Chiz seeks recognition for Pinay nurse heroine

By Office of Senator Chiz Escudero
February 16, 2013

PASAY CITY – Senator Chiz Escudero said he will file a resolution in the Senate to commend Menchu Sanchez, an immigrant Filipino nurse in the United States who President Barack Obama honored during his State of the Union address last Feb. 13 for her heroism at the height of Hurricane Sandy which hit the US last year.

Escudero said Sanchez should be accorded national recognition since she exemplifies the best qualities of Filipinos who are recognized throughout the world for their commitment to hard work and compassion.

“All Filipinos should take pride in Sanchez who did not think twice in risking her life for the safety of infants under her care at the height of one of the most destructive typhoon that hit the US. Her dedication to work serves as an example and inspiration to all Filipinos, whether here in the country or abroad,” he said.

In his State of the Union Address, Obama cited Sanchez, a nurse at New York University's Langone Medical Center for assuring the safety of hospital infants in the care of the hospital during Hurricane Sandy.

"We should follow the example of a New York City nurse named Menchu Sanchez. When Hurricane Sandy plunged her hospital into darkness, she wasn't thinking about how her own home was faring," Obama said in his annual address to Congress.

Sanchez was born and raised in the Philippines and immigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s and has worked as a nurse in New York for more than 25 years.

Sanchez was among the honored guest during Obama's speech and was sitted in the viewing box with First Lady Michelle Obama.

Sanchez recounted that she had to travel back and forth four times to the hospital to move babies on the night power was shut down as a result of Hurricane Sandy. She had to traverse eight flights of stairs carrying the infants with only the light of their mobile phones to use in guiding their way.