Nurse's Black-Out Campaign 2011

Probably inspired by the recent nationwide fad of changing one's profile picture to a cartoon character to help the cause of anti child abuse and negligence, the Nurse's Black-Out Campaign aims to raise the public's awareness on the various depressing situations of Filipino nurses nationwide like paid volunteerism and unemployment. The total black-out of primary pictures on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter supports the online campaign in sharing the experiences and pleas of nurses all over the country.

 Title: The Nurses' Black-Out Campaign 2011

Main Objectives:

1. To utilize social media as a tool for nurses' rights awareness building;
2. To initiate social & mass mobilizations in relation to the protection of nurses' rights;
3. To garner online & non-online support from individuals, organizations and communities to end all forms of discrimination and abuse to nurses in the workplaces and communities.

Rationale:
In 2010, the Philippine Professional Regulation Commission, head agency for all the professionals in the country stated that there is already close to 200,000 unemployed and underemployed professional registered nurses in the country. And with the recently concluded December 2010 Nurse Licensure Examinations, the Philippines will be expecting more than 20,000 additional new nurses joining the unemployed sector. This rapidly growing concern of the nurses is now a crisis in the country. The Philippines is the top producer of export nurses and supplies the nursing shortage to many foreign countries but ironically lacks many skilled nurses itself.

The country's rural health units were lacking of many nurses to take care of the communities. One nurse is employed by the government to take care of 20-50,000 residents. In government hospitals, a nurse takes care of 20-50 patients in a ward. Still to some private hospitals, the nurse-patient ratio is imbalanced. Hospitals and healthcare facilities acknowledge their shortage of nurses but fails to hire more because of proclaimed budget constraints. Leaving dozens of nurses flooding in workplaces other than in the field of nursing.

Many expectant young nurses, wanting to gain hospital/clinical experience as a presumed key to international employment, offered their professional nursing services to the hospitals without getting paid. This practice led to the acceptance of hospitals to new nurses to practice in their hospitals tagging terms such as "Volunteer Nurses", "OJT Nurses" and "Nurse Trainees". However, with the overwhelming response from the new nurses, hospitals started charging training/OJT fees in exchange a certification stating that they are "trainees" of the said hospital.

Other abuses such as unfair working conditions, staffing, workplace bullying among others are being experienced by nurses who remained to be largely unreported. Other exploitation are also prevalent such as the exorbitant fees charged by Review Centers to nursing students are also rampantly unregulated.

Main Organizing Body: 
The main organizer of this online movement is the Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocates International Inc., a national registered organization of nurse leaders & advocates in the Philippines.

This project is coursed through the Alliance's network local chapters & through Ang KatipuNurse the Alliance's political arm in the following areas:
National Capital Region

1. Manila
2. Pasay
3. Makati
4. Valenzuela
5. Caloocan
6. Taguig
7. Mandaluyong
8. Las Piñas

Luzon

1. CAR Baguio-Benguet
2. Ilocos Sur
3. Pangasinan
4. Pampanga
5. Nueva Ecija
6. Nueva Vizcaya
7. Tarlac
8. Bulacan
9. Bataan
10. Camarines Sur
11. Rizal
12. Tuguegarao
13. Cavite

Visayas

1. Ilo-ilo
2. Aklan
3. Cebu
4. Negros Oriental

Mindanao

1. Davao
2. Davao Del Sur
3. Davao Del Norte
4. General Santos
5. Zamboanga

Implementing Partners: These are online communities, societies and organizations who are fully supporting the online campaign. Together, they raise awareness to their subordinates online and maintains communication with AYNLA to get materials necessary for the campaign.

Current listing of online Implementing Partners:
1. Filipino NURSES online community (base members: 197,303)
2. I am a Student Nurse online community (base members: 4,547)
3. Ateneo de Davao College of Nursing online page (base members: 1,988)

Medium of Campaign: Online resource mobilization; social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Tmbler, Multiply etc.)

