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Changing the Face of Nursing in the Philippines 

Ethel Doria Sinajon is a 42-year-old registered nurse and married

with two children. She was challenged to enrol in nursing as a secondcourser in a college in Kidapawan City due to her daughter¶s condition,who is a type I diabetic. After hearing about Project Entreprenurse fromher husband, Mario, she was encouraged to join also because of her daughter¶s condition. ³I want to share my knowledge on how to managetype I diabetic patients and act as a support group to the parents,´ Etheladded.

Elizar Bulac, on the other hand, is a graduate of both BS Nursing and

BS Physical Therapy. ³Business is rooted in of our family. My father is aretired business manager and my mother ran her own business. I workedin a hospital for two (2) years. I also worked as Medical Sales Executivein direct selling and served as Insurance Career Agent in a prominentinsurance company. These experiences have taught me to pursue mydream of becoming a successful nurse entrepreneur. This newly-formed

nurse cooperative gives us hope and opportunity to fulfil our dreams.

Secretary Marianito Roque keynoting the launching ceremonies of Project Entreprenurse 

³ I want to serve my community, practice my profession and earnat the same time. Another reason why I joined this project is so I canrender nursing services to those who are less fortunate. I would like to

discover my calling and make a real difference in the world,´says Jessamine Russel Dela Pena, member of the Davao del Sur coregroup of Project Entreprenurse. ³ Project EntrepreNurse makes it ossible for us to change the face of nursing in our country. It is an

opportunity to develop a higher skill in the profession. My community is

 starving for nurses who will not only address pathologies and epidemiology but serve as change agents and role models for environmental sanitation and safety for the good of the public. EntrepreNurse could be a significant key for social change,´ thus addedK erwin Pagaran, member of the core group for Davao City. ³T heroject makes affordable and accessible health care services to indigent 

 Filipinos,´ concludedGeofford Montejo, speaking for the core group of Davao Oriental.

The idea that nurses could engage in the independent practice of nursing is allowed in both Republics Acts 7164 and 9173 which regulatethe practice of nursing, but somehow, something got lost in thetranslation and all our nurses were encouraged to achieve their dreams byworking abroad. Project Entreprenurse, an initiative of the Department of 

Labor and Employment piloted in Davao, aims to change the outlook of nurses in the country and help them recognize that nurseentrepreneurship is a viable option for them. Faced with bleak prospectsof formal employment in the local jobs market and dwindlingopportunities abroad, the nurses of Davao have answered the call of theDOLE to engage in nursing-related businesses for themselves, such ashome health care, outsourced health service delivery, lying-in clinics, etc.The DOLE will provide the start-up capital for the cooperatives.

Governor Cora Malanyaon of Davao Oriental and Secretary Esperanza

Cabral signing the manifesto of support for the initiative 

 Nearly 500 nurses in Region 11 have now banded together toform nurses cooperatives and are busy complying with the requirementsfor registration with the Cooperative Development Authority as acooperative. After registration, they will be assisted by MASICAP to puttogether business plans that they can use to ask for grants fromgovernment and non-government sources. Among the potential sources

of revenues for the cooperatives are the local government units,Philhealth¶s capitation fund, foreign donors and migrant Filipinoorganizations abroad. The DOH will be a critical partner as source of data on the status of health services delivery in poor rural communities.

Even before CDA registration, the Davao del Norte group, buoyed by theexpression of total support by Governor Rodolfo del Rosario, havealready started negotiating with local chief executives, with successfulresults.

³ I believe that the significant impact of these newly-formed nurses¶ cooperatives will be in public health, where they are expected tocontribute to the achievement of our Millennium Development Goals onmaternal and child mortality,´ explained Undersecretary CarmelitaPineda who is one of the prime movers of the initiative. USEC Pinedawas the focal person of the DOLE for the hugely successful Project

 NARS, which deployed freshly graduated nurses to the poorestmunicipalities in the country for six months.

