Health(CARE) Heroes: Filipino Women in Houston’s Medical Community
Women’s History Month is an annual celebration observed every March to honor the contributions and achievements of women throughout history. It is a time to recognize the women who have broken barriers and paved the way for future generations.
The origins of Women’s History Month can be traced back to 1980 when President Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8th as National Women’s History Week. This week was chosen because March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day recognized globally to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. In 1987, after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project (NWHA), a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and preserving women’s history, Congress passed ‘Pub. L. 100-9‘, which proclaimed March 1987 as “Women’s History Month.”
Here In Texas, we have different communities celebrating women’s history each year. For Filipino Americans, the contribution to healthcare has been one of the biggest, mainly because of the women who have spent most of their lives dedicating to their careers in the medical industry. This year, we are highlighting certain individuals within the industry who will share their stories with our community and our youth.
FANHS Houston has created a space to hold and listen to these stories of the folks who embody and practice care and also talk about the care means for all of us as a community. That is why we proudly present to you the ‘Health(CARE) Heroes: Filipino Women in Houston’s Medical Community’, an event that will be held on Saturday, Mar 11, 2023 at the Missouri City Branch Library between 1:30 – 3:30PM.
Our speaker for this event will be will be none other than Jenah Maravilla
Jenah Maravilla (she/her) may be an organizer and activist, but has always been a writer. An Alumnus of both Texas A&M University and Texas Tech Health for B.S. in Nursing, Maravilla permanently pivoted away from healthcare when co-authoring Filipinos in Houston with Christy Poisot. Alongside being the founding Secretary of UniPro Texas and participating in both FANHS Houston and Filipinx Artists of Houston, she became inspired by our storytellers to show up in historically exclusive spaces. All of Maravilla’s work centers around honoring those that came before, empowering those present, and shifting the conversation to radical vulnerability.
In addition to the stories that will be shared, we will also:
- Celebrate stories from women in the Chapter 4 of the ‘Filipinos of Houston’ book called “Caring for Houston: establishing a medical community”.
- Premier a short film from our interview with the legendary Radiology nurse in Houston, Ms. Joanna Villoreña Po.
- Provide electronic pledge cards for Filipino Americans to commit to voting for change.
Food will be provided by TJ Filipino Cuisine
As part of the Houston Filipino American community, you have the ability to make a change by voting in elections. FANHS Houston, with the help of Houston In Action, has provided an electronic pledge card to make sure you are informed in the upcoming local elections and to show lawmakers that we are and have always been a huge group dedicated to use our rights and have our voices heard.
If you want to fill out the pledge card form prior to the event, you can go to this link:
Filipino American National Historical Society 