Left: On April 1959, Araceli Teodoro [Marcial] received her pin from the Chinese General Hospital in Manila for finishing her nursing degree. The pinning ceremony has become a time-honored tradition since 1916 in the United States and United Kingdom. Archival Image: Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry Right: “I was so excited to attend my graduation,” says Elizabeth Grace Capadngan, a Filipino telemetry nurse at Doctors Community Medical Center, in Maryland. Elizabeth Grace has been a practicing registered nurse for a few years. She finished her Bachelors degree in nursing in the spring of 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was unable to have her graduation ceremony.
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Left: On April 1959, Araceli Teodoro [Marcial] received her pin from the Chinese General Hospital in Manila for finishing her nursing degree. The pinning ceremony has become a time-honored tradition since 1916 in the United States and United Kingdom.
Archival Image: Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry

Right: “I was so excited to attend my graduation,” says Elizabeth Grace Capadngan, a Filipino telemetry nurse at Doctors Community Medical Center, in Maryland. Elizabeth Grace has been a practicing registered nurse for a few years. She finished her Bachelors degree in nursing in the spring of 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was unable to have her graduation ceremony.
Elizabeth Grace Capadngan is a night shift telemetry nurse at Doctors Community Hospital.
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Elizabeth Grace Capadngan is a night shift telemetry nurse at Doctors Community Hospital.
Elizabeth Grace Capadngan is worn out from her night shift nursing schedule. On her days off, she struggles to stay awake in the daytime. Her husband, Ernest Capadngan is an intensive care unit nurse who works day shift. He cuddles with her as she takes a nap.
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Elizabeth Grace Capadngan is worn out from her night shift nursing schedule. On her days off, she struggles to stay awake in the daytime. Her husband, Ernest Capadngan is an intensive care unit nurse who works day shift. He cuddles with her as she takes a nap.
Ernest Capadngan holds his five day old daughter, Eliana Grace while Elizabeth Grace fills out their infant daily report sheet.
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Ernest Capadngan holds his five day old daughter, Eliana Grace while Elizabeth Grace fills out their infant daily report sheet.
Left: A Filipino nursing student poses at San Ramon heights in Mindanao, Philippines between 1921 and 1926. Archival Image: Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry Right: “We moved to the United States because it was a good opportunity for our family,” says Marc Bontogon, a Filipino telemetry nurse at Doctors Community Medical Center, in Maryland.
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Left: A Filipino nursing student poses at San Ramon heights in Mindanao, Philippines between 1921 and 1926.
Archival Image: Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry

Right: “We moved to the United States because it was a good opportunity for our family,” says Marc Bontogon, a Filipino telemetry nurse at Doctors Community Medical Center, in Maryland.
Marc Bontogon shares a meal with his parents. He works night shift like his father while his mother works in the daytime. This one morning meal allows them all to converge despite their varying schedules.
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Marc Bontogon shares a meal with his parents. He works night shift like his father while his mother works in the daytime. This one morning meal allows them all to converge despite their varying schedules.
Marc Bontogon, 30, gets ready for his nursing shift.
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Marc Bontogon, 30, gets ready for his nursing shift.
Marc Bontogon wears personal protective equipment before entering a patient's room at Doctors Community Medical Center in Maryland. He works the night shift as a telemetry nurse.
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Marc Bontogon wears personal protective equipment before entering a patient's room at Doctors Community Medical Center in Maryland. He works the night shift as a telemetry nurse.
Marc Bontogon, 30, rests on a massage chair after working four 12-hour nursing shifts in a row. He bought the massage chair during the pandemic as a way to help him relax at home.
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Marc Bontogon, 30, rests on a massage chair after working four 12-hour nursing shifts in a row. He bought the massage chair during the pandemic as a way to help him relax at home.
Left: Leane Bulaong, 51, is an operating room nurse in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the sole breadwinner of her family since her husband and daughter are both in nursing school. Her other daughter, Jennifer, is a nurse in Missouri. Some days Leane works 7 days a week in the hospital. Due to her increased in hospital exposure, Leane became ill with the COVID-19 virus last November and was hospitalized for four days. Right: Felicidad Nolasco Acena posed outside a Filipino YMCA club. Acena was a Filipino nurse who migrated to Cleveland, Ohio in 1926. But after less than a year, she felt culturally isolated and moved to New York City where there was a thriving Filipino American community. She worked at the Jewish Hospital in Brooklyn. Archival Image: Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry
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Left: Leane Bulaong, 51, is an operating room nurse in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the sole breadwinner of her family since her husband and daughter are both in nursing school. Her other daughter, Jennifer, is a nurse in Missouri. Some days Leane works 7 days a week in the hospital. Due to her increased in hospital exposure, Leane became ill with the COVID-19 virus last November and was hospitalized for four days.