³ Project Entreprenurse will push the boundaries of nursing  practice in the country,́ predicted Dr. Josefina Tuazon, Dean of the UPCollege of Nursing and an active member of the small group pushing for the project. ³

³T his initiative will change the face of nursing in the country, ´echoed Board of Nursing member Marco Antonio Sto. Tomas, who has been pushing for nurse entrepreneurship for years.

On the other hand, DOLE Secretary Marianito Roque andDOH Secretary Esperanza Cabral, member and chair of the PhilhealthBoard, both vowed in a recent planning workshop for Project

Entreprenurse to initiate changes in the composition of the package of  benefits for Philhealth members to include home and rehabilitativeservices, a move seen as critical in sustaining the operations of thenewly-organized nurses¶cooperatives.

Author: Atty. Jalilo dela Torre

Regional Director, DOLE RO-XI

The Department of Labor and Employment has launched a new projectthat provides opportunity to Filipino nurses to become productive while

 practicing their skills and extending much-needed health services in thecountryside.

³Project Entreprenurse is a first of its kind in the Philippines. It seeks tochange the outlook of nurses in the country and help them recognize thatnurses entrepreneurship is a viable option for them,¶¶ said Labor Undersecretary Carmelita Pineda, one of the prime movers of theinitiative.

³I believe that the significant impact of these newly-formed nurses¶cooperatives will be in public health, where they are expected tocontribute to the achievement of our Millennium Development Goals onmaternal and child health,¶¶ she said.

Pineda said the program will be pilot-tested in Davao, adding that the provincial and local government units in Region 11 (Davao Region) haveopenly answered the call of the DoLE to engage its nurses in the project.

She said some 500 nurses in the region have initially banded intocooperative and are currently complying with the requirements for 

registration with the Cooperative Development Authority as acooperative.

The DoLE, she said, will provide the start-up capital for the cooperatives.

According to Pineda, the nurses will be assisted in putting together their  business plans so they can ask for grants from government and non-government sources.

Among the potential sources of revenues for the cooperatives are thelocal government units, PhilHealth¶s capitalization fund, foreign donors

and migrant Filipino organizations abroad, she said.

Pineda lamented that the growing concern on the lack of formalemployment in the local job market and dwindling opportunities abroadhas inspired the department to come up with new projects for nurses.

SEVERAL national agencies on Thursday launched a program thatwould generate jobs for nurses in the country.

The program dubbed "Project EntrepreNurse" will make way for the

creation of nurses' cooperatives within localities to introduce a wholenew home health care industry in the country.

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Initated by the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole), Board of 

 Nursing-Professional Regulation Commission (BON-PRC), Departmentof Health (DOH), and Philippine Health Corporation (Philhealth), amongothers, the program will grant nurses' cooperatives with as much asP500,000 worth of grant for their operation.

Davao Region will be the pilot area for the program wherein there will beone nurses' cooperative for each of the five provinces and one for DavaoCity, Dole secretary Marianito Roque said at Apo View Hotel.

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Roque said Davao Region is chosen as the pilot area because the idea for the program was conceptualized by Dole regional Director Jalilo delaTorre.

Dela Torre said other than City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, the program hasreceived the support from Governors Corazon Malanyaon, Rodolfo delRosario, and Douglas Cagas.

"We believe that the local chief executives here are very passionate

advocates for health reforms," dela Torre said on the program'seffectivity in the region.

A total of P16 million will be required for the entire country in the program's full implementation. An allotment of P1.2 million will begranted for the region with P300,000 per cooperative however Doleregional director Jalilo dela Torre said during the press conference it

could go as much as P500,000 per cooperative.

Roque said the program would utilize the high unemployment nursingrate of the country. "There are continous employment opportunities bothhere and abroad but the situation is that we graduate so much na sobra itosa absorbtive capacity and overseas employment na available," Roque

said.

"Every year for the last 3 years we have about 70,000 new board.Question is if the employment absorption capacity of the Philippines cantake that in? Annually 2,500 to 3,500 lang ang nakakapasok sa localemployment. Although we have the overseas program na naga-absorbsomewhere from 10,000 to 20,000 of our nurses. You add these two it

still isn't enough for the number of graduates," Roques said.

