Humans of UNAC/UHCP: Summer Valente, RN
I fell in love with the patient population in the pediatric unit after I floated there. I’m kind of animated. I like making my pediatric patients smile even when they’re sick—because they will. Little things will make them smile and giggle even if they don’t want to. They can’t help being little kids. They bounce back. On our unit now, we see a lot of oncology families. I have a special place for those kids. I get to know their families and everything about them, tolerate their grumpy little attitudes. They’re so tough, those little guys.
“I fell in love with the patient population in the pediatric unit after I floated there. I’m kind of animated. I like making my pediatric patients smile even when they’re sick—because they will. Little things will make them smile and giggle even if they don’t want to. They can’t help being little kids. They bounce back. On our unit now, we see a lot of oncology families. I have a special place for those kids. I get to know their families and everything about them, tolerate their grumpy little attitudes. They’re so tough, those little guys.
“My mom is a nurse and I have a million aunts who are nurses. Typical Filipino family. My dad has 12 brothers and sisters. Half are nurses. And some of my cousins are nurses.
“Ever since I was young, I was given to believe I was going to be a nurse. When I got to college I said, “I want to be a nurse.” Now where did that come from?
“But I don’t regret it at all. My mom did so much forefront work as a nurse. She helped with the writing and editing of an ICU care book. She gave a lot of lectures. She was on the team that opened the hyperbaric unit at Long Beach Memorial.
“The doctor she worked with opening that unit treated her with such respect. It was an example of how it ought to be. When he went to conferences in London or Amsterdam, he brought the whole department along, including my mom. She’d bring my sister and me. He’d come over to our house. They were like family. I see that now with my own friends from work and myself.
“In the Philippines, nursing was already looked at as a respectable career. For my mom, it was also a way to come to the United States, have a stable career and earn a good income. My dad enlisted into the U.S. military in the Philippines. They came separately and met over here.
“Last year, my mom and dad took my whole family on a three-week cruise back to the Philippines. It was the best vacation ever. All of us together: my husband and our kids; my dad’s brother and wife; my sister and her kids.
“They showed us where they both grew up. My dad’s old house still has family living there. We went to the church where they got married. Beautiful—just for the kids to see our culture, go back to our roots, be proud of our country where it all started.
“Dad came from that poor little house to live in a nice house in the U.S., then bring a lot of family over one at a time to establish themselves. They’d live with us until they got on their own feet. We are wealthy in our values.
“One time we had my grandma on my mom’s side, me, mom and dad, my sister and her four kids, all living in the same house. It didn’t feel weird. That’s just how we did things: multiple generations living together. I’m close to my nieces and nephews because of that, close to my sister. That’s all I’ve known. When I hear stories about these different families when they visit each other and their difficulties, it’s weird to me.
“My husband Allan and I have three kids: our daughters Alex and Arin and son Alijah—and three dogs.
“My oldest daughter is 16, looking at colleges. I told her you’re going away to college but then you’re going to come back and live with us afterwards.
“I first reached out to the union because I felt like I was being targeted by my manager. Valentina Zamora was one of my affiliate officers at the time and she helped me a lot—great resource, very positive. She kept me grounded during a difficult time. Then she encouraged me to start doing steward stuff. I wanted to get more involved, until all my babies just came year after year.
“Then in 2020, one of the officers approached and asked me if I’d be interested in being an officer and I said I’ll try it. I like having all that knowledge to share with my coworkers. I didn’t think I would like it, but I actually really do.”
— Summer Valente, RN
Kaiser Downey Registered Nurses Association (KDRNA)