Luca Powell, The New York Times Published: 17 Jan 2021 10:19 AM BdST Updated: 17 Jan 2021 10:19 AM BdST Belinda Ellis, an emergency room nurse, in Queens on Dec 22, 2020. The New York Times
Belinda Ellis had been a nurse for 40 years, and she thought she’d seen it all. She had worked in hospitals in the Philippines, where she was born and got her degree. She was a nurse in Saudi Arabia and then at a military hospital on the border of Iraq when Saddam Hussein came into power. ); }
But when the first wave of the pandemic battered New York City last spring, she still wasn’t prepared. Nor could she have foreseen the immense toll the coronavirus would take on her Filipino colleagues.
By ERWIN COLCOL, GMA News
Published January 14, 2021 5:35pm The House of Representatives will conduct its own inquiry into the national government s COVID-19 vaccination program on Monday, January 18. The virtual hearing will be led by the House Committee on Health, headed by Quezon Representative Angelina Helen Tan, with invited resource persons involved in the vaccine procurement including Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. “There have been a lot of differing opinions, mostly from non-medical experts, regarding government-procured vaccines,” Tan said in a statement. “As such, we would like to hear from the experts themselves to determine facts and figures from a scientific point of view, she added.
Nationwide round-up (01/13/21)
January 13, 2021 | 8:02 pm
OFWs withdraw from repatriation program as host countries roll out vaccines
A NUMBER of Filipino migrant workers have withdrawn from the government’s repatriation program as their host countries have started vaccinations against the coronavirus, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Wednesday. DFA Undersecretary Sarah Lou Y. Arriola, in a televised press briefing on Wednesday, said a number of Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have backpedalled on their plan to return home with the renewed confidence on economic opportunities abroad. Overseas Workers Welfare Administration’s (OWWA) Hans Leo J. Cacdac earlier said around 80,000 OFWs planned to return to the Philippines in the first half of 2021. “We noticed that many OFWs are backing out (of the repatriation program), especially in Middle East, because mass vaccination programs are now implemented in their host countries,” said Ms. Arriola. “We heard that
Sol Faenconi Aguinaldo
HAMPTON Sol Faenconi Aguinaldo passed away Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, at Sentara CarePlex Hospital after a long battle with stage 4 lung cancer at the tender age of 67.
Born in Manila, Philippines, she was the daughter of the late Leopoldo and Maria Mamon Faenconi.
Sol dedicated more than 32 years of service to the Veterans Health Administration; first, caring for others as a bedside nurse, and later, taking positions in Quality Management, Utilization Review, Medical Care Cost Recovery, as a clinical reviewer, case manager, patient transfer coordinator, bed czar and investigator.
Her public service also had her working directly under the director’s office, chief of staff, business office, nursing department, patient representative and other national positions for the VA up and down the East Coast for many years, ultimately retiring her service at headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 2015.
Press Release
Pangilinan: Senate hearing to clarify plan, deliverables in govt vaccination program
SENATOR Francis Kiko Pangilinan on Sunday said the scheduled Monday Senate Committee of the Whole hearing intends to clarify the government vaccination plan and deliverables. Ang layunin ng Senate Committee of the Whole ay para mapag-usapan at maipaalam sa publiko ang buong plano ng gobyerno sa pagpapabakunaha ng mga Pilipino, said Pangilinan, who on December 14 filed Senate Resolution 594 asking the Senate Committee of the Whole to look into the government national Covid-19 vaccination program. Parang nasa pressure cooker tayong lahat habang walang maayos na plano para masugpo ang Covid. Nag-bi-build up ang pressure dahil sa limitadong paggalaw na dikta ng mga quarantine restrictions. Marami nang kabuhayan ang nawala at mga negosyong nagsara. Deserve ng ating mga mamamayan malaman ang kongkreto at malinaw na plano ng pamahalaan para sa pag-roll-out ng vaccine, he added.