The History of Filipino Nurses in the United States of America
When the U.S. Americanized the Philippines it produced tons of nurses
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States of America tops the chart of the world’s most infected country. With the threat of this deadly virus, members of the medical frontline are the most vulnerable. And in the U.S., wherein there are over 150,000 registered Filipino nurses, they are disproportionately hit hard by the coronavirus.
According to National Nurses United, as of August this year, there were 193 nurses in the U.S. that died because of COVID-19, and thirty percent of those were Filipinos.
With the large presence of the Filipino nurses in the U.S. hospitals, the question is, why? Catherin Ceniza Choy, a professor in ethics studies at the University of California, Berkeley, detailed the answers in her book, Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History.
The U.S. Colonization Birthed Filipino Nurses
In 1898, the Philippines became the United States’ colony after the Americans won the Spanish-American war. They seized Spain’s colonies in Asia-Pacific but paid the Spaniards 20 million dollars to take over the Philippines.
