Nursing Practice in Vigan: Looking Back and Moving On . . .

By Rhoda R. Redulla, RN

With the unprecedented shortage of nursing manpower in the U.S, Europe and the Middle East, nurses, they say, are the gold mine of the century. This is indeed a far cry from the early beginnings of Nursing. Almost a century ago nursing was considered a very lowly job.

As a nurse myself, this brings me to ponder on how Nursing evolved as a profession. In the historical city of Vigan, much has been written about the beginnings of culture, faith, and other aspects of the Ilocano way of life, but not of the nursing practice � a vital chapter in the life story of the Bigue�os.

VIGAN�S EARLIEST HOSPITAL

Vigan City is where you can find century-old Spanish ancestral homes.

Not known to many, Vigan is one of the earliest Spanish settlements along with Cebu and Manila. Vigan was once the seat of trade and commerce in the North.

The development of nursing can be viewed alongside the establishment of the first hospital. The Frank Dunn Memorial Hospital was established by the American Missionaries in 1899 at a time when Americans had fully occupied the city. Some documents citing the first hospital in Vigan point to the possibility that such hospital referred was the Frank Dunn Memorial Hospital. The Verzosa residence along Bonifacio St. is supposed to be standing on the exact original location of that hospital.

In the beginning, the hospital was manned by one doctor, in the name of Dr. Paul Palencia and a certain Mrs. Palencia, a nurse. Nursing students would stay here for two years, then go to Manila for more intensive training.

Mrs. Rafaela T. Biteng, one of the earliest graduates of Philippine Christian Institute Hospital (PCIH) in Vigan recounts significant details of her experience as a student nurse. The nursing students then had to undergo a three-month probationary period. After this, they are already qualified to join the capping ceremonies.

The training was task-oriented and bedside care was at its peak. An essential element of the training was to learn proper disinfection of bed pans, sputum cups and urinals; dusting window panes and bolts; and ensuring the cleanliness of beds and tables. Nurses were seen as mere servants of doctors and it was perceived that nurses were doing the dirty job.

When it comes to work-shifts, we could say that nothing much has changed since the early 1900s. Like most institutions now, they have been adopting the three�shifts-a-day schedule.

In 1928, the government put up the Ilocos Provincial Hospital (now the Gabriela Silang General Hospital). The hospital was put up in what could be suitably described as the dark ages in the health history of Vigan. These were the years of various epidemics. Smallpox. Cholera, influenza, and dysentery came one after the other.

OUR FIRST NURSES

In an era when one has to travel to downtown either by foot or by horseback, the existence of nurses were almost unthinkable. During the World War II, nurses were almost unheard of. In Vigan, medical care was almost exclusively rendered by private physicians. Dr. Librado Espiritu, one of the earlier doctors in Vigan disclosed that medical care at that time was almost handled exclusively by private physicians. House calls were the practice among the doctors with their wives as their personal assistants.

In my conversations with the older folks, I have known that sick people during their time were never brought to the hospital. It is only when they turn to be extremely ill that medical help is sought. People regarded scientific methods of healing as strange and invasive.