ABS-CBN Foundation Schools Out-of-Work Nurses
By Henni Espinosa, North America News Bureau | 05/19/2009 6:46 AM
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CONCORD, CA—It may look like a regular nursing class at the American College of Nursing, but the students taking a Certified Nursing Assistant course have all been jobless for at least one year.
"Noong nalaman kong nakatanggap ako ng scholarship, tuwang-tuwa talaga ako. Napakalaking ginhawa sa buhay ko,” said one student, Genevieve Huddleston.
To help unemployed Filipinos in America, the ABS-CBN Foundation partnered with the American College of Nursing to launch the Sagip Kapamilya sa Amerika program, which offers 30 scholarships towards a certified nursing assistant license.
"The Sagip Kapamilya started out as an assistance to our kababayans in the Philippines. But with the economic crisis here in America, we decided to focus our assistance to our kababayans here," said Edwin Khu, Marketing Manager for the ABS-CBN Foundation.
"The healthcare industry is almost recession-proof. So we wanted to make sure these kababayans who have lost their jobs are placed in occupations that are more stable," said Choy Roxas, Administrator for the American College of Nursing.
Filipino nurses will teach the 2 month course for free. After training, Sagip Kapamilya will help their scholars find jobs in the health and convalescent care industries. Later, the students could go for degrees as licensed vocational nurses and registered nurses. Following this pilot program, the Sagip Kapamilya sa Amerika plans to bring more nursing scholarshps all over the country to help more kababayans in need during these trying times.
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