Type Of Business:
1) Acute Care Psychiatric Hospital, 2) Long Term Care
Expertise:
1) Thirty-Two Years of Healthcare Experience, Psychiatric Nursing, Monitoring All Patients, Administering Medications, Performing Patient Assessments, Crisis Prevention Processing, Patient Stabilization, 2) Nursing Services in a Long Term Care Facility
Major Product/SVS:
1) Inpatient Services for Adults and Adolescents, 2) Elder Care Services
Favorite Business Publication:
NurseWeek, Advance for Nurses, Nursing2006
Hobbies/Sports:
Gardening, Spending Time with Family, Collecting Coins and Stamps
Education Degrees:
Graduate Nurse, Dagupan Colleges, Dagupan, Pangasinan, Philippines (1963); BSN Supplemental Program, Far Eastern University, Manila, Philippines (1969)
Affiliations Awards:
San Francisco Department of Public Health, California; Certificate of Honor for Public Recognition of Distinction and Merit for Continued Loyalty and Outstanding Service for the Past 25 Years (October 1996)
Children's Names:
Beverly P. Arenas, Gaylord Z. Paguergan
Work History:
Psyche RN Staff II: Full Time Unit Manager, Sierra Vista Hospital; RN Full Time, Somerset Nursing Center, (2000-12/01); RN, Full Time, St. Claire's Convalescent Home (02/00 - 08/00); RN, Full Time, Florin Health Care Center 08/99 - 01/00); RN Full Time, Greenhaven Country Place, (04/99 - 07/99); RN Full Time, Laguna Honda Hospital (1970-1999)
What do you feel separates you from the rest of the professionals in your industry?:
My dedication to patient care. I always finish the day's responsibilities before leaving in the evening so that the following day can be dedicated to patient care. My steadfast philosophy is ''Never give up on a patient. Miracles do happen.'' I've seen it in my long years in nursing. One example is a patient in my ward in Laguna Honda Hospital. A staff member's mother had a stroke and was comatose for a year. She was confined in our facility. Through a diligent, caring attitude, range of motion exercises, constant talking and interacting with her, she reached the semi-conscious state. With creative participation from her family, she finally woke up and showed signs of improvement each day until she was finally able to regain her speech, walk on her own and eventually return home with her daughter and son-in-law.
What has been the most outstanding thing you have done thus far in your career?:
To be able to continue working beyond retirement age. To realize and reap the rewards and satisfaction of knowing that somehow I have been instrumental to a patient being able to function again to his full capacity after a difficult and long road to recovery.
Expanded Biography:
Enticed by a profession that is limitless and knows no bounds in the care and ministering to the sick and infirm, as well as for job stability and the prospect of venturing to another country for better job opportunities, I finished by nursing course in Dagupan City School of Nursing in Pangasinan, Philippines in 1963, as a graduate nurse. I landed my first job in privately owned Hospital de Venecia, assisting the medical doctors with D+C procedures as well as tending to patients in the obstetrics and gynecology ward. I then took a more stable and better paying job with the Philippine National Red Cross, Pangasinan chapter. I enjoyed communicating and interacting with normal, able-bodied people for a while. I mostly assisted the senior nurse in drawing blood from donors after checking each individual's blood type (cross matching). In this field of nursing, I experienced a multi functional role in not only checking blood types and drawing the blood of donors, but also assisting in taking donor statistics and completing a lot of paperwork in the application or renewal of people's drivers licenses in the motor vehicle office. After a year in my hometown's Philippines National Red Cross, I decided it was time to move on and try my luck in the big city of Manila, Philippines. I applied at several government hospitals, but the applications had to go through the health care commissioner. We also needed to take the civil service exam, which I did and passed. I always had my sight on a mental health hospital but unluckily, the one that was open and available at the time is San Lazaro, a communicable diseases hospital specializing in polio, tuberculosis, meningitis, diphtheria, tetanus and cholera. I worked there continuously from 1965 to 1969. During those years, I also pursued my bachelor of science degree in nursing (supplemental program). I passed and graduated in 1968. I became restless and ambitious, triggered by an exodus of my colleagues and co-workers who were leaving one after the other for the U.S.A. I decided along with my best friend to also apply as an immigrant way back in 1968. It took two years to process our papers. We were both supposed to have a placement in Albany, New York, but my husband, who was a U.S. citizen vacationing in the Philippines at the time, petitioned and brought me right away with him to California (we were married in 1970), which was kind of fast. My green card was already waiting for me at my port of entry -- Hawaii. I looked around different hospitals in San Francisco. Luckily, I was accepted and hired as a temporary status CNA. After passing the city and county civil service exam, I became permanent status. I worked in Laguna Honda Hospital, a city and county skilled nursing and rehabilitation center and the largest nursing home facility in the U.S., housing 1,800 patients, both old and young. There were young people who had been in motor vehicle or motorcycle accidents and people who had the potential of getting better. It is a very heavy care nursing home and rehabilitation facility, but the tremendous care and dedication of the staff is remarkable. It is well organized, run by a highly skilled, compassionate, competent and exceptional director of nurses, supervisors and nurse managers. I worked three years as a CNA and with the encouragement of my husband, I reviewed and prepared for the state board exam for nurses. I failed twice but kept trying and finally passed on the third try and received my registered nurse license. I converted my status from CNA to RN and worked in the same facility for 29 years, until I retired in 1999. I continued to work in different nursing facilities after we moved to Sacramento until I finally landed my first ''love''-- psychiatric nursing in Sierra Vista Hospital, where I am still working to this day.