Right: Felicidad Nolasco Acena posed outside a Filipino YMCA club. Acena was a Filipino nurse who migrated to Cleveland, Ohio in 1926. But after less than a year, she felt culturally isolated and moved to New York City where there was a thriving Filipino American community. She worked at the Jewish Hospital in Brooklyn.
Archival Image: Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry
Leane Bulaong arrives home early from her nursing shift so she can spend time with her two daughters, one of whom is a nurse visiting from Missouri. On Leane’s right is her youngest daughter, Jillian. She is on her laptop for a virtual nursing class while her grandmother watches.
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Leane Bulaong arrives home early from her nursing shift so she can spend time with her two daughters, one of whom is a nurse visiting from Missouri. On Leane’s right is her youngest daughter, Jillian. She is on her laptop for a virtual nursing class while her grandmother watches.
The Bulaong family works together to make Filipino food for Jennifer to take back to Missouri. On the left is Jennifer Bulaong. She was unable to emigrate with the rest of her family due to U.S. visa restrictions. A few years later, she was able to migrate as a nurse through a recruiting agency, who in return takes a significant portion of her salary. Jennifer is almost done with her nursing contract commitment and hopes to move closer to her family.
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The Bulaong family works together to make Filipino food for Jennifer to take back to Missouri. On the left is Jennifer Bulaong. She was unable to emigrate with the rest of her family due to U.S. visa restrictions. A few years later, she was able to migrate as a nurse through a recruiting agency, who in return takes a significant portion of her salary. Jennifer is almost done with her nursing contract commitment and hopes to move closer to her family.
Jennifer (left) spends time with her younger sister Jillian. Jennifer became a mother figure for her sister when they were growing up since their mother worked as a nurse abroad.
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Jennifer (left) spends time with her younger sister Jillian. Jennifer became a mother figure for her sister when they were growing up since their mother worked as a nurse abroad.
Leane Bulaong drops off her daughter, Jennifer, on her right, at the airport to go back to Missouri where she works as a nurse. Leane’s youngest daughter Jillian, on her left, is studying to be a nurse. The Bulaong family have not lived together for the last 12 years.
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Leane Bulaong drops off her daughter, Jennifer, on her right, at the airport to go back to Missouri where she works as a nurse. Leane’s youngest daughter Jillian, on her left, is studying to be a nurse. The Bulaong family have not lived together for the last 12 years.
Red cross nurses in the Philippines pose for a portrait in 1919. Archival Image: Fighting America's Fight, 1919 Public Domain in library of Congress
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Red cross nurses in the Philippines pose for a portrait in 1919.
Archival Image: Fighting America's Fight, 1919 Public Domain in library of Congress
Diaspora on the Frontlines
(ongoing)

Photographs and writing featured on 
     -National Geographic
     -Rappler Philippines
     -GMA Philippines
Photographs featured on CNN and Science Friday
Exhibited at Photoville 2021
Supported by The National Geographic Society

Nearly 32 percent of the registered nurses who have died of COVID and related complications are of Filipino descent.

Filipino nurses have been on the frontlines of many health crises over the years and it is not by accident. Healthcare in the Philippines was largely modeled after the American system during the U.S. occupation, which lasted 48 years. This prepared Filipinos to become nurses abroad instead of their home country. 

The first large wave of Filipino immigrants began after World War II when the U.S. created the Exchange Visitor Program (EVP), which facilitated the entry of foreign nationals to help ease labor shortages. In 1948, the Philippines and the U.S. entered into an agreement for the financing of bi-national centers to coordinate educational exchange programs in various fields, including healthcare. By the 1960s, the demand for nurses increased dramatically following the passage of Medicare and Medicaid and a spike in illnesses such as the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. 

My project, Diaspora on the Frontlines, documents five Filipino nursing families, making up 9 nurses, all of whom represent the large population that have been historically shaped to fill the US shortage of nurses. This project is comprised of documentary images of their lives, along with historical and present day diptychs to illustrate the missing and present day stories of these migrants.

Special thanks to Ren Capucao and Catherine Ceniza Choy for your research and work on this issue.

Rosem Morton

Rosem Morton is a documentary photographer and nurse based in Baltimore. Her visual storytelling explores the intersection of trauma, health and resilience.
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