SALUTE to NURSES

The NURSING LANGUAGE:
Non-judgmental Understanding Respectful Supportive Empathetic

What could it be why nurses care? Why do they do special things?

Because Nurses know the languages of love: Patience, Service, Time, Sharing, Attention, Compassion, and Mercy.

SALUTE: Say it Nice and Sweet!

BEHIND the FRONTLINES

Stories of Courage and Resiliency

This is the Year 2020, Proclaimed as the Year of the Nurse. Unknowingly without signs, a Big Bang claiming lives around the world in great numbers, unprecedented, never before in history. Nurses have no choice, their Call of Duty came like a Thief in the Night. Without hesitation, they have to fight for the people, in many ways never before imagined. Their bravery, courage, leadership tested to fight the unknown enemy in the front lines. These documentaries and descriptive narratives are from the nurses themselves, to tell their stories ...BEHIND the FRONTLINES.

~ Myrna D. Santos, MSN, RN

Who could have ever predicted that 2020 being proclaimed the "International Year of the Nurse", would present us with something like COVID 19, which has tried our patience, tested our resilience, exhausted our mental, emotional, physical state, and to some extent devastated some of our comrades/colleagues. Yet, despite all of these, we remain standing, we bounce back and came out stronger, for we fought the enemy, and continue to tussle it together, side by side, helping and supporting each other. Although we have always been recognized as one of the most respected and honored professions, we have never been as celebrated as we have now, for our valiant efforts as front liners, in fighting an invisible but very cruel enemy. BE PROUD, for you are all AMAZING!!! Happy Nurses Day to all the Nurses out there.

~Arlin Fidellaga FB, May7,2020

Horrid COVID

Fear, uncertainty and anxiety
Began to envelop me
To learn about my patient today
Is not COVID-19 free.

Feelings of apprehension I feel
For COVID-19 is real.
No matter who you are in life
The virus will spiral you down in your worst strife.

My first brush with the monstrous enemy
Came unexpectedly
As I pray to God fervently
To spare me every day.

So many thoughts came to mind today
Changes in life will soon come to play
I could feel my heart racing in dismay
Palms sweating, voice quivering in disarray.

I told myself to stay calm
In my care is a special man
His voice is soft and kind
I wonder, “What worries he has in his mind?”

His last connection with his family was his call
From his cellphone, I recall
Alone he will be, from his loved ones for a while
Lonely and isolated from them all.

His voice is heard through the doctors and nurses.
In his sedated state, I know he hears
Voices from the frontliners
Whose faces are unrecognized by masks and shields.

Are these voices he hears,
Soothing and kind to his ears?
What about the touch he feels,
Is it a promise that someone cares?

When doubt comes to consume me
I have refuge and comfort from Psalms 91
To rely on His promises is the only way
He is greater and bigger than any PPE.

Restoration and healing for everyone I pray
Hope this too shall pass someday
Victory over COVID-19, we will rejoice
Love to all will resound in our voice.

 

By Orpha Ale Mineque, RN, BSN, CCRN

PNA Gulf Coast Florida (FB,May7,2020)

BEACON Awardees CICU Nurses of New york Harbor Healthcare System Brooklyn Campus (2009)

In Search of:

Unsung Heroes of Nightingale Awards

This is an award bestowed to nurses who have served for over 30 years and above to recognize their special contribution in the practice of nursing. Longevity of practice is a defining factor in a nurse’s commitment to service. We believe that “Once a nurse, is a nurse forever”, and nurses who have served for a long time are already transformed in every way, be it in their way of caring, goodness of heart, kindness, gentleness, wisdom and dedication and that nursing has become their second nature and nursing is indeed, “under their skin” .

Guidelines and Criteria for the Awards:

Awardees may have one or two or all of these criteria, because we believe that nurses who have served the longest can no longer be doubted, but rather should be appreciated and recognized for their services.

·         Must have been a nurse for over thirty years.

·         Must have done something extraordinary in nursing service.

·         Must be doing nursing service in any form in an effort to make a difference.

 

Nomination:

 Candidates for the “Unsung Heroes of Nightingale Awards” may be nominated by anyone, family, friends, and colleague through a written format provided by The Nursing Office.Com (You may request for the Nomination form through myrsan@thenursingoffice.com )

Awards:

1.       A certificate/plaque of recognition

2.       Will be honored/featured in the upcoming book “Unsung  Heroes of Nightingales

3.       Will be entered in the Unsung Heroes Roster in The Nursing Office. Com (www.thenursingoffice.com )

 

 

The First Annual Unsung Heroes of Nightingale Awards

Congratulations to our Unsung Heroes Awardees

The First Annual Unsung Heroes Awards was a success as we celebrated our awardees with a cultural theatrical show of Pandibulan(bathing by moonlight)produced by a nurse artist, Potri Ranka Manis, MA, RN, last May 1, 2010 at the La MaMa Theater in New York City.

