My Autobiography: David Balleza K(C)atague: Filipino Nurses Around the World: the Unsung Heroes

Thursday, December 25, 2025

Filipino Nurses Around the World: the Unsung Heroes

Filipino Nurses Around the World: A Quiet Force of Care, Courage, and Calling

Filipino nurses are everywhere.

You will find them in bustling urban hospitals, rural clinics, long-term care facilities, home health agencies, and behind the quiet desks where quality and patient safety are safeguarded. Across continents and time zones, they serve with a professionalism shaped by discipline, sacrifice, and a deeply rooted sense of compassion.

For me, this is not an abstract truth. It is deeply personal.

My late spouse of over 63 years, Macrine Nieva Jambalos Katague, was a nurse. Her journey into nursing did not follow the usual timeline. After raising four children, a full and demanding calling of its own, she pursued nursing as a career at the age of 40 here in the United States. That decision alone speaks volumes about her resilience, determination, and quiet courage.

She began, as many Filipino nurses do, at the bedside in hospital nursing. Those early years were marked by long shifts, emotional demands, and the daily responsibility of caring for patients at their most vulnerable. Nursing is often described as a profession, but anyone who has lived alongside a nurse knows it is also a vocation, one that follows them home in stories, in fatigue, and in a steadfast sense of duty.

From hospital work, she transitioned into home health nursing, becoming a visiting nurse. In that role, care became more personal. Patients were no longer just names on charts; they were people in their own homes, surrounded by family, memories, and the realities of aging and illness. Filipino nurses have long excelled in this setting, bringing patience, cultural sensitivity, and a human warmth that cannot be taught in textbooks.

Her final professional chapter was one that many do not see but all benefit from. She worked at a desk, serving as Head of Quality Assurance for a home health organization in Maryland. Though removed from daily bedside care, her impact widened. Policies, standards, and safeguards she helped oversee ensured that countless patients, most of whom would never know her name received safe, ethical, and competent care.

That progression from hands-on caregiving to leadership mirrors the broader story of Filipino nurses around the world. They begin where the need is greatest, and over time, many rise quietly into roles of mentorship, education, administration, and system-wide improvement. They do not seek applause. They seek to serve.

Historically, the Philippines has trained nurses not only for its own people but for the world. English proficiency, rigorous education, and a cultural emphasis on caregiving have made Filipino nurses indispensable to global healthcare systems. Yet behind the statistics are personal sacrifices: families left behind, homesickness endured, and the lifelong balancing of duty to profession and devotion to family.

I witnessed this balance every day in my spouse’s life. She was a nurse, a mother, a wife, and eventually a professional leader never losing her gentleness, never diminishing her commitment to others.

As I grow older, I understand more deeply what nurses give. They give time. They give steadiness. They give reassurance when fear is high and answers are uncertain. Filipino nurses, in particular, carry with them a cultural grace, malasakit, a deep concern for others—that transcends borders.

To Filipino nurses everywhere: in the Philippines, in America, in Europe, the Middle East, and beyond, your work matters. Your presence matters. And for families like mine, your legacy lives not only in healthcare systems, but in the lives you touched, strengthened, and quietly healed.

This blog post is, in many ways, a thank you. And for me, it is also a remembrance, of a woman who chose service, answered a calling later in life, and embodied the very best of what it means to be a Filipino nurse.

Filipino nurses are a globally recognized force in healthcare, known for their compassion, resilience, and strong work ethic, stemming from a long history of service, including significant roles in WWII and filling global nursing shortages

. They are highly valued for English fluency, cultural adaptability, and excellent American-standard training, making them essential in the US, UK, Middle East, and beyond, often working in challenging conditions but driven by a deep sense of calling, providing crucial care while supporting families back home through remittances.

