BY BELINDA SALES
WHILE researching the history of Bohol Provincial Hospital (BPH), an inspiration hit me! I remember an aunt who graduated from the hospital’s School of Nursing, and I thought, heck, I should ask her about her unique experience as a nursing student at the school. She’s the best resource person, having studied, graduated, passed, and ranked Top 3 among all aspiring nurses in the country in her time! Quite a feat, huh?
Maria Luisa Digal, RN, has been a resident of the United States of America for over forty years now. She comes home regularly and joins family gatherings and events, school reunions, and their College of Nursing reunions—truth be told, she hasn’t missed one ever, in addition to traveling around the world. Serving Kaiser Permanente as a nurse for over thirty years, she has happily retired and finds delight in her unlimited free time! She is married to Engr. Benjamin Lungay, my mum’s youngest brother.
This is her story.
After graduating from secondary education at the High School Department of Divine Word College in 1973, my youthful dreams were to be a nurse aimed at having a better life abroad or be a registered chemist or a doctor in the Philippines. The first one prevailed. All professions entailed service to humanity anyway which motivated me to the core. I took the written entrance and oral exams in early 1974 with flying colors. I chose to follow in the footsteps of Florence Nightingale, the founder of the Nursing profession.
I entered the BPH School of Nursing (BPHSN) in 1974 and graduated in 1977. Our class name was Hygeians 1977 — it was a must for each class to use a name derived from one of the most famous nurses in history.
BPHSN was an institution with high expectations and standards for its students. The student years demanded the utmost discipline in studying, burning your midnight candle, to enable any student to pass each semester. It was not an easy life.
Difficult subjects and hard tasks were not to be taken for granted. Aside from academics, clinical experience in the hospital was super rigorous, testing your endurance and patience as you worked with doctors and patients from all walks of life while complying with strict superiors and staff nurses who provided the clinical evaluation marks. Those who did not withstand its rigors and hurdles would end up failing or withdrawing which usually happened after the first school term. Commitment to studying well and following the stringent school rules was no joke.
However, even if the BPHSN was exacting in academics and clinical training, it molded me personally and professionally as a nurse. It taught me how to be genuinely compassionate and more understanding of others, disciplined, developed my perseverance, and sharpened my focus in life.
BPHSN, being competitive among all nursing schools in the nation, had produced board topnotchers, too! In our class alone, we dynamically achieved three top spots in the Philippine Nursing Licensure Examination held in Manila in 1977. I was blessed to obtain the third highest rank in the board exam while two more classmates secured the fifth and seventh places, respectively! What a victory for our batch!
The school always strived to achieve 100% passing marks in the board exams and accomplishing these successes brought enormous joy and inspiration among the students and faculty because it happened each year.
The institution was not just a school to me. It gave me a family—the same classmates for three years who expressed the same worries, revealed similar problems, and shared infectious laughter, and a faculty that truly cared. The school catered to our needs to become better individuals and proficient professionals in the nursing field and ultimately, in society. As an alumna, BPHSN offered a highly memorable favorable experience.
To sum up, BPHSN has remarkably shaped me as an individual. The grit, resilience, compassion, and fair and objective mind I had cultivated while in school served me well, both as a person and as a professional safely enabling me to navigate the labyrinth called the USA.
PS: Ate Malu pointed out that the school produced its first batch of graduates in 1966—my birth year! The last batch of graduates for the Associate of Nursing Degree was in 1985.
BPHSN was one of seven nursing schools under the Department of Health that was eventually closed. The decision was reportedly made to facilitate a Bachelor of Science in Nursing because the associate degree was not favored.
Guiditta Borja, RN, was the founding principal of BPHSN and held the position for a long time. She left for the USA in early 1980. Remegia Manding Balatero, RN, briefly took over when Borja left for the US. Eventually, Agnes Majarocon Ebuenga, RN, assumed the post of school principal when Balatero became Chief Nurse at the Bohol Provincial Hospital.
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The writer hosts Woman Talk with Belinda Sales every Saturday, 10 a.m. at 91.1 Balita FM Tagbilaran City. Email at belindabelsales@gmail.com. X @ShilohRuthie./PN
