A Filipino who has been instrumental in supporting his fellow healthcare workers and countrymen in Oxfordshire at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom was recognized as nurse of the year.
Jose Ariel Lanada, a nurse at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust, won the “BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) Nurse of Year” at the 2021 National BAME Health and Care Awards held virtually on May 6.
The National BAME Awards was launched in 2019 by a “group of passionate volunteers from the health and care sector.”
The awards aim to recognize national health service staff from BAME backgrounds.
The Iloilo-born nurse said he is “incredibly honored” to win the award along with another nurse from the NHS Foundation Trust. There were 10 nominees for the award.
“It has been a pleasure and a privilege to be able to support my colleagues and the Filipino community,” Lanada said in a press release from OUH.
“This has been an incredibly challenging year for everyone, and the teamwork demonstrated both in our hospitals and across the community has been wonderful to see. It has never been more important to support each other, and be there for each other,” he added.
In an interview with DZMM Teleradyo, Lanada said the award gave him a ‘boost of energy and pride.”
Lanada said he didn’t know who nominated him for the award but is grateful to the person who did.
“Sobrang proud ako as a Filipino (I am proud to be a Filipino)...We raise the pride, the flag of the Philippines and Filipino nurses are recognized and respected throughout the world especially dito sa (here in the) UK,” he said.
Early last year, at the height of the pandemic, Lanada organized hot meals for his fellow NHS workers in OUH.
He said about 1,200 hot meals were distributed to OUH staff who worked during Saturdays and Sundays.
Landa, who chairs the Filipino community in OUH (FilCom Oxford), also took care of 46 Filipino NHS workers who tested positive for COVID-19 by buying and delivering them groceries while they were in quarantine.
The NHS Foundation Trust, for its part, said it is “incredibly proud” of what Ariel and all the other staff have done.
“The support that Ariel and others in our Trust have been able to give is so vital, and such an essential part of well-being and care during this time,” Sam Foster, Chief Nursing Officer at the Trust said.
Lanada is a graduate of Central Philippine University. Before moving to Oxfordshire in 2002, he worked at the Iloilo Mission Hospital.
Currently, Lanada serves as the Divisional Educational Lead for the Neurosciences, Orthopaedics, Trauma, Specialist Surgery, Children's and Neonates Division of OUH NHS Foundation Trust.
Aside from being a nurse, Lanada is also an associate lecturer at Oxford Brookes University and a distant professor at Central Philippine University.