Alcala, Althea D.

BSN 4A

REACTION PAPER

“A public health nurse’s duty is to love the unloved, help the helpless and bring hope to the
hopeless”. Never did I see this quote more clearly than today. Today’s talk was more than just
being a community health nurse, for me, it was an eye opener that being a public health nurse
is more than just helping the community, it is building a better community through touching
people’s lives.
The fundamentals of public health nursing, which was taught to us inside our classrooms, and
going to the assigned barangay/community are two different things. Applying what you learn
inside the classroom in the community is not an easy job to do. I was assigned during our RLE in
the FHN area, and it was tough. There are a lot of barriers that you could encounter that is not
taught in the lecture, so you have to be resourceful, and you have to critically think on how you
could apply your skills with all the distractions present. After that duty, I really couldn’t envision
myself working as a PHN, but this day changed my thought. A CHN could do a lot of preventive
measures in the community so that a person could minimize the risk of needing a more
specialized care, like disease surveillance, home visits and arranging referrals. A public health
nurse could also build projects that could help those people who has health problems that are
not seen in the community as crucial, just like mental health. Miss Osorio and her colleagues’
UTAC project is helpful for people who are mentally challenged and are judged directly by
society. It’s good that because of projects like that, the society now is more open and aware
that these problems do occur and is real. If a lot of nurses are willing and passionate enough to
care for others in the community, it would be a big change to the healthcare system. PHN
targets the basic unit of the community and if proper health measures are done already in that
unit, the lesser serious health concerns will arise. Sadly, not a lot of nurses pursue this area of
profession in nursing and a nurse should have a burning passion in this area to deliver well.
This talk did not just awaken me about public health nursing but it also questioned myself as
to where or what nursing profession my fire is burning for. And I am considering this path.