The First Hispanic US Nurses and their Contribution to US Health Care

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According to minoritynurse.com, 7.3% of the current population of the United States of America admits that they are of Hispanic or Latino origin. The total Hispanic or Latino population in the United States includes 135,600 Registered Nurses and 51,800 Licensed Practical Nurses.

Majority of the Hispanic nurses who natively speak the Spanish language or are offspring of Spanish-fluent migrants are situated in the states of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Hispanic nurses serving the US are expected to grow for the following years. They are contributing and inputted great service to the US population over the year. Some of the Hispanic nurses serving or had served the US population are:

1. Ildaura Murillo-Rohde

She is a native of Panama. She is one of the first Hispanic US nurses that had contributed to the evolution of healthcare in the US. She co-established the National Association of Hispanic Nurses in 1975. She established the organization to specifically cater to the needs of the Hispanic Nurse Community. 

The organization aims to aid Hispanic nurses in acquiring better education and effectively servicing the community.

Her career started in San Antonio. During her time, San Antonio had a big population of Hispanic communities but there were only a few Hispanic nurses. 

Ildaura had finished her studies in New York. In New York, she had acquired her doctorate and landed a job evaluating grants. 

While working, she had noticed that there were also no Latina nurses placed where she had conducted research and public policy works.

She had also led an education career and received multiple awards such as a fellowship given by the American Academy of Nursing. Her name was also used for a scholarship grant for Hispanic nurses.

2. Hector Hugo Gonzalez

His vast experiences with observing life and death in the conduct of clinical care had allowed him to witness the shift of the definition of death. He had witnessed the shift of the characterization of death from the stop of a heartbeat to brain death over his half-century career in nursing.

He is one of the first Hispanic US nurses to co-create the National Association of Hispanic Nurses.

He had acquired his bachelor's and master's degrees before he had worked as a captain for the United States Army Nurse Corps. 

During 1974, he was dubbed as the first Mexican-American Registered Nurse in the entire United States of America to have a doctorate. 

He had also offered his service as a board of director for the District 8 of the Texas Nurses Association. He had also become the first Hispanic and male president of the association.

He had also led the Department of Nursing Education at San Antonio College. He was able to create programs that made it possible for nurses to study and finish their degrees during night time. 

3. Henrieta Villaescusa

While working in Los Angeles, she had become the first Hispanic US nurse to serve as a

Hispanic Public Health Supervisor just after finding work and receiving her bachelor's and master's degrees. She was also dubbed as the first-ever Hispanic Nurse to be appointed as the health administrator in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. 

She was also the first-ever Mexican-American chief nurse consultant in the Maternal and Child Health Department.

She had also serviced the National Association of Hispanic Nurses as its president.