Hmm... RH Bill?

RH Bill
I am personally not aware of it not until my good friend stimulated my neurons. Thanks Geno! :D

RH stands for Reproductive Health. This is a House Bill primarily authored by Honorable Albay Representative Edcel Lagman.

I will not discuss information about the said Bill since it is open to the public.
You can read:
The Full text of RH Bill
The Fact Sheet and Explanatory Note

The said bill is scheduled for review by the House of Representatives. And it’s undeniably a controversy under tumultuous debate today. The Catholic Church is the leading body disputing the said bill.

It is undeniable today that our country is suffering to a countless problems, to name a few: poverty, overpopulation, inflation, unemployment and the “should-be primary concern” health-related problems. And the RH Bill plans to target some of these problems.

Artificial Contraceptives: a hot topic
As a graduate of a Catholic high school, I can say that I am living by the doctrine. And as a nurse, I am aware of the different health problems in the country. The Church and the health or medical field differs in some perspectives; one of these is the usage of artificial contraceptives.

I am moved by what Carlos Celdran did. He toured in the walled city. He visited the slum areas there and gave free birth pills and condoms in the misinformed women or couples. Click here to read more.

Before, artificial contraceptives were available to the people but due to the traditional “Pro-life” mindset, the free items were withdrawn from the health centers. I can still remember, the times that I had my clinical duty in regional health units. There were a lot of mothers going to the health center just to get their free birth pills pack and free dose of injectable pills. I was able to assess their knowledge about family planning, responsible parenthood, and a healthy sexual life. Though, I can say that they were pretty contented about the service, I observed their hunger for information. To give you an idea, most of them were just elementary graduates.

What is my point?
Most of the Filipino mothers and couples (a significant number are from the poor sector) don’t have proper information or resources to address their problem. And according to statistics, a great number are experiencing health-related problems such as pregnancy complications and socially-related problems such as overcrowding afterwards resulting to other problems.

Artificial contraceptives can help reduce number pregnancies and may also help make most of the pregnancies intended but we should not forget that proper education is a significant factor to address. And the Bill recognizes this.

The author wants to share…
My thesis in college entitled, “Breastfeeding and Pregnancy Intentions among Filipino Mothers in Selected Government Hospitals in Metro Manila” tackles about the relationship of the pregnancy intentions of Filipino mothers to their breastfeeding behavior. This is a replicated study from the United States and other countries. The results were similar to the findings abroad that as the pregnancy intention increases, the breastfeeding intention also increases – if the pregnancy is intended (or planned), good breastfeeding behavior may be observed; on the other hand, if the pregnancy is mistimed or unwanted (or unplanned), poor breastfeeding behavior may manifest.

What is my point?
Breastfeeding is a vital practice of mothers to their infant as we all know its benefits to the former and latter. But the problem now, since there is a significant number of unintended pregnancies in the Philippines, breastfeeding practice is slowly getting out of the scene. We can trace this phenomenon to the inadequate or lack of information of Filipino mothers and couples.

The solution...
The RH Bill authors recognize these problems and so the said bill will make proper education (responsible parenthood and healthy sexual life), breastfeeding practice, availability of artificial contraceptives will be possible and available to the public. I, personally think that the said Bill is one good step to help address our present problems.

It is true that we should think twice for every action we make and one factor that we should consider is that the majority should benefit from this. My opinion is that we should support this bill. I am just a one voice speaking, I hope each one of us pay attention to this for it could shape our country's future.

Pass the RH Bill into law immediately!

Geez! Nurses!

the news spoke...
Last night there was a news report in TV Patrol about Canadian employment. The said country, particularly the province of Alberta, is in need of thousands of professionals and skilled workers to fill in their diminishing workforce.

Hector Goudreau, Alberta's Minister of Employment and Immigration, said that the fast developing Alberta is hiring skilled workers like welders, mechanics and machine operators; and health professionals like doctors, dentists and nurses. He also said that they prefer Filipino workers because of their skills, flexibility, adaptability and good work ethics. And so once again, the gates of the red maple leaf country are opening to the Filipino workers.

According to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), they have plans to transfer the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) whose contracts are about to expire in countries like the Middle East and move them to Canada, for in the latter, they will earn more. For example, welders earn 6,000 Canadian dollars a month compared to only 400-500 dollars in Saudi Arabia. Pipe fitters earn 3,800 Canadian dollars and Nurses earn 4,500 Canadian dollars.

