UPINHF 2020 International Nurse Awardee

SHEILA R. BONITO, BSN, MAN, DrPH, RN
Dean, UP College of Nursing
UP Manila

For her advocacy, development and implementation of nurses training for emergency preparedness, response and disaster management.

The world is fraught with sudden, unexpected and disruptive events that entail property damage, financial loss, bodily injuries and loss of lives.  These catastrophes are either man-made or a result of human error, and natural disasters commonly known as “fortuitous” events or “force majeure’ like typhoons, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, fires, volcanic eruptions, etc.  The latest is the big explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, resulting in the resignation of the country’s government.  And the current Coronavirus Pandemic that has claimed more than seven hundred thousand lives and infected 22 million people worldwide.  If predictability of these events is a challenge, the aftermath and outcome prove to even be a larger problem.

Thanks to this year’s UPINHF International Nurse awardee, Dr. Sheila R. Bonito, these issues are being addressed.  She is an advocate of the development and implementation of nurses training for emergency preparedness, response and disaster management.  As far back as 2008, Dr. Bonito was already a core member of the Asia Pacific Emergency and Disaster Nursing Network (APEDNN) organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), Western Pacific and Southeast Asian Regions. She was a trainer in the capacity-building program in Sichuan after the Great Sichuan Earthquake in 2008 organized by the Hongkong Polytechnic University.  She helped develop the training curriculum and the monitoring and evaluation framework used by members of the network.  In 2018, she was among the ten recipients of the service award presented during the network’s meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Sheila Bonito traveled the world championing the idea of awareness and preparation in the face of mounting challenges before, during and after each calamitous event.  On these travels, she is also able to advance her expertise and skills on the subject. She was in Geneva, Switzerland on 26-28 November, 2007 as Temporary Adviser representing WHO WPRO in a meeting with nurse leaders from Eastern Mediterranean Region to produce a set of competencies and domains and discuss the implementation strategies for the integration of Emergency Preparedness and Response into nursing and midwifery curricula.  In 2012, she was in James Cook University, Cairns, Australia as a Fellow on Research in Emergency and Disaster Nursing.  In 2014, she was in University of Hyogo, Japan as a Fellow for Hyogo Overseas Research Network.  In 2015, she was in Vienna University of Technology for a six-month post-doctoral program for her research on “Data mining in Twitter during typhoons in the Philippines.”  In 2016, she was tapped by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center to train health professionals involved in health emergency management in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a project of the Saudi Red Crescent Authority.  There were many more countries she visited as a presenter, speaker, participant in collaborative projects, and others—-mostly in pursuit of a mission to identify and understand the risk, prepare a response, mitigate destruction and losses—in short, Disaster Management.

One of her important works, perhaps symbolic of her endeavors is the book entitled: “Nurses and Midwives in Action During Emergencies and Disasters: Case Studies from Western Pacific Region,” (WHO 2013), is a cooperative undertaking with another UPINHF International Nurse (2019), Dr. Josefina J. Tuazon.  Published internationally, it contains case studies from fifteen countries of Western Pacific.  Another publication, (Springer 2017) is with Hiroko Minami as co-editor containing ten case studies from ten countries in the region highlighting the contribution of nurses in helping individuals and communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from disastrous events, such as typhoon events, flooding, earthquake, and epidemics.  Case studies are efficient tools in training for the development of strategies.  They provide the trainees valuable materials to imagine probabilities, create models for different outcomes from which to design effective responses.  Identification and assessment of risk are part of the process in order to put in place a mitigation plan that lessens or break the cycle of devastation.  Among the many important examples of which Dr. Bonito is active, is institutionalizing the continuing professional development programs on field triage, psychological first aid (perhaps for anxieties and post disaster depression) and community health interventions, which she did in the Philippine Nurses Association from 2010-2016 as Chair of the Disaster Preparedness Committee.

