Gloria Ferrer Baterina oral history interview and transcript

Abstract

Gloria Baterina was born in 1949 in Bago City, Philippines where her parents raised her along with her seven brothers and sisters. She attended college for two years and then took three years of nursing school in the Philippines. Her entire family immigrated to the United States, piecemeal. She came over with a two year student visa in 1971 as a twenty-two year old, at the advice of her sister. She took the Boards, and started working immediately at Methodist Hospital in Houston, reassured that the hospital would fix her papers so that she could stay. When the hospital didn’t, she spent the next four years in LA, speaking with lawyers and officials, attempting to rectify the mistake. She eventually returned to Houston and her job at the Methodist, working the night shift as a charge nurse, then a supervisor and later worked at Continental Airlines at the airport. Today, she is retired. Throughout the interview, she shares her experience with us as a Filipino nurse adjusting to the United States.