Key Characteristics & Contributions

Global Lifeline: Filipino nurses became a vital international workforce, especially when countries faced nursing shortages, providing essential care in various nations.
Cultural Adaptability: Their multicultural background and English proficiency allow them to easily adjust to diverse healthcare settings worldwide.
Compassionate Care: Known for innate nurturing qualities, they excel in compassionate care, often seen as "angels" bringing hope to patients.
Resilience & Sacrifice: They often face underpayment, overwork, and challenging conditions but persist out of a strong calling and commitment to their profession.
Economic Impact: Remittances sent home significantly support the Philippine economy and their families.

Historical Significance

Early Days: Filipino nurses played crucial roles during WWII, assisting wounded soldiers.
Diaspora Growth: Increased hiring in the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Europe solidified their global presence from the 1970s onward.
Modern Recognition: Documentaries like "Nurse Unseen" highlight their experiences, sacrifices, and impact during events like the COVID-19 pandemic.

The "Calling" & The Reality

A Vocation: For many, nursing isn't just a job but a deep-seated calling, driving them to serve even when systems fall short.
Unsung Heroes: They are often the "heart of healthcare," providing critical support, yet sometimes face undervaluation, prompting calls for better recognition and compensation.
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Highlights of My Professional Career

In my more than 40 years of professional career, I have experienced both working rank and file, as well as supervising the work of subordinates. I have worked in four private firms and the Federal Government, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where I retired. I enjoyed the challenges and difficulties of both types of job situations. This is the highlights of my work experience story.

My first job after completing my doctorate degree was a Chemist for Chemagro Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri. It was a subsidiary of Bayer Corporation, a German conglomerate. I worked for the analytical chemistry department comprised of about fifty people; half that number was either chemists or biologists. My specific task was to develop analytical methods for the detection of pesticide residues in plant and animal tissues. I worked on my own, similar to six other bench chemists, and we all reported to the same supervisor.

The firm sponsored my visa conversion from a student to a permanent resident, and I was able to legally work and reside in the United States with my family. The company generously took care of its employees. At the end of each successful year, everyone received a 13th month salary bonus. The employees and their families celebrated wonderful annual Christmas parties in a downtown Kansas City hotel, with dancing and free drinks for the whole night.

Inasmuch as I enjoyed and loved working for Chemagro for five years, I found a new job which offered a substantially higher pay. Due to my exemplary work performance, my supervisor preferred and lobbied for me to stay with the company. I had to turn him down because they could not match the package presented by my new employer. It was also a chance for me and my family to move and live in the US west coast, where the mild winter climate is bearable compared to the Midwest.

My next job was at the agricultural research division of Shell Development Company in Modesto, California. I was a Research Chemist, and again I worked individually, same as five other chemists who all reported to a supervisor. My specific duty was similar to my previous job. I worked for them for five years, until the company decided to get out of the pesticide business. They closed their research facility affecting the jobs of more than 200 employees.

My third industrial job was with the agricultural research division of Stauffer chemical company, located in Richmond, California. I was a Senior Research Chemist doing the same project as my two previous jobs. I worked for twelve continuous years for the company, with outstanding annual job performance. I became a Principal Research Chemist, the highest attainable non-supervisory position.

One day in 1986, my supervisor informed me that my job had been eliminated, and I had one day to vacate the facility. It was the most dreadful lay off experience in my life. I felt anger, sadness and humiliation to be dismissed from work with one day notice, after all the years of hard work invested for the company. This was an unforgettable incident and was the gloomiest point in my professional career.
The company terminated sixty research employees, who were upset of the bad news.

One of the chemists was distressed and expressed his outrageous anger by threatening the company and its workers. He told his supervisor of his intention to bomb and burn down the laboratory. He was immediately escorted by the security staff out of the building and into his car. He was informed to leave behind his personal belongings; they will be mailed to his residence. He was warned never to show up again near the company premises or risk getting arrested.

My supervisor was kind and allowed me to take my time to pack up my belongings. It took me two days to clear up my workplace, after toiling for a long period in the same jobsite. We were provided clerical help and office space, in preparation to look for another job, such as updating our resumes, and using the computer and copy machine. We were given six weeks of separation pay plus benefits.

