Pinay hero nurse cited at Obama ‘Union’ address

WASHINGTON – Menchu de Luna Sanchez, born, raised and educated in the Philippines, wanted to wear her terno to proclaim her roots when she was invited to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address but was told to dress simply.

“I really wanted to wear my Philippine traditional costume – we always wear them for special occasions and I can’t think of any occasion that is more special than this – but we were told to dress simply,” she told reporters.

Sanchez, now a naturalized American, and 23 other people from all walks of life were invited as guests of First Lady Michelle Obama to witness the President address the US Congress. 

They served as examples of some of the ideas and causes the Obamas care about, such as humanitarian work, immigration reform, health care, gun control, wounded veterans and sexual equality.

Sanchez, who sat in a place of honor between Mrs. Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, at the presidential box, is a registered nurse at New York University Langone Medical Center.

It was she who improvised a plan to transport 20 at-risk infants to intensive care units around the city when “Frankenstorm Sandy” battered New York and other coastal areas last October, causing massive flooding.

“She organized the nurses and doctors to carefully carry the babies down eight flights of stairs with only cell phones to light the way. Even as Menchu’s own home was flooding, she thought only of protecting the babies in her care,” said a White House bio of her.

With alarms beeping, nurses and doctors under her direction carried the children down the stairs while others pumped oxygen and carried monitors and IV bags.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday watched by tens of millions of Americans, Obama said he and all the members of Congress were voted into office to secure the nation, expand opportunities and to look after fellow Americans the same way they look out for one another every single day, usually without fanfare, all across the country.

“We should follow their example,” Obama said.

“We should follow the example of a New York city nurse named Menchu Sanchez. When typhoon Sandy plunged her hospital into darkness, she wasn’t thinking about how her own home was faring. Her mind was on the 20 precious newborns in her care and the rescue plan she devised that kept them all safe.”

After the storm, hospital officials praised Sanchez for finding a way to get them down safely.

“She’s the one who thought of taking the babies down in a warming pad, cradled in the arms of a single nurse to keep them warm and secure,” Kimberly Glassman, senior vice president for patient care services, told a nursing publication.

Sanchez immigrated to the United States in the 1980s and has worked as a nurse in New York for more than 25 years. She has been at NYU since 2010.

She currently lives in Secaucus, New Jersey with her husband and two children, both of whom are in college.

In an interview with NorthJersey.com before coming to Washington, Sanchez said she was very excited to meet President Obama.

“This is a dream come true for most people – to meet the president – and I never thought I would get this chance. I voted for him twice and I’ve been following Michelle Obama’s philosophy for years as first lady. I can’t wait,” she said.

“Everyone is so excited – my 19-year-old daughter told me I should take her instead of my husband,” said Sanchez, 56. “She really wanted to come.”

Because she could not wear her terno, she went shopping on Sunday and bought two outfits for her visit to Washington.

Other invitees to the Obama speech included the parents of a slain teenager, a teacher at the Sandy Hook elementary school where 20 children died in a December attack, a machinist, the CEO of Apple, the governor of Oregon, a pay discrimination victim, a 16-year-old high school student who discovered a new method of detecting pancreatic cancer, and a police officer who responded to a mass shooting at a Sikh temple near Milwaukee.