The British government awarded Filipino nurse Brenda Deocampo with the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) medal for her outstanding contribution to healthcare on Thursday, 2 November.
Ms Deocampo is the lead nurse in the Acute and Specialist Medicine department at Charing Cross Hospital in London.
She posted photos of herself and her family after the awards ceremony on X (formerly Twitter), writing “All my ❤️ to everyone who brought me here. Mga Kababayan Atin po ito. Salamat! Glory to God.”
An MBE is awarded to individuals for their “Achievement or service in and to the community which is outstanding in its field and has delivered sustained and real impact which stands out as an example to others,” according to the Cabinet Office.
Ms Deocampo joins two other Filipinos who were previously awarded the distinguished MBE award. Victoria Buenaventura and Joanna Teh, consular officials at the British Embassy in Manila, were awarded MBEs in 2014 for assisting Britons and their families after Typhoon Yolanda.
In a blog she wrote for her trust to celebrate the Southeast and East Asian Heritage Month in September, she wrote, “As a foreign nurse, I have always been respectful of the expectations around the nursing practice of this country. I had to unlearn some of my past experiences and harmonise my skills and competence to what is relevant, current and evidence-based. I learned to collaborate with colleagues of different backgrounds as I discovered, we are stronger together and we are more efficient collaboratively, celebrating each cultural heritage and each unique contribution to the National Health Service.”
