The Marian Theater of St. Paul University Iloilo was packed with Paulinian nursing students this morning to attend the International Nursing Forum on osteoporosis and on Ambulatory Nursing Care, a new branch of nursing care, conducted by a Paulinian alumna, Maria Cecilia P. Jalandoni RN, MN, CNS. The event was sponsored by the Iloilo Paulinian Nurses’ Alumni Association and was part of the 64th Grand Alumni Homecoming which will have its highlights on February 8 and 9.

Alumni homecoming takes place every year and on its 64th year, the entire event is guided by the theme, “New Evangelizing Breakthroughs and Frontiers in Paulinian Education.” St. Paul University Iloilo Alumni Association Incorporated (SPUIAAI) President,  Dr. Chris Sorongon stated that the goal of this homecoming is for the alumni to reminisce their college days, to strengthen camaraderie, to create new memories, and to support the University in its numerous endeavors.

One way of showing support in the academic excellence the University upholds was the conduct of the international forum by Mrs. Jalandoni, a Sapphire Jubilarian who graduated last 1969 in the class named “Jomarians.” Mrs. Jalandoni, together with numerous alumni, flew all the way from USA to take part in this year’s alumni homecoming. A nurse, an educator, and a leader, Mrs. Jalandoni has left her Paulinian mark in many hospitals in USA. She was nurse in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and California. She was also an associate professor of this university when it was still St. Paul College of Iloilo in 1980, and a clinical educator in the most of the hospitals where she previously worked. At present, she takes the position of Project Manager III of Ambulatory Clinical Practice at Anaheim, California. As a very dedicated nurse, she was awarded twice as one of the Ten Outstanding Filipino Americans of Orange County, Nursing Award last 1998 and 2000 at Anaheim, California. Not only was Mrs. Jalandoni an achiever in the field of Nursing, she was also an active member in her community. In fact, she was the president of the Filipino American Association of Anaheim Hills for 2005 to 2006 and was awarded Catholic Woman of the Year at Santa Clara de Asis Church in Yorba Linda, California last 2008.

Mrs. Jalandoni’s presence and talk provided an inspiration to numerous Paulinians who aspire to become nurses, and the international nursing forum provided a venue for the nursing students to broaden their knowledge in the field of Ambulatory Nursing Care. With the awareness the forum has catered, Mary Arianne Duron, a second year BSN student, said, “I’ll give more attention to my grandmother and my mother and advise them to take less caffeine and sodium (salt) so that they may be spared from osteoporosis.”  Ms. Duran hopes to be as successful as Mrs. Jalandoni and travel places and leave her own Paulinian mark.