Around 30 percent of Covid-induced casualty among registered nurses (RN) in the US has been Filipinos, though they constitute a meager 4 percent of the national nursing workforce.
About 61 percent deaths among the nursing staff due to the deadly virus are nurses of colour, according to National Nurses United, which represents 170,000 nurses.
To help Filipino nurses who test positive while working on the frontline and those who are battling stress, the Phillippine Nurses Association of Arizona has stepped in. The organisation is using professional leadership, mentorship, and clinical expertise to promote the advancement and betterment of Filipino-American nursing practice and foster a positive image of the group, which has 10,000 members nationwide. An anonymous email helpline set up for association members has helped a lot of people since the pandemic hit America.
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“The help line, called Magkakapatid tayo … magtulungan tayo, is Tagalog for “We are brothers and sisters … we should help one another,” Erlinda Singarajah, president of the association, reportedly said. The association was created to help members run errands, receive prayers for deceased loved ones or healing prayers in times of need.
Singarajah said the pandemic has made things very personal for her and the association. “We’re all spread out throughout the different hospitals, so, when one nurse is affected with COVID, we are all affected,” she was quoted as saying.
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Nurses across the country also struggled with the supply of personal protective equipment when the pandemic was declared more than a year ago. Such items as the yellow gowns used in pandemics, N95 masks and face shields and goggles, shares Jennifer Somera, a frontline worker in Phoenix. (AW)
