National Nurses Group Continues To Deploy RNs to the Area

Girlie Garnada, a registered nurse from New Port Richey, FL, will return Saturday night from a two week medical relief mission to the Philippines. Garnada joined RNs from Washington, DC, Massachusetts, Michigan, and other locales on the third team of volunteers deployed by
the National Nurses United's Registered Nurse Response Network relief effort on the northern end of the  island of Panay, which was in the direct path of Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda.
 
Garnada, a Filipina-American who has lived in the US the past seven years, still has family members in the Philippines. Prior to her departure, Garnada organized a garage sale, along with several co-workers, raising $1,000 that will benefit other families affected by the typhoon. She also cancelled a 19th anniversary trip to participate in the relief effort.

Garnada was one of the RNRN team members who spent time in the region affected by a disastrous oil spill from a barge which, she notes,  "slammed into the shore during the typhoon. It hit two houses, which killed a mother and a baby right away. The oil spill affected three of the Baranguys (districts) that we visited. We met many people who were directly affected by the oil spill. The marine environment is badly affected. You can see dogs walking with oil all over their legs. On two of the coastal Baranguys you would just see black gravel." This week, the RNRN delegation is spending accelerated time providing care in makeshift clinic sites in the area hit by the spill.
 
Garnada will be available for media interviews in the coming week. Please call Debbie Montgomery, (813)546-7493 to arrange an interview.


Girlie Garnada (R) working in a clinic with RN Jane Sandoval (R)
 
While Garnada has ended her assignment, a fresh delegation of RNs left this week, including RNs from Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Arizona, and California. They are among over 3,000 RNs  from all 50 states who have volunteered to be part of the effort.

RNRN/NNU plans to continue the medical relief mission well into the new year, long past the time most international cameras and reporters on the ground will have left. 

The public is invited to support this effort with contributions here >>

RNRN, a project of National Nurses United, the nation’s largest organization of RNs, was formed in 2004 in the aftermath of the South Asia tsunami in 2004, when the need for nurses was not being met by traditional disaster relief organizations.  Since that time RNRN has send hundreds of direct-care nurse volunteers to assist following Hurricane Katrina, the massive earthquake in Haiti, and Hurricane Sandy.