Nurses, Nurses, Nurses...
Nurses as always the so-called "in-demand profession" throughout the world due to the unstoppable ever-fast aging process, is one of the professions that provinces of Canada are willing to invest their dollars. Lucky for us, for the Philippines is one of the top-producing countries of this care-centered profession. And our country is over-supplied of this ever-growing manpower and most of them upon having their bachelor's degree ended up jobless; for the hospitals here are all jampacked!

Canadian invitation is a very good opportunity for Filipinos. This is a different avenue for us to take other than the usual Nurse destination, the United States of America. Unfortunately for me, even though I am a Registered Nurse, I cannot venture in this country because a minimum of 2-year continuous hospital experience is required.

the problem…
Since we all know that the Philippines is a factory of nurses, presently most of them are either jobless or resting their asses in call center seats. Let me count myself as one of them.

Each Filipino nurse thinks that there are no opportunities here in our country for what we are facing now; there are no job vacancies for staff nurses in the hospitals. And some of these institutions are accepting newly licensed nurses for a not-so-tantamount service to them. Not all of us can afford their offer.

I hope…I hope…
I attended last 20^th and 21^st of September, the 3^rd Philippines Nursing Opportunities, Conference and Expo in Mandarin Suites, Gateway Mall. Miss Emms, the event organizer, is also a nurse-entrepreneur. She invited Miss Jocelyn Sanchez, the Chief of Manpower Registry Division of Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). According to her, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health is reaching their office because the said country is badly in-need of nurses; but the problem is, most of our nurses are lacking the needed hospital experiences. Also, according to the government office, Saudi Arabia is willing to invest their Riyal for the training of the “no-experience nurses”, but there is no further notice about this.

For my fellow nurses, I know Saudi Arabia is not the top choice in our list, but let’s think twice. It may serve us a good training ground to prepare us for better opportunities; besides, there are lots of Filipinos enjoying their life in there.

I hope our government can make more negotiations like what they are working now with Saudi Arabia. I hope the 4 year of nursing education we had will not be thrown into waste. I hope they will help us.

I am Moved!

I love watching inspirational videos.

This video entitled "99 Balloons" was shared to me by my friend, Alex.
Thanks Alex! :D I am Moved!



The Story:
Eliot was born with an undeveloped lung, a heart with a hole in it and DNA that placed faulty information into each and every cell of his body. However, that could not stop the living God from proclaiming Himself through this boy who never uttered a word.
In the midst of heartbreaking tragedy, the Mooney family found the presence of God strengthening, comforting, and guiding them. Their story reminds us to seek God and endure our struggles rather than blame Him for our hardships.
For more info about Eliot, go to www.ninetynineballoons.com.
(courtesy of www.ignitermedia.com)

Eliot died.

The Moony family were blessed to have those 99 days of Eliot's life.

...and so are we that we got to know the meaning of Eliot's existence.

We are blessed to see the sun each day, to spend our moments to our families and friends and to realize the wonders of life. But only our Creator knows when we'll we breathe our last air.

Let this video inspire us. Live and revel each day as if its the last.

Carpe diem my friends!

Oh yeah!

LOL.

I never thought of using "tofranil" as my blog address. (FYI Tofranil is the brand name of Imipramine, an antidepressant drug.)

It's just sad that I can't use my old blog because I can't remember the pw I used. Stupid! That's why I ended up creating a new one. And I want to tell you, its really hard to think of a new blog address. Head and Ass pain. Head due to the thinking process and Ass due to the prolong sitting. XD

I chose "toffranil" because i think it is artistic having my name in there and incorporated to my favorite drug (FYI because it's easy to remember, what's the most famous brand of Imipramine?) LOL

BTW, according to Mr. Lloyd Luna (author of "Is There A Job Waiting For You?) there are two things that can help build our credibility and also help us in monitoring our personal development; and also put a smile in our faces.
These things are: taking photographs and writing journal entries. He is right because these will serve as our mementos. And these will save us for the headaches just for trying to remember the events in the past.
I just realized that there were a lot of things that happened in my past and some of those were just left behind. I'm doing my step now, going for what Mr. Lloyd told me (and you). Building and sharing my own memento.

I have lots of stories in my mind to tell and I hope I can express them all here.