Heroic Pinoy nurse among Obama guests at State of the Union Address

A Filipino nurse, Menchu de Luna Sanchez, who displayed heroism during Hurricane Sandy last year, was among the guests of United States First Lady Michelle Obama at the 2013 State of the Union Address on Tuesday. Sanchez created an emergency plan to evacuate 20 at-risk infants at the neonatal intensive care unit of the New York University Langone Medical Center after Hurricane Sandy cut off the electrical supply to the building. According to White House blogger Kasie Coccaro, Sanchez organized the nurses and doctors to bring the babies down eight flights of stairs, using their cellular phones to light the way.   One of the infants that Sanchez carried had recently gone through surgery, so several other nurses and aides assisted by carrying the baby’s monitors and IV bags and pumping oxygen while they made their way down the stairs as a team. Sanchez’s focus was getting the babies to safety even though she was aware that her own home was flooded. Kimberly Glassman, the hospital’s senior vice president for patient care services, told the North Jersey that Sanchez was “the one who thought of taking the babies down in a warming pad, cradled in the arms of a single nurse to keep them warm and secure.” Witnessing history unfold The North Jersey said Sanchez was “very, very excited” to meet US President Barack Obama and his wife and it was “a dream come true.” The 56-year-old nurse, who lives in Secaucus, New Jersey, with her husband and two college-age children, wanted to wear her Philippine native costume but was told to “dress simply.” Sanchez joined Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden, wife of US Vice President Joe Biden, and presidential senior adviser Valerie Jarrett in the first lady’s viewing box during the State of the Union Address. Aside from Sanchez, 23 other Americans who “exemplified the themes and ideals laid out in the State of the Union Address” were also invited by the first lady, including:

• Sgt. Sheena Adams and Sgt. Carlos Evans, who served in Afghanistan;
•  Mexican-born Alan Aleman who signed up for Obama's Deferred Action for undocumented youth;
• Jack Andraka, winner of the 2012 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair;
• Susan Bumgarner, an early childhood educator from Norman, Oklahoma;
• Small business owner Deb Carey, who built the New Glarus Brewing Company, Wisconsin’s number one micro-brewery in terms of sales volume;
• Apple CEO Tim Cook and iTriage CEO Peter Hudson;
• