MAY DURANO: Nurse, Beauty Titlist, Community Leader by Profession

BY MARIVIR MONTEBON

The truth is, there is no such thing as a break for a nurse. Life is all about work, especially inside the hospital premises and even within the supposed comforts of home. For the past 33 years, life has been like that for May Tumulak-Durano, an ER nurse whose roots are from the southern town of San Francisco, Agusan del Sur in Mindanao.

“It takes a solid gut to deal with all the challenges at the work place when you are a nurse since you deal with the delicate lives of patients everyday,” she quipped.

Struggles as a nurse would include politics in the workplace, racial and personal discrimination by patients and co-workers, cultural differences and personality clashes, and being away from your family even on holidays.  Even small things have to be dealt with grace, such as no breaks to eat or time to go to the bathroom.

 “This is normal in a hospital environment and you just can’t crack up…well until it is your off time,” she said.

May began her career in 1985 in Brooklyn, New York as an ER nurse.  She recalled that she had a bad time studying with a group, hence she had to go through the exams all by herself and at her own pace.

“Being ER certified, it means you get paid higher. But of course, the work is much more challenging too.” She trained as a Trauma Nurse-ER at the New York Presbyterian Hospital- Cornell Campus in 1993.

May is currently a Travel Nurse and is on a Per Diem position as a Radiology Nurse at the Princeton University Medical Hospital in Princeton, New Jersey.

 There is life outside the hospital for May. This tall and lovely woman does not only find fulfillment in her profession but also as a passionate leader for charitable causes.  She is in fact, a visible and versatile young civic leader in New Jersey and New York.

 Beauty titles however are not initially her cup of tea.  It is the service that goes with it.

 “I was invited by my friend and classmate, Marian Reyes, to be one of the candidates of PHHOSO. I was not really interested. I told her I will check its website. When I saw the mission and vision statements, together with their charitable missions, I decided to join because this wasn’t just about vanity,” she recalled.

 “For me, a beauty title is not a way of self-promotion but a way of reaching out to those people who can make help you make a difference in helping the less fortunate in our communities. Of course, it was a network of meeting new friends, women who help empower each other,” she said.

Being the president of the Philippine Glambassador of Hope USA, May organizes activities to raise funds for health and education projects in Manhattan in order to benefit selected groups in the Philippines.

May was the Mrs. Philippines Hearts and Hopes Society of New York 2010.  She is also the co-chairperson of the Philippine-American Friendship Council for the Top 21 organizations of the Eastern Sea Board for 2011. She also reigned as Mrs. Glambassador of Hope USA in the same year. 

The group, under the auspices of the Philippine Hearts and Hopes Society Inc. (PHHOSO), holds fundraisers for its various health and education projects. PHHOSO is a socio-civic organization which provides scholarships and relief assistance to selected communities in the Philippines. 

An ongoing project under her term is the ‘Better Nutrition for a Better Education of Schoolchildren’ for two sites in Agusan.

May remembers with pride her parents for the kind of attitude she has for helping out people.  Her father, the late Engr. Bienvenido Tumulak once served as mayor of her town in San Francisco, and was seen as a generous man and relentless public servant. Her mother Remedios Raagas, she said, taught her and her siblings the kind of discipline that has brought them far enough in life. 

May grew up in Cebu where she finished her BS Nursing degree at the Velez College of Nursing and her Masters of Science in Health Administration at the New Jersey City University.

“After a day's work, when you have helped a lot of people, as a nurse or community leader, you feel satisfied that you have touched their lives in a positive way.  There is nothing better than that.”

May drives home to husband Paul Durano and teenage daughter Samantha Brynn Tumulak Lefft to feel the complete woman that she is.

The truth is, there is no such thing as a break for a nurse. Life is all about work, especially inside the hospital premises and even within the supposed comforts of home. For the past 33 years, life has been like that for May Tumulak-Durano, an ER nurse whose roots are from the southern town of San Francisco, Agusan del Sur in Mindanao.

“It takes a solid gut to deal with all the challenges at the work place when you are a nurse since you deal with the delicate lives of patients everyday,” she quipped.

Struggles as a nurse would include politics in the workplace, racial and personal discrimination by patients and co-workers, cultural differences and personality clashes, and being away from your family even on holidays.  Even small things have to be dealt with grace, such as no breaks to eat or time to go to the bathroom.

“This is normal in a hospital environment and you just can’t crack up…well until it is your off time,” she said.

May began her career in 1985 in Brooklyn, New York as an ER nurse.  She recalled that she had a bad time studying with a group, hence she had to go through the exams all by herself and at her own pace.

“Being ER certified, it means you get paid higher. But of course, the work is much more challenging too.” She trained as a Trauma Nurse-ER at the New York Presbyterian Hospital- Cornell Campus in 1993.

May is currently a Travel Nurse and is on a Per Diem position as a Radiology Nurse at the Princeton University Medical Hospital in Princeton, New Jersey.

There is life outside the hospital for May. This tall and lovely woman does not only find fulfillment in her profession but also as a passionate leader for charitable causes.  She is in fact, a visible and versatile young civic leader in New Jersey and New York.

Beauty titles however were not initially her cup of tea.  It was (and still is) the service that goes with it.

“I was invited by my friend and classmate, Marian Reyes, to be one of the candidates of PHHOSO. I was not really interested. I told her I will check its website. When I saw the mission and vision statements, together with their charitable missions, I decided to join because this wasn’t just about vanity,” she recalled.

“For me, a beauty title is not a way of self-promotion but a way of reaching out to those people who can make help you make a difference in helping the less fortunate in our communities. Of course, it was a network of meeting new friends, women who help empower each other,” she said.

Being the president of the Philippine Glambassador of Hope USA, May organizes activities to raise funds for health and education projects in Manhattan in order to benefit selected groups in the Philippines.

 May was the Mrs. Philippines Hearts and Hopes Society of New York 2010.  She is also the co-chairperson of the Philippine-American Friendship Council for the Top 21 organizations of the Eastern Sea Board for 2011. She also reigned as Mrs. Glambassador of Hope USA in the same year. 

 The group, under the auspices of the Philippine Hearts and Hopes Society Inc. (PHHOSO), holds fundraisers for its various health and education projects. PHHOSO is a socio-civic organization which provides scholarships and relief assistance to selected communities in the Philippines. 

 An ongoing project under her term is the ‘Better Nutrition for a Better Education of Schoolchildren’ for two sites in Agusan.

 May remembers with pride her parents for the kind of attitude she has for helping out people.  Her father, the late Engr. Bienvenido Tumulak once served as mayor of her town in San Francisco, and was seen as a generous man and relentless public servant. Her mother Remedios Raagas, she said, taught her and her siblings the kind of discipline that has brought them far enough in life. 

 May grew up in Cebu where she finished her BS Nursing degree at the Velez College of Nursing and her Masters of Science in Health Administration at the New Jersey City University.

 “After a days work, when you have helped a lot of people, as a nurse or community leader, you feel satisfied that you have touched their lives in a positive way.  There is nothing better than that.”

May drives home to husband Paul Durano and teenage daughter Samantha Brynn Tumulak Lefft to feel the complete woman that she is