the first batch of 10,000 nurses last year and another batch of 11,500 nurses and 1,000 midwives last November.

        This year 2012, the recruitment of 10,000 nurses and 3,000 midwives is already ongoing and is expected to be completed by the end of the month.

        “The recruitment and selection shall be done by the respective Center for Health Development (CMDs) to be completed by February,” the DOH said. 

         Under the RN Heals 3 program, newly hired nurses and midwives shall undergo general orientation scheduled on the first week of March before the actual deployment.

       Those who were previously hired under the same program and rendered satisfactory services until the end of their contract next week can re-apply. (Nursingcrib.com)

How To Quit Nursing in One Day

(Originally Posted at http://narsako.wordpress.com/)

No one can deny that the progress of the nursing profession here in the Philippines is on a downward trend. I’ve known this phenomenon ever since I have opened my eyes to the realities that surround our profession and I’m sick of it already. And when I say “I’m sick of it”, you better keep your mouth shut and don’t ask me why. Just look around and you will know the answer right away. I saw it coming back then but I still took the risk anyway. To this day, I can’t count how many times people have asked me this same 7-syllable question over and over again:

“Bakit ka ba nag-Nursing?”

It was asked by a co worker when I decided to file my resignation in a BPO company two months ago. It was asked by my sister who also just graduated this year and earned a bachelor’s degree in Radiologic Technology, which she boasts to be more financially rewarding  than Nursing abroad. It was asked by my high school classmates, friends, relatives, and virtually every people who knows I’m a registered nurse. Kung puwede lang irecord ang sagot ko para di na ko mapagod kakaexplain sa kanila, ginawa ko na noon pa. But I have no choice but to tell them honestly that I took the nursing course because it was in demand back then and that no one had forced me to do so. It is a typical answer that doesn’t make any sense as far as the present state of nursing employment is concerned. I remember when I shifted  from Biology to Nursing way back in 2006, I was bombarded with ideas  like “Hindi ka yayaman sa pagdodoktor”  , “Mag-nursing ka na lang” , and all that kind of ‘practical suggestions’, so to speak. I eventually took up Nursing, survived the gruelling studies coupled with rigorous clinical duties, and graduated early this year. I have discovered two things almost 5 years after I decided to take up nursing: One, I’m glad that I didn’t  take up Medicine because I fell in love with Nursing in the process and lastly, the idea that Nursing would lead to greener pasture was a trap and an eye-opener at the same time. It’s as if a reversal of nature is happening and the same people who gave me the aforementioned ‘practical suggestions’ are now telling me that  “Hindi ka yayaman kung magnunursing ka lang”, “Magdoktor ka na lang”  and all that kind of crappy stuff. Sometimes, I feel bad for earning the nursing degree at the wrong place and at the wrong time. I envy those nurses from the early generations  who got a lot of opportunities for them and I wonder if they are even aware that the words “volunteer” and “contractual” now represent the current batch of Filipino nurses.

 ”Bakit nga ba ako nag-Nursing?”

I can’t even think of a single best answer to satisfy this question but ironically, I can think of a lot of reasons (can even reach thousands!!haha) why I should quit NOW and pursue other rewarding career. How to quit Nursing in one day? Very simple: Always be pessimistic and know the following reasons by heart:

1. It’s tough to be a USRN. We all want to work in the US if given the chance. American nurses, they say, are one of the most financially blessed nurses nowadays but how the heck can someone like me become a USRN if the US is closing its doors for foreign applicants and even struggling to provide jobs for its own American nurses. I heard that they are now processing Visa applications from way back 2005 but this is more of a discouraging news for someone like me who doesn’t even have a financial capability to take NCLEX and pay for all the requirements not just for US and for other countries as well. Kung puwede lang na mag-asawa ako ng Kano..kahit girl, boy, bakla, or tomboy man  yan, papatusin ko na maging US citizen lang ako….

2. It’s tough to be a USRN but its even tougher to be accepted as a nurse in the Philippines. They always say every nurse should start from scratch and struggle to move upward. But how on earth can I start my career if I’m competing with thousands of nursing graduates for a hospital position that doesn’t even guarantee of a long-term employment? Ma-hire ka man,utang na loob mo pa sa hospital na may experience ka pero wala namang bayad. In addition to that, there will always be these so-called “backer system” and expensive training requirements to stand in my way. It’s quite frustrating that the government wasn’t able to regulate nursing schools during those times when nurses spread out like  gremlins, increasing it’s numbers over the years. And what do I do now? Taking endless search and endless trainings that will just lead me to an endless waiting time.  Kung meron lang sanang magic potion na puwede kong ilagay sa resume ko para iprioritize agad ng mga hospitals application ko….

3. It’s tough to be accepted as a nurse in our country but its tougher to stay working in the hospital. Nurses have a lot of issues why they quit working in the hospital. They are burned out, unpaid or underpaid, exploited, neglected, abused , and degraded by the hospital management. The dismal condition of nursing employment and the unfair nurse-patient ratio are  pests that will keep on recurring unless properly addressed. Nursing is a tough job so we can’t stay doing charity works for the rest of our lives. I’m tired of hearing cliche like “I want to be a nurse because I want to save lives” because there a lot of jobs out there that will allow you to save lives without even becoming a nurse. Admit it, we all want to be a nurse because we want better lives for our families one way or the other. And nurses didn’t spend thousands of pesos for their nursing studies para lang magtrabaho dito at kumita ng halagang mas malaki pa sweldo ng katulong.  Kung puwede lang na mabuhay uli si Florence Nightingale at maging presidente ng Pilipinas…..

4. It’s tough to be a nurse, period. I remember during the last day of my IVT Training at a Marikina hospital, the Director of Nursing shared how, at one point in her 20 years of professional life, she almost gave up and think of quitting Nursing for good. I was taken aback by her story and felt the hardships and trials she has faced during the span of her career. “Napakahirap maging nurse..tandaan nyo yan!” was her rant that has kept me thinking hard if my decision of quitting a high-paying job to go back to Nursing is the best decision for me. But look at her now and how her life turned out. She has climbed her way to the top and have realized that she has survived those tormenting days at the Pediatric Ward not because she had no choice but because her love for her profession is insurmountable. Kung puwede lang na lakas ng loob, sipag at diskarte na lang ang labanan sa Nursing, eh di sana marami na ring umasenso tulad ko…..

Again, one can quit nursing and decide to leave it for good in just one day. How? By just allowing oneself to get discouraged easily by those reasons above. I, at one point in my life, hated Nursing and almost quit. But in the long run, I have realized that not every one can be a nurse and I couldn’t see myself doing other jobs in the future. I love caring people and I want to grow professionally even if the promise of working abroad is bleak for now. Are these reasons enough to make me a genuine nurse? I don’t have any idea. I just love what I’m doing and I know that Nursing is not all about money and benefits in the first place. It’s about being human and following what your heart wants you to do. I have a lot of what if’s and doubts about the future. Can a weakling like me have the courage and skills to withstand the rocky road of the nursing profession? I can’t answer it myself. The future might be gloomy for now but at the end of the day, it’s not who I was in the past but who I choose to be for the rest of my life that will matter significantly. I have the choice to quit Nursing in one day but I choose to love Nursing and it’s one decision that will stay unbreakable for the rest of my life. -Nars A. Ko

(Credit to Nars. A. Ko - http://narsako.wordpress.com/)