Online Slogan: "Over 200,000 nurses are unemployed, underemployed & abused in the Philippines. Many of us are overworked but extremely underpaid. Help us gather awareness & support by changing your profile picture to pitch black from January 01-11,2011. It is time we take care of our prime care professionals! Appreciate your Nurses, take care of them - like they take care of you. Join the campaign now! [www.aynla.org]"

Campaign Period: January 01 - 11, 2011 (Initial 11 days from the start of the year)

Core Agenda:

1. Nurses' right to security of decent employment

• Demand urgent action of the Philippine Government to the ballooning unemployment rate of Filipino nurses through (A) Senate and Congressional inquiries and investigations, and (B) Formation of a multi-sectoral/agency commission or task force to oversee the Nursing Crisis.
• Implement Republic Act 9173 or otherwise known as the Philippine Nurses Act of 2002 and the Magna Carta of Public Health Nurses especially the implementation of Salary Grade 15 (SG15) for entry-level nurses and other stipulated benefits such as hazard pay, night differential pay & allowances.
• Reject internationally signed treaties such as Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) where the Filipino nurses are in the losing end because of inequalities; pass Reproductive Health Bill with emphasis on trained Nurses being in the frontline of RH education and service employed by the government deployed to clinics nationwide.
• Regulate exorbitant charges made by institutions such as Review Centers to students taking the Board Exam.

2. Nurses' right to equality & to be free from all forms of discrimination

• Eliminate all forms of discrimination in the workplace such as but not limited to (A) verbal, physical and sexual abuse, (B) name calling, branding and stigmatization, and (C) LGBT nurses rights.
• Practice equal staffing in hospitals and clinics abolishing coercive 16, 18 to 24-hour duty shift and adherence to desired nurse-patient ratio of 1:20 or lesser.
• Provide avenues for alternative earning opportunities for Filipino nurses such as initial seed funding for Nursing Clinics and or loaning for interested nurses venturing on cooperatives.

Phasing:

• Phase I - Nurses Black-Out Online Campaigning through major social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Multiply. Total black-out in profile photos are solicited when participating in the campaign. The online campaign will last until January 11, 2011. A probable culminating awareness activity may be set on the last day of the campaign.   
• Phase II - Nurses Rights Day After the Black-Out Campaign, we will declare every 11th of the month as the Nurses' Rights Day where we can once again go on Black-out online and do some awareness drives in localities where nurses belong. Awareness drives may be in form of pictorials, forums, seminars etc. The Nurses Rights Day shall be commemorated every 11th day of the month until we reach it's first year. Then we will evaluate each progress of the campaign. Nurses Hour is an hour allocated per working shift dedicated to Filipino nurses.
• Phase III - Physical Mobilizations will be done after we have gathered sufficient online support. Mass mobilizations such as gatherings, legislative fora, consultation meetings, benefit shows etc. can be done. International mobilizations are also expected.

Source:  http://www.aynla.org/page/nurses-blackout-campaign-2011?xg_source=activity

Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=161884150525212

Personally, I think it is a valiant effort to utilize the Internet in spreading the word to other people who are still blissfully unaware of the standings of nurses all over the country, especially those who have just graduated in the recent years. The lack of a stable job, the myriad of trainings and seminars to undergo, the endless volunteer work, hospital experience paid BY the volunteer himself (and not the other way around, the way it should be in normal circumstances) and the work hazards in the hospitals are just a few of the things that needs to be heard by the public and even by the politicians who can actually do something about it.

Unfortunately, blacking out one's profile picture is not as fun as thinking like a child and choosing a suitable cartoon character to upload. Also, having everyone have the same black void as a thumbnail is confusing in identifying who's who in comment pages. I think those are a few of the reasons why the campaign is not as popular as compared to the one against child violence. As a graduate of nursing school, I have at least 100 friends in Facebook who are registered nurses and are experiencing the things that this campaign is trying hard to fight against, however, I have only noticed less than 5 friends who have committed to the campaign.

Blacked-out or not, I still support the advocacy and the fight that we nurses are desperately trying to win, especially since we are without help from national certified nursing organizations who all seem content on doing nothing else but hold seminars and trainings and distribute membership cards to fresh graduates. I may have not changed my profile picture to a black tile but hopefully, by writing articles and blog posts about these very topics like the one listed below, I've done my part in trying to make a better world for the graduating Filipino nurses of the future.

The Anatomy of Nurse Volunteerism

Secret Lives of Nurses

And may I just say, the injustices has been festering for too long, it's time we try to break out of our submissive cage and hit back.