The program's strategy is to encourage nurses to form cooperatives witha minimum number of nurse members of 500 and manage nurses' clinic,under the supervision of trained and experienced nurses, which willdeploy newly licensed nurses to poor rural communities with little or no

access to basic health care, Roque said.

The nurses' services will be compensated by the local government unit(LGU), Philhealth, HMOs, by the patients themselves on per visit basis,or from grants from local and foreign donors. Congressmen and Senator'sPriority Development Funds shall be tapped also, Roque said.

Roque said nurses working under the cooperative may have other work as hospital nurses. "The nurses can do it part time but they cannot servehomes and the hospital at the same time. It could be that their homeservice would be for one or two hours then go back to the hospital,"Roque said.

Doctor Josefina Tuazon, Dean of the University of the PhilippinesCollege of Nursing (UP-CN), however, clarified that the program is stillat the planning stage. "It's stll in the process of really determining theexact form in which it will take," Tuazon said.

The program will be implemented also in cooperation with UP-CN,Philippine Nurses Association (PNA), Occupational Health NursesAssociation of the Philippines (Ohnap), Cooperatives DevelopmentAuthority (CDA), Insurance Commission, LGUs and other sponsoringagencies or organizations.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on January 23, 2010.

An initiative of DOLE, in collaboration with BON-PRC, DOH, PNA,UPCN, OHNAP and other government and non-government entities to promote nurse entrepreneurship by introducing a home health care

industry in the Philippines:

1.  to reduce the cost of health care for the country¶s indigent population by bringing primary health care services to poor 

rural communities,2.  to maximize employment opportunities for the country¶s

unemployed nurses and3.  to utilize the country¶s unemployed human resources for health

for the delivery of public health services and the achievementof the country¶s Millennium Development Goals on maternaland child health, consistent with the Formula One for Healthframework of the Department of Health.

First Project 

The Davao Region will be the pilot area for the program wherein therewill be one nurses¶ cooperative for each of the five provinces and one for Davao City. It is chosen as the pilot area because the idea for the program was conceptualized by Dole regional Director Jalilo dela Torre.

 Nearly 500 nurses in Region 11 have now banded together to form nursescooperatives and are busy complying with the requirements for registration with the Cooperative Development Authority as acooperative. After registration, they will be assisted by MASICAP to puttogether business plans that they can use to ask for grants fromgovernment and non-government sources. Among the potential sources

of revenues for the cooperatives are the local government units,

Philhealth¶s capitation fund, foreign donors and migrant Filipinoorganizations abroad. The DOH will be a critical partner as source of data on the status of health services delivery in poor rural communities.Even before CDA registration, the Davao del Norte group, buoyed by theexpression of total support by Governor Rodolfo del Rosario, havealready started negotiating with local chief executives, with successfulresults.

The program¶s strategy is to encourage nurses to form cooperatives witha minimum number of nurse members of 500 and manage nurses¶ clinic,under the supervision of trained and experienced nurses, which willdeploy newly licensed nurses to poor rural communities with little or noaccess to basic health care.

Project EntrepreNurse is an initiative of the Department of Laborand Employment (DOLE) piloted in Davao. This project aims tochange the outlook of nurses in the country and help them recognize thatnurse entrepreneurship is a viable option for them.

Project Description: An initiative of DOLE, in collaboration with BON-PRC, DOH, PNA,UPCN, OHNAP and other government and non-government entities to promote nurse entrepreneurship by introducing a home health careindustry in the Philippines:

1) to reduce the cost of health care for the country¶s indigent population by bringing primary health care services to poor rural communities,

2) to maximize employment opportunities for the country¶s unemployednurses and

3) to utilize the country¶s unemployed human resources for health for thedelivery of public health services and the achievement of the country¶sMillennium Development Goals on maternal and child health, consistentwith the Fourmula One for Health framework of the Department of Health.

Here¶s the Audio Visual Presentation (AVP) of the ProjectEntrepreNurse of Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)Region XI: