Professional nurse and migrant domestic worker (MDW) Lorna has been working to improve health and wellbeing among MDWs in Hong Kong. Through the Fellowship she wants to extend the reach of her charity. Her ultimate goal is to secure yearly, comprehensive checkups for all migrant workers in collaboration with employers and government hospitals in the city.
Professional nurse and migrant domestic worker Lorna has spent half of her life in Hong Kong and considers it her home. Having experienced chronic health issues throughout her life, she wants Hong Kong to recognize the health needs of diverse communities and administer health benefits without discrimination.
Lorna is a Co-Founder and President of the Filipino Nurses Association of Hong Kong (FNAHK), a nonprofit that organizes health forums and workshops for the public to upgrade their nursing skills. Lorna also organizes yearly free mammograms and pap smears for MDWs in partnership with Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation and Ripples HK. Meanwhile, she founded her own philanthropic organization called Lapis at Papel (Pen and Paper), which involves MDWs in a range of activities: charity hikes and trail and beach clean ups with various NGOs, arranging school supplies for school children, donating nebulizing machines with nebules and sprays to asthmatic individuals, and giving Christmas gifts to the elderly. She works with Pathfinders, which offers support to migrant mothers, and has been involved in organizations such as EmpowerU, Equal Opportunities Commission, Médecins Sans Frontières and the Kasambuhay Foundation.
Lorna hopes the Fellowship will help her broaden the scope of her community service and grow more effective as a collaborator and coordinator. Her ultimate goal is to create a program that would allow all migrant workers in the city to access yearly holistic checkups, the results of which would be monitored through government hospitals.
In her spare time, she loves cultivating flowers and plants, writing, spending time with her dog, singing, baking, racing and kayaking.