ACCEPTANCE STATEMENT Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders & Advocates International Inc. Pod.

RN (The Nurses Podcast Project) Recipient Helping Hands Category, Care Challenge 2012

In behalf of the organization I am representing, the Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders International (AYNLA) founded and operated in the Philippines, I would like to thank the Connecting Nurses Team and the rest of the jury who voted and chose our entry Pod.RN as one of the first ever recipient the Helping Hands Awards. We remain humble servants of the nursing profession. In 2009, I have dreamed of one thing: to see young nurses actively participating in the issues of the nursing profession in our country. Back then, many of my colleagues are likely to be a bit apathetic over the issues and concerns the nursing profession is going through and would rather focus on their individual careers and work abroad. What came to me as a revelation and a vision became my greatest challenge to organize and mobilize newly-passed nurses for the betterment of the profession. This yearning led me and some brave young souls to establish what seemed to be the first of its kind in Asia-Pacific and probably the world a youth-led professional nursing organization. We started with nothing, as in barely anything to have the organization running but we have high hopes, flaming ambitions and undying love for the profession. After we all have the legal documents running and approved, we resorted to one arena we are all most comfortable of using Social Media. Social/New Media has been a great tool to our campaigns. This tool expanded our organization exponentially and helped us propel our messages across borders, both in the Philippines and the world. Social media is also our main tool in disseminating vital information and client education. Last year our team ventured another way to improve our services and reach many health professionals, especially nurses and our clients. We started podcasting an online platform similar to a radio show where we play music and at the same time talk about a topic. We named the program Nars at Bayan (The Nurse and the Country) because we wanted a podcast that tackles health and social issues in the Philippines with nurses hosting it. This is a first in our attempt. Challenges came in when our volunteers got conflicting schedules with their work and to some who ran out of resources to go to our podcast sessions. If you must know, all our volunteers shell out their own funds to participate in our activities, including our podcast sessions of course.

But having challenges didnt hinder our group. We may have temporarily put on hold our podcast to try and find other venues to support its operation because we know and we believe this project is worth the keep. We found the website of Care Challenge and gave it a shot. We informed all our members and listeners about our proposal and they were very glad we did take the shot. Our listeners before were the ones who actively voted and campaigned for our entry. They believed the program and they love the tool because they can listen to us wherever they are as long as they are connected to the internet. For us, this is a breakthrough! And when we were chosen, we believed that our podcast & online radio project paid off. We believed that it touched and inspired nurses to develop their career in broadcasting. We saw the need to have nurses use this media to convey their message of promotive health care. Winning the Care Challenge is more than just winning, it is thinking and creating innovative ways to help change the society and make it a better place to live in. It is after all, nursing the world. Even with meager & limited resources, but with pure determination and strong will, we know we can do it. Our limitation is ourselves. Today we thank everyone who helped made AYNLAs entry a victor in everyones hearts. We would like to thank our members, officers, consultants, online members, listeners and partners for your continued support. Without all of you, we wouldnt strive for excellence and dedicate to work hard for universal healthcare and defending health as a human right. Maraming salamat at Mabuhay!

Alvin Cloyd Dakis, RN National President & CEO Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders & Advocates International Inc. (AYNLA) Quezon City, Philippines