Filipina nurse feted with the Officer of the Order of the British Empire award
Joy Ongcachuy, a Filipina nurse living in the UK, was honoured with an Officer of the Order of the British Empire award in Britain’s New Years Honours List 2019 for her work in treating the victims of the London Bridge terrorist attack back in 2017.
She was recognized along with 42 others who were involved in other response cases to major terrorist incidents in 2017, including Richard Stanton and John Volanthen, British divers who were the first to reach the 12 boys and their coach trapped for 18 days in a Thailand cave complex.
Other prominent personalities given the award were knighted author Philip Pullman, and literary icon Margaret Atwood, who also became a dame.
Ongcachuy was feted an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) award, given to people with “major local role in any activity, including people whose work has made them known nationally in their chosen area.”
Since 2002, Ongcachuy has worked as a scrub nurse at the Royal London Hospital, and was promoted to robotic lead nurse in 2017.
The night of the attack
She was among the first responders during the attack on the London Bridge back in June 3, 2017, when a terrorist plowed into a crowd and started stabbing pedestrians. In her profile posted by the national health service trust Barts Health, she narrates the events of the night of the attack:
“I was working the night shift that night and I heard the anaesthetist’s bleep go off. We already had a really sick patient in one of our theaters, so I had to get our other theatres ready and pull a team of nurses, allied health professionals, and operating department practitioners together.”
“We opened an additional six theaters that night and everyone I called dropped everything they were doing to come to the aid of the patients. No one panicked; everyone was calm and so supportive.”
Ongcachuy also assisted in tending to the victims in another attack of a similar nature a week later at the Finsbury Park in London, where one died and nine were injured.
She expressed appreciation for her OBE award, and said that her daughter is proud of her.
“I am glad I made the UK my home all those years ago―to be welcomed and recognized by Her Majesty is overwhelming, humbling and exciting all at once,” she added.
