US can wait: 2 top nurses opt to serve hereMarch 21, 2009 03:29:00
Ma. Cecilia Rodriguez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippine — After finding out she was a topnotcher in the last Nursing Board exams, it was natural for Rosario Pasimio to start looking for work abroad.
After all, this was why she studied nursing — to earn a good living so she could help her family.
But when she learned that the government was deploying at least 10,000 nurses to some of the country’s remotest areas, she found a reason to stay.
“It’s [one way of] giving back to the country,†said Pasimio, a nursing graduate from Xavier University (Ateneo de Cagayan) here. She ranked No. 5 in the latest Nursing Licensure Examination, which could help her land a job abroad. But the global recession and its looming adverse effects on the Philippines changed her mind.
“I’m sure many others like me want to go abroad,†she said. “But for now, I would like to serve my countrymen in the rural areas.â€
Crystal Mae Sabela, another nursing graduate of XU who placed No. 9 in the last board exams, said serving the country was one of the first things she learned in nursing school.
“There is a crisis right now and a lot [of people] are losing their jobs,†Sabela said, adding that many people might not have ready access to health, especially those in the rural areas.
NARS program
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is urging new nurses like Pasimio and Sabela to answer the call to augment the number of health workers in remote areas where people rarely see doctors or nurses.
Under the Nurses Assigned in Rural Service, or NARS program, nurses will be deployed to selected towns in the provinces of Lanao del Norte and Misamis Oriental beginning April 1, according to the DOLE regional office here.
All 22 municipalities of Lanao del Norte, considered one of the country’s poorest provinces, will avail themselves of the NARS program.
Unemployed nurses willing to serve in their hometown, who are physically and mentally fit and with no nursing-related practice for one to three years, may apply for the program, according to the DOLE.
They must have valid licenses and should not be over 35 years old. Each nurse hired under the program will get a monthly stipend of P8,000.
For her part, Pasimio said it was not the financial reward that attracted her to join the NARS program. Rather, it was the chance to train and serve in areas where it mattered.
The only daughter of a businessman and a company manager, Pasimio admitted that she had led a “sheltered†life.
However, she said she was ready to face the difficulties of serving in a rural area.
“It will be a big challenge but I think I am up to it,†she added.
“Producing good nurses has been a tradition of my school. But they also taught us to serve our people and not just think of ourselves,†Pasimio said.
Work experience
“[New graduates] like me still need work experience. It’s just right to practice here in my hometown,†she said.
Remegio Cabañog of the DOLE-Lanao said the NARS program was meant to address the problem of unemployment and “the proliferation of volunteer nurses.â€
It has become an open practice for volunteer nurses to sometimes even pay for the chance of working in a hospital, according to Cabañog, in order to obtain a certificate of work experience which is a requirement to land a job abroad.
He said under the NARS program, new nurses would undergo training and development on competency enhancement. The training was designed by the Department of Health (DOH), in collaboration with the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC).
This training, Cabañog said, would cover both clinical and public health functions.
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