Fortunately, with the help of a friend who is a Church parishioner, I found another job thirty days after leaving Stauffer chemical company. He hired me as a senior research chemist and as a group leader with two technicians to supervise. It was in the same field as my expertise in my previous three jobs spanning the last twenty one years. My new employer was Chevron Chemical Company, and which was located in the same area as my former employer.

This job gave me the introduction and basic knowledge of managing the work of subordinates. I worked for Chevron Company for four and a half years. The company decided to consolidate their research facilities in Texas, and lay off all its research employees. This time I had enough distress and agony from working, and eventually getting laid off from several private companies. To avoid going through any more miserable layoffs, I made a vow that I would never again work for a private company.

In my work experiences, there were noticeable and unavoidable jobsite occurrences. One can never miss the office romantic relationships between co-workers, both illicit and permitted. Though it was frowned upon, there was a boss and staff relationship, which was used as a ploy to get ahead in the company. Some relationships had chemistry, no pun intended, but some never worked out. Oftentimes, there was a sense of distrust among bench chemists for some workers who unjustly obtained preferred work assignments.

Some employees resorted to bribing superiors to get special privileges, such as being able to attend choice conferences and meetings in exciting venues or locations. Likewise, politics was always present at the worksites. It was during an era when various forms of harassment, equal opportunity and discrimination laws were not yet enforced in the workplace. Occasionally, an unexpected chemical explosion happens in a laboratory setting, where luckily no one got seriously hurt.

In the three private companies I worked for, I was able to publish scientific journals for some of the research studies and analytical methods which I developed for the respective companies of Chemagro, Shell Development and Stauffer.

After deciding and making a vow to avoid working in the private sector, I made my new goal which was either to work for the state of California, or the Federal government in Washington, D.C. Four months after I lost my job in Chevron, I was lucky and joyful to be hired by the Food and Drug Administration as a review chemist in the fall of 1990.

In 1994 I was promoted as an Expert Research Chemist with a GS-14 rating. My expertise was on Anti-malarial and Anti-parasitic drug products. In 1997, I was again deservingly promoted to Chemistry team leader, supervising the work of six Chemistry reviewers including five with doctorate degrees.

As team leader, I was responsible for prioritizing, assigning, and assuring the technical accuracy of all chemistry, manufacturing and control issues for all new drug applications submitted to the Division of Anti-Infective Drug Products, Center of New Drugs.

It was part of my responsibility to give advice, instruct and promote high morale and teamwork in my group. My work in the FDA is confidential, until the drug patent on the products I worked on has expired. There are manufacturing supplements that I have approved that are now open for the public in the Internet.

In 1998, I won the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Award. The citation reads, “For outstanding accomplishments in fostering the objectives of the EEO Program by hiring minorities and encouraging their professional growth while providing excellent leadership.” I have received numerous certificates of appreciation, awards in leadership and communications, commendation for teamwork and excellence in the accomplishment of the FDA mission. I have also received several letters of appreciation from private industry for my review work.

There are many good things working as rank and file while enjoying doing one’s job individually. It is a humbling, satisfying and productive experience, if one can work in harmony with one’s immediate supervisor. Working individually develops one’s skills in goal setting and scheduling. But in general, the financial rewards are less than a person who has supervisory responsibilities.

Managing the work of others has its challenges. Moreover, it develops one’s skill in handling and developing people, and the compensation rewards and benefits are better. Due to additional duties, responsibilities and leadership, supervisory work can be more stressful than working as a subordinate. However, supervisory jobs give one more personal growth and satisfaction, based on my personal experience. My work in FDA as a team leader managing the work of six scientists had been the happiest and rewarding work experience in my career in Chemistry. You might also like:

Thursday, December 25, 2025

Filipino Nurses Around the World: the Unsung Heroes

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