Corazon Amurao Atienza
Critical Care Nurse & Survivor
[Note Please proceed with caution this story includes sexual and gun violence]
Corazon Amurao Atienza was born in 1943 in the small province of Batangas, Philippines. She began learning English in first grade and her educational path led her to nursing. She graduated from Far Eastern University in Manila and worked for two years before coming to the U.S. with the exchange visitors program implemented in 1961. At the age of 23, Atienza started a nursing position at South Chicago Community Hospital in May 9, 1966. She lived in a townhouse with eight other young women finishing out their senior years at the hospital’s nursing school. On July 13, 1966, a sadistic mass murderer broke into the building and tortured, raped, and murdered two Filipina and six American nursing students. She was the lone survivor, hiding under the bed while the events of the long gruesome night were carried out before he left and she escaped out the window to call for help.
The murderer was captured shortly after in a nearby emergency room when his treating provider recognized his tattoo from a local news story. Described as “a blend of steel and lace,” Atienza then bravely testified against the perpetrator in court the next year and was sentenced to death. During the court proceedings she is said to have left the witness stand and stood inches from him to state to the jury without a doubt that he was the perpetrator. As described by her attorney who stayed in touch with her for decades, while the event has left her with lingering nightmares, her ability to pursue her path as a nurse showed her deep faith and indomitability of her spirit. Following her fight for justice, she steadfastly refusing to accept any personal gain from the horrendous crime and issued a statement saying:
“It is my desire to make clear that the memory of my dear colleagues is of such character that I do not want to have it tainted by the acceptance by me of money or any other personal benefit.”
Atienza avoided the media and declined requests for interviews until she granted a single interview after he died in prison in 1991. She also refused to sell the rights to her story. She initially moved to Manila and worked as a nurse at Far Eastern University Hospital, while serving as a counselor in her hometown of San Luis, Batangas. She married Alberto Atienza, a Filipino lawyer and real estate broker in 1969. They have two children and six grandchildren. Her daughter also chose to study nursing and became a nurse practitioner. She later returned to the United States with her family and worked as a critical care nurse at Veterans Administration Medical Center and Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. until her retirement. She is now in her late seventies.
Postscript: Last year, another nurse came forward that she had planned to be at the townhouse that night and even went over to ring the bell, but her plans had changed when her hospital asked her to do an extra shift. She kept the near miss secret for over 50 years.
Further Reading
To learn more about nursing in the Philippines, read here.
Learn about the Philippine Nurse Association of America here.
Honor the Philippine healthcare workers who have died in the pandemic here.
To support Asian Americans for Equality, click here.
Sources
Information for the story above was sourced from Chicago Tribune, ABC7 Eyewitness News, a personal blog, and Vice. The story is also detailed in Empire of Care by Catherine Ceniza Choy.
Learn More
To learn more about inclusion in nursing and be part of the national discussion to address racism in nursing, check out and share the following resources:
Know Your History
- Nursing CLIO to engage with historians and scholars committed to deep work around historical accuracy in healthcare and nursing.
- American Association for the History of Nursing to attend monthly webinars on topics of nursing history, view the calendar here.
Examine Bias
- NurseManifest to attend live zoom sessions with fellow nurses on nursing’s overdue reckoning on racism or to sign their pledge.
- Breaking Bias in Healthcare, an online course created by scientist Anu Gupta, to learn how bias is related to our brain’s neurobiology and can be mitigated with mindfulness.
- Revolutionary Love Learning Hub provides free tools for learners and educators to use love as fuel towards ourselves, our opponents, and to others so that we can embody a world where we see no strangers.
Support & Advocate
- National Coalition for Ethnic Minority Nurse Association to stay engaged with topics relevant to nurses of color.
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