by Paul Steve Sumortin
Working especially in a foreign land entails a lot of sacrifices- homesickness, culture shock, language barriers, prejudism etc. I started working in a nursing home in Massachusetts . They called it a city - I called it a sleepy city. There's only 3 Filipinos who works in that facility including myself. Question like : Why are you here ? , is the first question I encountered in my Day 1 at work.
An indirect way of saying you're not welcome. I just told myself I'm here to work and just do with my usual routine. Working especially in a foreign land entails a lot of sacrifices- homesickness, culture shock, language barriers, prejudism etc. I started working in a nursing home in Massachusetts . They called it a city - I called it a sleepy city. There's only 3 Filipinos who works in that facility including myself. Question like : Why are you here ? , is the first question I encountered in my Day 1 at work.
Filipinos are known for their caring attitude, good work ethics, hardworking and respect for others. Slowly they noticed these traits on us. They started to trust us. You can hear praises from your co-workers and residents. When three of us left nursing home they gave us a big party and some of the residents (or patients) cried . For a short while in that nursing we mananged to touch their hearts .
I'm now working here in Washington DC. Sometimes I find it amusing that there are nights where in some units looks like you are working at PGH because most if not all are Filipinos. Majority of the feedbacks are positive. Coming in to work and the supervisor telling you that a certain patient requested you to be his/her nurse are nice things to hear - it increases one's self worth.
Caring will make you stand out from the rest of the crowd. Afterall, it's INNATE TO US ALL.
No comments:
Post a Comment