What now?
I’m 22 years old and, my father still drives me to work every morning. It’s the perfect time for one of those father-daughter talks, consisting mainly of what am I going to do with my life now that I am a full-pledged Registered Nurse. “There’s no job,” I keep saying, echoing the comments of numerous passers like me.
I was a product of the early 2000 Nursing boom, when the demand for my profession in the West increased dramatically, prompting most us to be pushed, coerced, and disillusioned to studying Nursing, only to find out, four years later, that the surplus of nurses is incredible, and the hopes to fly to greener pastures were not as easy as we thought. The problem has been attributed to two major causes: new RNs are products of fly-by-night schools, rendering a lot of us under-trained; and the 2 years experience requirement of agencies before an applicant is considered for deployment.
While many RNs flock to call centers and English language academies for work, a lot of brave souls still opt to pursue their profession. They pay to be able to do volunteer work for hospitals, where they get a very modest stipend. A friend of mine told me it’s PHP 120. I don’t know how the rest of the nurses survive.
After this, they might either be absorbed by their employers or thrown back to the world of the unemployed. Then, it’s back to square one.
Florence
Amidst another father-daughter talk on the way to work session, I heard Gerry Baja and Anthony Taberna discussing a rape incident that occurred last Saturday, in Mindanao. Needless to say, the news would have pissed off anyone.
A 21-year old volunteer nurse, aliased Florence, who works in the South Upi Maguindanao Municipal Health Office was found naked and unconscious Sunday morning. Authorities believed while she was on her way to a midwife in Timanan, she was dragged off to a cornfield by around 10 men, where she was repeatedly raped. Police Inspector Reny Valdesco described the victim: “Hubad, leeg may sugat siya, ang ngipin naputol kasi pinalo ng kahoy.”(Naked, with a wound on the neck, her teeth broken because she was bashed by wood).
Six men who were reportedly having a drinking spree with the victim were apprehended by the police. Enough evidence was allegedly present to bring them into custody.
The suspects face a rape and frustrated murder charge. Others allegedly involved in the crime are said to have very strong political ties.
This incident has sent the Nursing community clamoring for justice, and the feminist groups like Gabriela storming the streets.
Nurses study and invest money for four years of education, they graduate, drag themselves through the torture of the board exam, and if they pass, they’re lucky. Then they go out into the world begging for jobs, and end up paying hospitals to get an opportunity to volunteer. Many of them get paid with less than minimum wage. Many work their butts off. Nurses are scarce even if the supply is high, because a lot of hospitals cannot afford to hire them anymore, and thus, these health workers are stuck with 1:30 nurse-patient ratio, and 12 hours of working.
And this is what these thankless men do to a 21-year old girl whose only fault is to dream.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/09/28/10/nurses-seek-justice-gang-raped-colleague
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/202205/suspects-in-gang-rape-of-nurse-in-maguindanao-nabbed
http://www.mindanaotimes.net/?p=13459
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