Claudette Morissey, RN

Mireille Roti, RN

Valarie H.Crosdale, RN

Teresita D. Dunuan, RN

Natividad Ronquillo Abalos, RN

Niyom Kanjanintorn, RN

Miraflor Arcenigas, RN

 Naomi White, RN

Special Awards

Potri Ranka Manis, MA, RN

Ayal B. Lindeman, LPN

Clemencia Wong, MEd, RN

Egna Martinez, RN: More than Skin Deep

While first impressions last, what about longtime acquaintances? I have known Egna for over twenty years and she has proven to everyone who she is, not only in nursing but as a person.

 

She works as Clinical Specialist on Wound Care. No wound is too small or too big for her clinical eyes, that she can clearly uncover a wound from  under those dry dead skin and everything else from under a deceiving look of unstageable ulcers. For over 20 years, she has been taking care of our veteran’s wounds and ostomies. I cannot say how many patients she has healed, how many lives she has touched, but one thing sure is that, these patients love her so much, as the doctors, nurses and everyone she has associated with. You can feel the genuine warmth of the hugs and kisses she gets. She is a living angel, a nurse, a friend and colleague.

 

While she knows every layer of skin, her specialty, she gives special treatment to everyone that relationships are more than skin deep, extending to the soul and spirit.

 

IN MEMORIAM

GOOD NIGHT, NURSE

April, 2014

A Tribute to Ana D. Javellana, MSN, RN

Ana D. Javellana, MSN, RN

 

"A life well-lived, a job well done, Goodnight, Ana"

I have known Ana for a very brief while since last year’s 30th PNAA Convention in Baltimore. Formerly a Floridian, a Filipino and a nurse, it was easy for me to establish a common ground with her. We celebrated our friendship over a quick lunch with pancit and pan de sal, while the rest came natural and cordial.

The news of her sudden death shocked me, as we were planning together the upcoming Miami Convention. I felt bad that my proposal would not get through; however, I did not despair. I feel that I have to do something for Ana. I became an instrument to do a press release about her death and the response among nurses was overwhelming. I communicated with her family, and asked Andy, her husband, to give me her Curriculum Vitae. It was not but a page but several pages, a book, detailing her accomplishments as a Director, Administrator, Leader, Mentor, Educator, Researcher, Author, Nurse Advocate, Community leader and good citizen, and foremost, a wife and mother. I was surprised to know who Ana was, how beautiful she was.

I asked some friends to write this tribute, but looking at her curriculum vitae, I cannot help but write it myself, because I want to give the best to celebrate her life. Who could have done all that in a lifetime short of retirement?

         As a nurse, if I knew that Ana was a pot of gold, I could have tapped into her rich well of knowledge, skill and wisdom so that I myself would learn. It is my regret that I did not do it sooner, than the time we were amidst talks of how we could make the Miami Convention an “extraordinary” event for the South Florida Philippine Nurses Association and the PNAA in general. It is my deep regret that she did not wait to see what I have done for her. But what I know is that, it is an “extraordinary one”, something that will linger through the pages of time, not only for the nurses, but for the memory of Ana.

As a friend, I have done this tribute with the hope that Ana’s death will not be a sorrowful time, but rather a life celebrated. I wish that her loss will not discourage but rather inspire her Officers and Board of Directors to continue her leadership, but mostly, to ease the pain and bring comfort to her family and friends – that they may not see her around but feel her presence in everything they do, for true love  never dies .

 On behalf of The Nursing Office. Com, I would like to bestow on her, Ana D. Javellana, MSN, RN, the title of a Modern Nightingale, a nurse for every season and nation, for indeed she has done magnificence in the practice of her profession, her influence on shaping the practice of nursing and the future of Filipino nurses in America. We shall put her in our Nursing Hall of Fame to eternally celebrate her lifetime achievements in the line of nursing, her chosen profession, so that she will no longer be the unsung hero of Nightingale.

You, indeed had a well-lived life, a job well done. In our hearts, you will always be. Rest now, in peace. Goodnight, Ana.

Sincerely,

Myrna. Myrna D Santos, MSN, RN

Philippine Nurses Association of NY Executive Council Induction, 2010

                                        http://www.pnanewyork.org/