Barely a year after it was constituted, the selfless work being done by the Filipino Nurses Association United Kingdom (FNA UK) has bagged the prestigious National BAME Health Care Awards for Community Initiative of the Year.
The awards recognize the achievements of BAME staff who unselfishly work to serve others, including exceptional initiatives and leadership, improvement of services, access to services for people from BAME, among others. BAME is an acronym for Black, Asian and Minority Ethic in the UK.
“It means a lot,” said veteran National Health Service (NHS) nurse and FNA UK vice president Arlene Bautista of the award.
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During the lockdown, key officers of the group decided to convene, inviting colleagues who share the same passion and vision.
“I, personally, I have a good friend who died from COVID. I have a colleague who died from COVID, so are the other officers. So we thought there are so many organizations in the UK but there is no true representation of the nurses in the UK from the Philippines,” said Bautista.
Prior to the formation of FNA-UK, only one nursing group existed in the UK, the Philippine Nurses Association UK.
Bautista said: “We thought, we have to have a voice. We have to be represented. Let’s form an association. So, the birth of the Filipino Nurses Association UK happened. That was in July 2020. If there is a silver lining of COVID, that is one of them: we formed a strong, unified heads amongst the Filipino nurses.”
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Some of the veteran nurses working for the NHS who initiated the conception of the group met via social media, documenting the common sentiments and problems of newly arrived nurses in 2020, who found themselves in the thick of action fighting the novel coronavirus disease that was plaguing the country.
“Yung mga kakararating lang (sa UK) at nag-long day duty; paglabas, wala nang mabiling pagkain dahil sa panic buying. So, sina-sign post nila sa akin,” Bautista said.
Founded with a commitment to volunteerism, the group is growing across the country, having already registered 2000 members across the UK and regional board of directors from every region. (AW)
