THANKS to all for your comments — keep them coming!
And while we are on this “Desperate Housewives” topic (read the latest development on the story by clicking here), and as we feel energized by this lively discussion, let me bring up a related matter.
Most Filipinos know that in many US hospitals, you can’t turn a corner without bumping into a Filipino health care professional — doctor, nurse, therapist, nurse aide and so on. So have you, like me, wondered why there are no Filipino characters in the main cast of these hospital drama shows? And to think there are dozens of these shows on American television.
October 5th, 2007 at 12:37 am
LOL, this is too funny.
You have a show making a offhanded joke about Filipinos in the medical field, which they publically apologized for, yet still not satisfied people here have to resort to degrading their American counterparts as well. Hypocrite much? Its a show, people. They sincerely apologized. Time to lick the wounds and move on.
Also Fred… stating that American doctors can’t handle dengue and tuberculosis because they are not trained to handle those situations with meager resources… well what about Filipino doctors… could they handle cancer, heart transplants, etc. if their medical school could not afford the expensive equipment to properly train them with?
Love it or hate it, the only thing lacking in Philippine medical and nursing schools is technology. Filipinos don’t have access to the high tech equipment that is essential to advancing in the medical field. You have Filipina nurses coming to the US who are computer illiterate and have never seen technology readily available in the US in operation.
Anyway, to answer the question why there are no Filipino/a nurses on medical TV shows. I guess you can answer that by asking why are there no Filipino/a actors to play these roles.
Also maybe those Filipino/a nurse are probably in the background taking care of their patients rather than causing all that drama that you see in those TV shows. The Filipino/a nurse is probably doing their job low-key, working overtime to send money home, so they have no life, and the minute they are off from work… they are at home watching TFC lol.
Seriously, Hollywood likes to play it safe and it takes years for minorities to emerge in high profile roles. Example: In the past, you would not see a black actor play a professional role like a doctor. You don’t see Indians/Arabians playing doctors as well because even though its the norm in the real world, people tend to live in a bubble and expect things that are familiar to them. Hollywood has come a long way in breaking stereotypes, hoping they learn from their lesson and build on it.
October 4th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
I am a health care worker and there are times I’ve been discriminated. However, in my part, I just do my job and shrug off their comments. In this way, I can show them what a Filipino health care worker really is.
October 4th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Oh, here’s the site: http://media1.hmc.psu.edu/mediasite/Viewer/Viewers/ViewerVideoOnly.aspx?mode=Default&peid=4fbbd7dc-dfc7-4e8e-8b07-a45ef353d36c&pid=9f2b7e35-3aec-4d36-8656-94abf469f2b9&playerType=WM7#
October 4th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
I don’t know what the problem of the Desperate Housewives’ writer(s) with medical schools in the Philippines was. In any case, it is unfair to insult our ability to mold doctors like that, especially since a number of our home-grown doctors have been saving American lives for quite a time now.
Just check out this video clip featured in the website of a hospital in Pennsylvania where Dr. Ma. Cristina Javier, a Filipina Doctor who’s had her early medical training here in the Philippines (she’s my officemate’s sister), saves an American baby–something she does probably more than just on a daily basis.
October 4th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
*sir! taas kamay* Ako! Ako! Ako!
Ahhh….
BECAUSE PINOYS ARE NOT DYSFUNCTIONAL???