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The Importance of the Filipino Nurses' Global Summit
The Health Carousel Foundation was a proud platinum-level sponsor of the Filipino Nurses' Global Summit held January 25-26 in Iloilo City, Philippines. Our sponsorship supported this excellent event filled with the learning and fellowship of nearly 500 Filipino nurses and their supporters from across the globe. Importantly, our sponsorship allowed five senior nursing school students to participate. Additionally, the Foundation covered attendance for five recipients of our scholarships for doctoral degrees in Nursing Education.
(An article is in the works to detail each scholar and the focus of their Ph.D. dissertations.)
Corporate and Foundation representatives at the Summit included Connie De La Cruz, Co-Founder Health Carousel Philippines, Marivic Doctor, President of Health Carousel Philippines, Earl Dalton, Chief Nursing Officer of Health Carousel, and Andrew Lingo, Executive Director of the Health Carousel Foundation.
Before the Summit, Andrew and Earl spent some time at Health Carousel Philippines offices, where they shared a recap of the Foundation's global efforts in 2023 and a forward look at plans for 2024. Earl Dalton provided an update on Health Carousel's unique Clinical Ladder Program, Clinical Residency Programs, and his future vision for preparing Filipino nurses for careers in the USA. As always, the team and leadership at HCPI were amazingly gracious hosts.
At the Summit, meeting many nurses whose nursing careers Health Carousel Philippines helped launch and shape was gratifying. It was also motivating to meet several current beneficiaries of our nursing scholarships.
The two-day agenda was packed full of keynotes and learning sessions. The nights were full of celebration, heightened as the Summit coincided with the annual Dinagyang Festival, one of the largest festivals in the Philippines, drawing hundreds of thousands to over a million visitors yearly. The spirit of this religious festival overflowed into the Summit proceedings.
A few presentations stood out because they covered topics I knew little about. The first was "Safeguarding Health in A Changing Climate and Response to Disasters," in which I was impressed by all the knowledge of the presenters and the depth of their data. Secondly, in "Advanced Practice Nursing Leading the Charge for the Health of the People," Doctor Paguio provided an excellent overview of work to develop advanced practice nursing in the Philippines. These efforts would significantly impact community nursing and rural healthcare. There were many great presenters from the US, including Robyn Begley, CEO of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, and Peter Preziosi, President and CEO of the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools International.
On the last night, we spent two-and-a-half hours navigating the Dinagyang Festival parade route. We even found ourselves marching between dancers and performers along the streets as we navigated back to our hotel!
It was great to support such a fantastic event, and the Foundation looks forward to Filipino Nurses' Global Summit VI!
Since our inception in 2004, Health Carousel has maintained its Light the Way initiatives, through which all our programs and activities promoting ethical recruitment practices and nursing sustainability globally have been funneled.
We are one of the largest U.S. healthcare staffing firms and have been awarded numerous industry awards, including Best of Staffing Diamond Award by ClearyRated and are listed on the Fastest-Growing US Staffing Firms by Staffing Industry Analysts.
Health Carousel and Health Carousel Philippines have received the status of Certified Ethical Recruiter by the Alliance for Ethical Recruitment Practices, a nonprofit organization that promotes the fair, transparent recruitment of global healthcare workers for employment in the USA. Health Carousel is a proud member of the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance and has achieved the Gold Seal of Approval from the Joint Commission.
