Volunteering in Community Health Nursing

Like most other fresh graduates of Nursing here in the Philippines, I got stuck doing nothing. Unemployment rate among nurses is so high that even volunteering in hospitals seems so difficult. Our hospitals are stacked with volunteers and there’s no room for new nurses to practice and gain confidence.

Continuously looking for places to experience being a nurse, I joined our local health department with its program of eliminating measles. I rendered my services for free and for a month enjoyed being a health worker like I never experienced before. The Measles Rubella- Supplemental Immunization Activity (MR SIA) is a program of the Department of Health aimed to eradicate Measles from the country. In Baguio City, it is more popularly called “Iligtas sa Tigdas ang Pinas”. I and over a hundred nurse volunteers joined this event working hand in hand with the City’s Health Department to ensure a measles free Baguio.

The nationwide Measles Rubella- Supplemental Immunization Activity (MR SIA) / Iligtas sa Tigdas ang Pinas was held on April 4 – May4 2011. We were not compensated for our services but the experience was the reward itself.

Community nursing is a field of nursing which involves working with individuals, groups and families. It means going directly to people’s homes, centers and shelters to provide nursing care. Being a community nurse is not so popular among nurses because it is indeed tiring physically and mentally. Community nursing however challenging it is, is fulfilling, (I surely felt so) knowing that I went directly to homes and promoted health is an experience I’ll always be proud of. I certainly would want to be a community nurse if given the chance.

When children are not at home as is in this picture, vaccination should be done under a shade for sunlight affects the vaccine's potency.