Filipino Nurses During COVID-19: Is Anyone Checking in on Them?
Everyday after her shift, Cathy Amor spends an extra 15 minutes in her work place changing her clothes and wiping her belongings clean before she gets in her car to leave. When she arrives at home, she heads straight to the shower. She can’t relax and have an after work snack, or sit down and catch up with her kids and ask how their days went. Why? Amor is just one of the many Filipino nurses who have positioned themselves on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19, and can’t risk bringing the virus into her home.
According to an article by LAist, California has the most Filipino nurses of any other state in the nation, making up roughly 20% of the nurses in state. CNN states that nationally, Filipinos make up about 4% of the nursing population, but account for about a third of COVID-19 related nurse deaths. These numbers beg the question of whether or not Filipino nurses are being treated equally in their hospitals, and what do they have to say?
Six Filipino nurses from Southern California shared their testimonies on life as nurses during COVID-19. The pandemic has proven to be stressful, but nurse Jennifer Zacarias shared that it has also brought them together. “I think in a way it had also bonded us together because, working in a COVID unit, it’s a very emotionally heavy on our part,” she states.
Cathy Amor shares that everything has changed since COVID hit. “It’s affecting us physically and mentally,” Amor states.
Daniella Almario states, “Most of the Filipino nurses that I know are the ones being floated down to the COVID unit.”
Filipino culture is also a factor in why more Filipino nurses work the COVID units, according to the nurses. “A lot of other Filipinos…especially the ones not born here, you can kind of tell that they won’t try to stand up for what they think is too much already. They’re just gonna keep taking it and taking it in,” she states.
The nurses had multiple concerns, one of which being the spread of COVID by Filipino nurses through their other jobs. “Filipinos sometimes have more than one job, so a lot of our concern is if nurses go to different hospitals or some are going to nursing homes, then sometimes we think that the nurses are also the ones transmitting the virus,” Gina Depakakibo states.