Disasters are usually beyond the ordinary, it disrupts normal human functions and generally cause severe negative impact that exceeds the ability, capacity and resources of society to solve.  Without disaster management, chaos will ensue.  In fact, disaster management, both in theory as well as in practice is universal that it has a wide-ranging applicability.  The dread of COVID-19 is among the extraordinary phenomena that disaster management is applicable: e.g., establishment of communication protocols, strategies for working remotely, adapting norms for self-quarantine and increased cleanliness, creation of disaster management teams that monitors efficiency and strengths and when weaknesses are spotted can recommend mid-course corrections.  Thus, the need to understand the concept of disaster management and be prepared — the magnitude of its benefits cannot be ignored nor minimized.

Proud of her national heritage, a Filipina, Sheila R. Bonito hailed from Bangued, Abra, now a resident of Pasig City.  Her father has his origins from Barangay Baranghawon, Tabaco City (Albay).  In 1992, she graduated from the UPCN with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree and bestowed the Outstanding Clinical Experience Award.  A year after she was in Europe (University of Malta) for a scholarship from UNESCO International Institute on Aging and received a postgraduate  Diploma in Gerontology and Geriatrics in 1994.  Back in the Philippines she went to her alma mater for her Master of Arts in Nursing which she completed in 1998 with a thesis grant from CHED (Commission on Higher Education).   Continuing to pursue higher education, she enrolled at UP Manila College of Public Health for her Doctor of Public Health (Epidemiology) degree with the dissertation grant from the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development in 2008.  A Fellowship Grant from the International Network for Doctoral Education in Nursing and Sigma Theta Tau International brought her to John Hopkins University for a Post-doctoral Fellowship in Nursing in 2012.

Dr. Sheila Bonito continued her quest for more knowledge in the Philippines and other countries.  Schooled and well-equipped, she joined the academia at the UP Open University that offers online courses and mentoring known as “distance learning,” and the UP College of Nursing.  On top of her teaching load, she took additional responsibilities as member of a number of faculty committees, University Committees, Program Chair (Master of Arts in Nursing and Master of International Health Program), Director (Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services). With her diligence and hard work, she rose to the ranks in no time, from associate professor to full-fledged professor and on October, 2017, as Dean of the UP College of Nursing.

Multitalented, Dr. Sheila Bonito’s brilliance shines on every project she worked on and on a wide-range of topics, like: (1) coursewares for the prevention and control of dengue, malaria, trachoma, (2) training manuals on noncommunicable diseases, gerontology and geriatrics, smoking cessation clinics, (3) health promotion resources for schools, (4) massive open online course (MOOC) on content development in open and distance learning, and many more.  Responding to the current Coronavirus Pandemic, she worked with a team at UPCN on the development and implementation of an online course on Contact Tracing in COVID-19 which she coordinated with the WHO and DOH.

For her dedication and unrelenting pursuits, she was recognized with grants during her academic years as student and as a member of the faculty.  In 1998 she was named “Outstanding Alumni” by UPCNAAI, recipient of the Bernd Rode Award for her research on Data Mining in Twitter in 2016, and a citation from the Philippine Nurses Association for her work as Chairman, Disaster Preparedness Committee “during Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) coordinating preparedness, response and relief efforts in the country.”   She was named UP Scientist 1 in 2015-2017 and UP Scientist 2 in 2018-2020 for her scientific productivity.

During the span of her illustrious career, Dr.  Sheila R. Bonito undertook myriads of endeavors with outstanding success, it is however her advocacy, development and implementation of nurses’ training for emergency preparedness, response, and disaster management that UPINHF believes as a huge breakthrough in advancing nursing and healthcare profession, and an emerging concept with global benefits.  Upon recommendation by the Awards and Citations Committee, and the vote of approval by the members of the Board of Directors, Dr. Sheila R. Bonito, BSN, MAN, DrPH, RN, is the unanimous choice for the UPINHF 2020 International Nurse Award.

Congratulations!

By Nelson C. Borrero, AB, LIB, UP Law 73