WITH OR WITHOUT RECESSION

‘Medical Professionals’ Limitless Opportunities in US’

by ALEX P. VIDAL

AURORA, Illinois — Gemma Esmalla-Kosanam of Igbaras, Iloilo, Philippines already holds a masters degree in nursing she obtained from the University, of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. Not contented, she pursued a higher education and will soon finish her doctorate in management and leadership in the Catholic-run educational institution.

"My goal is to become a corporate nurse executive, a chief executive officer," beamed Kosanam, 38, married to Indian national Venugopal. "With a doctorate degree, it is easy to go to the academe."

She credits "strong family support", her husband in particular, who is "on board" while she sets sights on a personal goal as "life-long learner" pursuing "limitless possi-bilities to where they will take me as long as I can continue to explore."

Kosanam, nurse manager and chair of the employee reward and recognition team at the Resurrection Health Center, is the latest medical professional from the Philippines to voice her opinion over the growing concern among Filipino immigrants in the United States saddled by employ-ment uncertainty and tormented, in one way or the other, by on-going recession.

ECONOMIC CRISIS

She said those employed in health care "are in the better position to survive the economic crisis because we are in the age where we badly need health care."

Since there is baby boom and growing population of elderly in the United States even in the next 10 to 15 years, Filipino nurses and physical therapists will continue to be in demand, said Kosanam, a former teacher in the University of Iloilo, Iloilo City, Philippines.

Kosanam emphasized that Filipino nurses in particular have big contributions in health care in the United States as they were able to solve the dilemma in shortage of nurses and thus became the "quick fix" solution to the problem.

"Filipino nurses or Asian nurses in general are known to be hard-working and abiding probably because of our eastern culture," Kosanam explained. "They can be molded into whatever they need; they constitute as bond aids to the ailing health care dilemma in the United States."

Recession will not affect hiring of nurses, she said, as employment opportunities depend on geographic location. "Generally, the bias or discrimination is not as dominant but only in few areas," she admitted, referring to "isolated" cases where Asian nurses are dislodged in hiring priority and promotion.

Kosanam was clinical instructor in the Philippines. She confirmed there is still overwhelming number of nurses in the Philippines waiting for deployment in hospitals abroad.

NURSES EXODUS

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed earlier that at least 15,000 nurses and other medical professionals are leaving the Philippines each year for better-paying jobs abroad, threatening the country’s health infras-tructure. WHO officials called it a serious situation for the Philippines.

The number is reportedly more than any other country, with the United States, Great Britain and Australia as main destinations.

WHO country rep-resentative Jean Marc Olive estimated that the exodus is expected to persist until 2015, with annual demand for medical workers in the United States and Europe estimated to be 800,000.

He urged the Philippine government to "look into the needs of the health workers" and adopt plans to convince them to stay.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque acknow-ledged the problem, estimating that 85 percent of the country’s nurses have left the Philippines, where four in 10 people live on two dollars a day or less.

Medical workers started to go overseas in large number when the country’s mass labor export program begun in the 1970s.

Filipinos living permanently in wealthier countries, and temporary overseas workers, sent back a record 10.7 billion dollars to their families in the Philippines through the formal banking system last year, the central bank said.

QUALITY NURSES

Kosanam said despite the demand for more nurses abroad, the Philippines shouldn’t be lenient in producing quality nurses. She observed that, more often than not, some newcomers in the United States do not have sufficient clinical expertise as many of them came from not-so-prestigious and mediocre nursing schools.

She exhorted nursing school authorities to see to it that their nurses possess genuine accreditation. They should obtain their qualifications through honest means.

"They should build nursing schools to produce quality nurses Kosanam counseled.

She admitted there is currently "retrogression" in the hiring of foreign nurses in the US as the federal government regulates the quota for working visa. "The delay (in the issuance of working visa) is due to security reasons which is only temporary," she quipped.

Kosanam hailed Pres. Obama’s $20 billion health stimulus package which provides $40,000 in incentives (beginning in 2011) for physicians to use an EHR; creation of HIT Extension Programs to facilitate regional adoption efforts; provision of funds to states to coordinate and promote interoperable EHRs; development of education programs to train clinicians in EHR use and increase the number of healthcare IT professionals; creation of HIT grant and loan programs; and acceleration of the construction of the National Health Infor-mation Network.

FOUNDATION

A product of Jose Ma Gepuela Scholarship Foun-dation based in San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines, Kosanam sends to Western Visayas nursing schools six students -her younger sister Sarah Esmalla, who is now in Dubai; Christine Emalla (University of San Agustin), Charlene Marie Uy (University of Iloilo), Mary Joy Esmalla (University of San Agustin), Sandra Mae Esmalla (West Negros College), and Mark Steve Esmalla (University of Iloilo).

She draws inspiration from Gepuela, she said, who was known as "Tito Nino", an orphaned from Igbaras town, Iloilo who ventured into real estate and became a millionaire. She said she was merely adopting Gepuela’s favorite motto of "if you give, it will come back to you a hundred folds."

Before he died, Gepuela appealed to his scholars "to continue my legacy and start your own family", Kosanam, a mother of five-month-old Syla "Sol", concluded. /MP