Dr. Tan, the only Filipino in Nevada State Board of Nursing

As a young boy, Dr. Rhigel Jay Alforque-Tan peddled bananacue (caramelized bananas on sticks) and boiled eggs to his local community in Southern Philippines.

Today, the Filipino-American nurse no longer sells food, but ideas, skills and knowledge.

Dr. Tan was appointed by Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval to the Nevada State Board of Nursing, the agency that oversees the practice of nursing in the state, in November of last year.

He is currently the only Filipino in the seven-member professional board.

Through his historic achievement, Tan hopes to inspire fellow Filipinos to create an impact in the nursing profession as well.

“Being educated in the Philippines brings with it the responsibility to influence the nursing profession in a global perspective,” he said.

“Beyond just making a living, (nurses) should also be involved in promoting public safety through participation in regulatory tasks,” he added. He said these contributions define the nursing profession and makes it worthy of respect even of those not from his country.

He views his appointment to the State Board as a living example that “Filipino nurses are not only world-class care providers but also global professionals capable of contributing to general welfare and safety of the public.”

Struggles along the way

His journey to this powerful position (the crowning moment of his nursing career) was far from easy. For one, his younger years were marked by a constant struggle against poverty. Also, he started his profession in the United States with great uncertainty.

But the accomplished registered nurse (fondly called Jay by the Las Vegas Filipino-American community) remained resilient and even used his adversities to his advantage.

Dr. Tan grew up in Barangay Duljo in the central Philippine island of Cebu, to a policeman father and a schoolteacher mother.

“A total picture of what poverty is all about,” was how he described their household.

Even though both his parents were employed and he was an only child, money was still hard to come by in the “impoverished urban neighborhood” where his family lived.

This forced the young Tan to earn his own allowance by selling food to his neighbors. He also scavenged garbage for empty bottles and tin cans, which he exchanged for money at junk shops.

But his hardships created character. It made him patient, persevering and resourceful. Tan’s underprivileged childhood never became a damper to his ambitions.

These traits became useful to him in facing the many challenges he had later in life.

Second choice becomes ticket to success

Realizing his dream of going to medical school was beyond his means, Tan decided to study nursing. “(It) was a promising profession in the late 80s that (will) give me a chance to go abroad,” he said.

His excellent grades at Cebu State College-Cebu City Medical Center College of Nursing belied the fact that nursing was only his second choice of career.

He consistently landed on the dean’s list of excellent students and even graduated cum laude in 1990.

Still weighed down by poverty after graduation, Tan sought the help of generous cousins, Ariel and Ahmela Abella (both nurses in New York) to pay for the required Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Service (CGFNS) examination which will enable him to work in the United States.

After the newly-minted nurse passed the test, Tan sent applications to several facilities in the US.

A nursing home in Las Vegas finally responded.

With a measly $200 in his pocket, the valuable H1-A visa (or temporary work permit for nurses) that he received from the US Embassy, and his courageous heart, Tan left his home for the first time.

That August morning in 1994, he embarked on a plane bound for Las Vegas to follow his dream.

Some sixteen hours later, Tan and two Cebu nurses (who were on the same flight) arrived at McCarran International Airport.

But the employment agency representative who was supposed to be their guide was not there to pick them up.

A collect call to their Manila employment office yielded a phone number of two Filipino nurses from the same agency, who arrived in Las Vegas two months earlier.

The kind-hearted fellow Filipino nurses let Tan and his companions stay in their small apartment, while they waited for the start of their employment.

It was not until five months later that Tan finally started working at El Jen Convalescent and Rehabilitation Hospital, the Las Vegas facility that hired him. Since he was not licensed in the state yet, Tan took on the tasks of a nursing assistant. He bathed patients, helped them use the bedpan, and changed their diapers.

In 1995, Tan  passed both the National Council of Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) and the nurses’ board examination in Nevada.

Though he already fulfilled his goal of becoming a US registered nurse (RN), Tan never lost his go-getter attitude. This, coupled with his innate intelligence landed Tan a slot in the nursing administration team at El Jen in 1998.

A year later, Tan was also invited to join the College of Southern Nevada as faculty and was awarded tenure after five years.

In 2009, the Filipino-American RN was chosen by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing to become a test item writer for the NCLEX-RN. A year later, he was appointed as a committee member for CGFNS.

Remembering how anxiously he prepared for the two tests before coming to work to the US as a nurse, Dr. Tan said it is with honor that he accepted the appointments to “these two very important examination-giving organizations.”

With continuing education, meanwhile, Dr. Tan’s extensive expertise grew to include medical surgical, mental health, emergency room, cardiology, and palliative nursing. He has graduate level education in three fields: Adult Nurse Practitioner or ANP, Geriatric Nurse Practitioner or GNP, and Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner or PMHNP.

In 2011, he received his Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, where he is also currently an assistant professor, teaching a course in Medical Surgical Nursing Concepts.

The RN’s multitude of accomplishments was seemingly validated that same year when the Nevada governor appointed Tan to be board member of the Nevada State Board of Nursing, with a four-year term that will end in 2015.

Humbled by success

Despite his achievements, Tan  remains grounded. His unassuming ways have endeared him to fellow Asian-Americans in the Las Vegas valley that he calls home.

In the local Fil-Am community, he is more popularly known as a performer, due to his active involvement in the KALAHI Philippine Folkloric Ensemble.

Tan co-founded KALAHI, a cultural community-based organization which aims to unite Filipino-Americans in Las Vegas through preservation and promotion of the Filipino heritage through arts and culture. The group constantly wows audiences with their intricate productions at most Filipino and Asian-American events in the city.

Ever-mindful of his humble beginnings, meanwhile, Dr. Tan continues to give back by helping students reach their career goals.

He set up the Yolanda Alforque-Tan Scholarship Foundation, which he named after his mother, and the Maria Libron Flores Nursing Scholarship Foundation.

To aspiring nurses, particularly those from his home country, he continues to give unequivocal support.

“I made my own story their guiding encouragement for them to achieve a sense of professional achievement even while away from the Philippines,” he said.