Derby's first ever cohort of Filipino Nurses celebrate 20th anniversary
Back in November 2000, 24 nurses made the long journey from the Philippines to the cold and frosty UK to start a new life. They were the first cohort of Filipino nurses to come to Derby. Now, two decades later, 14 of that original group still work at UHDB and are key members of the local Filipino community, which has since grown considerably as more nurses followed their path in the years to come.
On November 30 2020, 20 years after their arrival in Derbyshire, the cohort will be celebrating their 20th anniversary of nursing in the UK.
Sadly, the Filipino recruits have had their plans to celebrate their anniversary postponed by lockdown restrictions, but will revisit plans to mark the milestone as soon as they can.
Editha Davis, Senior Theatre Practitioner in Orthopaedic Theatres at Royal Derby Hospital, said: “I am part of the first cohort of Filipino Nurses who came to work at Royal Derby Hospital in November 2000.
“Coming to work here has been the best thing that happened to all of us. We have all become lifelong friends and have formed a huge family unit.
“When we first came to the UK, I can vividly remember the first time we saw snow. A few of us went outside and created a lot of noise because of the excitement of seeing it!”
Although not the entire cohort continued to work at the Royal Derby, there are still 14 of the original cohort working across the Trust in different areas leading and innovating the scope of nursing.
We’d like to say a massive THANK YOU to all our staff from the Philippines for their dedication to Team UHDB and the NHS. It cannot be easy to leave family and friends thousands of miles away to follow your professional dream. It’s an honour to know you call Derbyshire and Staffordshire ‘home’.
Watch the moment Aldarico and his colleague saw snow for the first time earlier this year. Aldarico arrived in the UK from the Phillipines in July 2019.
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