| Photo by Husien Bisky on Unsplash
Part III of “A New Philippine Commonwealth” Series
With the approval (in principle) and the blessings of Facebook Chat Groups like the “Worldwide Pinoys and Kadugo in Bangsa Kasukoan in Basulta and Kuta Kinabalu!“, the “3rd Force OF/OFW PH”, and nearly two dozens of Facebook Groups belonging to the “OFW/Overseas- Filipino Nation” coalition, there may be a consensus to start what their critics perceive as “unthinkable” (pun intended). The “OFW/OF Nation” was organized by this journalist and his co-founder, Rudy ND Dianalan, who is both a Knight Commander of Rizal.
If there is no hitch, the plan is to have a soft launch of the “ReVOTElution of H.O.P.E.” throughout May 2026 in several provinces of the Philippines. And perhaps initiate its first project, “Operation (Oplan) Knightingale 44K,” by the start of the 2026 Fall nursing school semester in North America.
This columnist summarized the plan in “‘Operation Knightingale’ Can End Nursing Shortages in North America and the World,” published on May 26, 2024, at this link. Ricky Rillera, who is also a Knight Commander of Rizal, encouraged this columnist to write a series on training nurses for North American hospitals. He is the publisher of this online newsmagazine.
“Knightingale” is a term coined in May 2020 by this columnist by using “K” (as in “Knight” with the surname of Florence Nightingale). Operation Knightingale (“OK”) is a call to arms to defeat pandemics on a medium- to long-term basis and, more importantly, for the sake of universal healthcare. It has taken more than five years for the OK to generate serious promises of support from thousands of Knights of Rizal (in their personal capacity), OFWs, nurses, and other medical professionals. Readers may browse in the Philippine Daily Mirror and on Facebook by simply typing “Knightingale” in their search boxes. There is also a Facebook Group called “DrRizal/HMO, Knightingale & HNU Proposals”.
In May 2020, this writer called his fellow Knights of Rizal to honor the memory of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) and to memorialize the nurses and other Frontline medical professionals and First Responders who perished while caring for victims of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, on May 12, 1820, and was named after her birthplace, where her parents spent their honeymoon. However, she grew up and spent her life in England, living in Derbyshire, Hampshire, and London.
“The “Operation (Oplan) Knightingale 44K” plans to recruit at least 100 nursing students from each interested barangay (barrio) in the Philippines. There are approximately 44,0000 barrios in the country, and hence the term “44K” is used.”
That year happened to be the 200th anniversary of Ms. Nightingale’s birth, known as “The Lady With the Lamp.” She was a British nurse, social reformer, and statistician best known as the founder of modern nursing. Her experiences as a nurse during the Crimean War were foundational in her views about sanitation.
The “Operation (Oplan) Knightingale 44K” plans to recruit at least 100 nursing students from each interested barangay (barrio) in the Philippines. There are approximately 44,000 barrios in the country; hence, the term “44K” is used. The vision of the “OK 44K” is viable and bankable, as the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that, due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the shortage of nurses has increased from the original 5 million to 13 million by 2030. Thus, by the end of 2030, there may be Filipino and Overseas-Filipino versions of Florence Nightingale numbering more than 4.4 million RNs, BSN graduates, LVNs, CNAs, medical technicians, respiratory-technology practitioners, fitness-medical nurses, caregivers, and other allied medical practitioners—all licensed and Board-certified. It is in addition to the more than 600,000 Filipino nurses currently working or retired in the United States.
Filipino nurses form a significant portion of Canada’s internationally educated nursing workforce, accounting for around 30-36% of foreign-trained nurses. There is an increasing number of Filipino-Canadian healthcare workers in healthcare-support roles, too. Canada is bilingual with English and French as its official languages. It has a shortage of more than 60,000 nurses, particularly in critical care, geriatrics, and pediatrics.
The strategy is simple, especially if Filipino nurses could speak not only the Filipino language but also English and Spanish. Many hospitals and medical centers prefer to hire bilingual or trilingual nurses and pay them a higher wage. In Part IV of this series, Numeriano Bouffard will explain how Filipino nurses can easily be trained to speak a third language, such as Spanish, French, or other European languages.
Mr. Bouffard, who is also a Knight of Rizal, is the prime mover of a “Filipino Hispanidad Movement”. He also founded the Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida and the Federation of Philippine-American Chambers of Commerce (FPACC) Foundation. Both of these public-benefit corporations are headquartered in Orlando, FL. Mr. Bouffard, an American of Filipino and Spanish descent, is also the initiator of a budding project to develop a 1,200-hectare site in Colima, Mexico, which will be called “Pueblo Filipino”.
