Pinay nurse cited in Obama speech arrives for 5-day visit

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino-American nurse Menchu de Luna-Sanchez, who US President Barack Obama cited in his State of the Union speech, is in the country for a five-day visit.

Sanchez, a native of Lucena now working in New York University’s Langone Medical Center, is set to receive the Quezon Medalla ng Karangalan in a ceremony organized by the local government of Quezon.

“I haven’t come home in more than 13 years,” she said upon arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday.

Obama praised Sanchez for improvising a plan to transport 20 at-risk infants to intensive care units around the city when Superstorm Sandy battered New York and other coastal areas last October.

Sanchez said Obama personally invited her to attend the State of the Union Address. She was seated beside US first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden.

“I recalled that President Obama told members of the Union, ‘We were sent here to look out for our fellow Americans in the same way they look out for one another every single day, usually without fanfare all across the country. We should follow their example.’”