Last September 20, 2007, the 25th Vitaliana Garcia Beltran (VGB) Memorial Lecture Series with a theme of “Nurse for the World… 100 Years of Service and Excellence” was held at the Mandell Hall Auditorium attended by the fourth year students and some alumni with guest speaker Dr. Chita Nazal-Matunog.
The program was opened by Mr. Vincent Butcon and Ms Jasmine Cabel, the emcees of the program, followed by an audio-visual presentation portraying the history of Vitaliana G. Beltran. The Magis Chorale led the doxology and the National Anthem was sung by Ms. Aiza Zoleta. The Vice President of St. Luke’s Trinity Nursing Alumni Association, Incorporated (SLTNAAI) Mrs. Erlinda Bustamante-Ahorro gave the opening remarks of the program then the introduction to the guest speaker was given by Dean Gisela D.A. Luna.
Dr. Chita Nazal-Matunog is a Silver Jubilarian who graduated as Magna cum Laude of St. Luke’s Hospital College of Nursing Class 1982. Later on, she pursued Medicine and graduated as cum Laude at UERMC in the year 1987. She is also the daughter of an alumnus, Mrs. Rosita Infante-Nazal Class ’58. She is currently working in Davao as a cancer specialist.
In her talk, she stated three (3) highlights of her speech: the ill outflow of nurses from the country; the amount spent by parents training their children to be nurses going to waste; and cheers for getting 99% passing rate during the June 2007 nursing board examination in pursue of its 100 years.
In further elaboration of her speech, she cited that the Philippines is the number one (1) laborer exporter in the world. And an amount of $10 billion is remitted by nurses annually.
In line with her second statement, she cited the severe shortage of training facilities in the Philippines. There is a huge increase in number of nursing schools while there are still few hospitals where training is permitted; a drastic increase in nursing students resulting to a decrease in patients: both situations leading to insufficient cases to fill the students’ need. Moreover, she cited the problem that encompasses incompetent lecturers leading to loss of quality nursing care.
Because of this, she appraised Batch Centenniales for triumphing over the dilemma that encompasses the whole nursing profession of today, continually proving that the institution can yield the best nurses and be number one.
After the lecture, an open forum was facilitated by Mr. Thor Joseph Velasco. Then another audio-visual presentation of the milestone of the college followed the speech given by Carlito Beltran, the son of the late Vitaliana G. Beltran. An intermission number and the singing of the St. Luke’s and Trinity Hymn led by the Magis chorale ended the program.
Vitaliana Garcia Beltran is the first Filipina Superintendent of Nurses who served St. Luke's Hospital for more than forty years. She also pioneered the organization of the Filipino Nurses Association in 1922 now known as the Philippine Nurses' Association. In 1986, the word ‘memorial’ was added after the death of Mrs. Beltran. The first ever VGB Lecture Series happened during the year 1982 when Dean Emeritus Ester Abellera Santos (SY 1954-1962; 1966-1985) suggested the lecture series to highlight the homecoming celebration. Its first guest speaker was Dean Julita V. Sotejo, dean of the University of the Philippines College of Nursing S.Y. 1948-1970.
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