by Eleanor Macagba*
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated many flaws in the American healthcare industry, including the lack of social and economic infrastructure and support for frontline workers. Yet it wasn’t until this pandemic that researchers began exploring the disproportionate impacts felt by Filipino-American healthcare workers. As of June 2021, Filipino American nurses accounted for around 25% of COVID-19 deaths among nurses in the United States, despite representing only 4% of the nursing workforce (Constante, 2021). This is due to the fact that Filipino nurses make up a large portion of the lower-level nursing workforce that would lead to increased exposure to the virus (Nolen, 2022).
The health crisis of Filipino nurses in the United States is not a recent issue, extending back to the AIDS crisis, where Filipino nurses were also on the frontlines with increased exposure to infections and illnesses. This relationship can be traced back even further to the late 19th century, when the United States colonized the Philippines. The United States established American nursing schools on the archipelago and began allowing Filipino nurses to come work abroad temporarily, therefore filling in any healthcare gaps the United States had (Cachero, 2021). In 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act was passed, allowing migrant nurses to petition to stay in the country permanently. Due to the economic hardship felt by the Philippines post-colonization (by both the Spanish and later the United States), the export of nurses was capitalized on, and the Philippines grew to be a global leader in exporting nurses to the United States. [Read more…] about Filipino Nursing Schools: Export of Healthcare Workers