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Filipino nurse who won Dh900,000 grant says patients fight for life when there is hope

Maria Victoria Juan was responsible for initiating the first aeromedical evacuation system in the Armed Forces of the Philippines

Filipino nurse Maria Victoria Juan was a young child when her aunt, a military nurse, died of gunshot wounds while on her way to a mission.

However, that didn’t stop her from becoming a military nurse herself. On Thursday, she won a coveted nursing award in recognition of her work in spearheading an evacuation system that improved survival rate, especially in conflict areas.

Maria won the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award 2024, beating 78,000 other applicants and was awarded a grant worth more than Dh900,000 at a prestigious award ceremony held in India.

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“I couldn’t believe it when they called my name,” she told Khaleej Times over the phone. “This grant is going to help me continue doing the work that is close to my heart. A nurse can do a lot for the community and the country, and I am determined to give back as much as I can.”

During her time as the Chief Nurse of the Philippines Army, Maria was responsible for initiating the first aeromedical evacuation system in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. This system has greatly improved survival rates by enabling rapid evacuation and early treatment of casualties, especially in conflict areas.

First-hand experience

Working as a junior officer in a field hospital, it was one patient that changed the course of her career. “There was a soldier who was on the verge of death due to the intensity of his wounds,” she recalled. “He was slowly ebbing away but when he heard the sound of the helicopter coming, he became conscious again and we were able to save him. I thought it was an isolated incident but during my work, I realised that was not the case. When there is hope that they will be saved quickly, heavily wounded patients fight to stay alive.”

That is when she realised that if there was a way for an air ambulance to reach wounded soldiers quickly, they could be saved, which would in turn boost their morale to fight for the country. However, there was one flaw in her plan – the Philippine army did not have an air ambulance. “It was a multi-million-peso investment,” she said. “So it was not something that we could introduce quickly.”

Undeterred, Maria pressed forward with a plan to jointly train doctors and the aviation team on how to evacuate wounded soldiers. “After the joint training, we were able to reconfigure existing combat air assets to use them for rescue,” she said. “Later, we were able to convince the leadership to invest in an air ambulance.”

The ambulance, which has been operating for a year, has already saved the life of one severely wounded soldier and nine battle casualties to date. “Because of the success of this and the work, the army is convinced to get another bigger air ambulance,” she said.

Currently, Maria works as a consultant at Philippine Army Health Services and is a Colonel at the Reserve Force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Prize Money

Maria said she is going to utilise her grant money of $250,000 on causes that are close to her heart. One is the integration of vetiver grass technology. “It is a very sustainable grass that can solve soil erosion and clean the dirty waters,” she said. “We have already tested this and it was a success. So through this, I would like to kickstart it within certain communities in the Philippines.”

The second project she wants to focus on is to equip households to respond to medical or trauma emergencies. “We have a lot of trauma incidents in the Philippines,” she said. “It's not enough to just focus on the hospital. It's very important to focus on where it happens. So you have to educate and give life-saving equipment to households so they can save themselves and their loved ones," she added.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Maria organised the Endurun Mega Swabbing Centre, training troops as medical swabbers and coordinating healthcare professionals. The centre conducted nearly 500,000 tests, significantly contributing to the country’s pandemic response.

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