By Cathy S. Babao Guballa
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, a registered nurse, has just taken her place in history. Last Sept. 1, Zenei became the first Filipino president of California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, the premier organization of Filipino-American nurses in the United States.
Zenei is one of the four CNA presidents. The others are Americans. “I am deeply touched by the honor bestowed upon me by my fellow nurses,†Zenei tells the Inquirer in an interview.
“To have come so far in my life and now to share the responsibility of advocating for patients and RNs alike is nothing that I could have imagined.â€
Zenei’s election marks a watershed moment for nursing, which has increasingly become a global profession marked by steady migration from the Philippines, as well as for the larger Filipino-American people, now numbering more than two million, but is only beginning to acquire the social and political representation it deserves.
Founded in 1903, the California Nurses Association, and its national arm, the National Nurses Organizing Committee, is one of the nation’s premier nurses’ organizations and health care unions.
Big group
One of the fastest growing health care organizations in the US, the group at present has 75,000 members in 40 states, representing nurses at scores of hospitals, clinics and home health agencies.
Since 2000, over 19,000 RNs at 50 hospitals have elected to affiliate with CNA. It is the largest and fastest-growing organization of direct care registered nurses in the country, dedicated to providing a voice for nurses and a vision for healthcare.
It’s been a long and hard road for Zenei who migrated to the US in the early ’70s. A brother who was with the US Navy sponsored all nine Triunfo siblings, Zenei among them, together with their parents, Aniano Villote Triunfo and Jovita Celi Triunfo.
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Topic: Filipino Nurse elected President in Nurses Association in California (Read 1127 times)