Potri Ranka Manis, MA, RN:

A nurse in search of the role of ancestral arts and culture in healing

A nurse artist conceives, choreographs and directs Pandibulan (bathing by moonlight), a cultural presentation featuring dances, music, and folktales from the Yakan people of Southern Philippines. This is scene 1.

Potri Ranka Manis is a literary genius, artist, and foremost a nurse who have served for over 30 years, a portrait of a knight and hero, a Modern Nightingale. She has recently obtained a Masters degree in nursing. She continually explores through qualitative searches on the role of ancestral arts and culture in the science and art of healing.

She is a Board Certified Medical- Surgical Registered Nurse, member of Philippines Nurses   Association of New York, Board of Director of Kalusugan Coalition, and Board of Director of New York City Community Health Network.

With a multi-talent and a kind-hearted, yet a brave woman activist like Potri, she is always around and involved. She has both feet between two jobs. While as a director of this theatrical magic of a world-class performance, she too, has to wear the scrubs and work her way to the hospital and live her second life, if not her first: taking care of her patients. This is scene 2.

Clarita Miraflor, PhD, RN

 Unifying Filipino Nurses in the United States

Clarita Miraflor was elected as the First President of the Federation of Philippine Nurses Associations in the United States (FPNAUS), later renamed as the Philippine Nurses Association of America (PNAA), after presenting a topic on “The Unification of Philippine Nurses in the United States” at the PNA-New Jersey (PNA-NJ) convention held in East Brunswick, NJ, on April 21, 1979.

       Her dauntless leadership skills were attributed to her previous roles in professional organizations in Illinois and California. She was a President of PNA-Chicago (PNAC) now known as PNA-Illinois (PNAI) for five years, a Board Member and Vice-President of the Illinois Nurses Association (INA), and President of the State Nurses Active in Politics in Illinois (SNAPI), the political arm of INA. Later on, she became a member of the California Nurses Association and held positions as Chair of the Human Rights Committee and Commissioner in Nursing Practice. She also became a member of the Advisory Council of PNA-Southern California.

       She continues to serve the profession by teaching as an Adjunct Professor at West Coast University and by providing consulting and travel seminars for MIRAFLOR and ASSOCIATES.

Divina Grossman, PHD, RN

 Moving up to the next level of Engagement

 Divina Grossman has served as dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Florida International University (FIU) since its creation in October 2006.  She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas (Philippines), a Master of Science in Nursing at the University of Miami, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania.  She is a Clinical Specialist in Medical Surgical Nursing and is a licensed Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner in Florida. She has conducted research in the areas of blood pressure rhythms and fever management.

 Her leadership has been recognized nationally and locally.  She currently serves as Chair of the American Academy of Nursing’s Health Disparities Task Force and co-chaired the Academy’s national health disparities project that was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.  She also serves on the National Advisory Council of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Nurse Faculty Scholars Program and is chairwoman of the Florida Association of Colleges of Nursing, chairwoman of the Board at Kendall Regional Medical Center, and vice-chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Health Foundation of South Florida. Among her other service appointments, she has been recognized as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She currently serves on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Nursing.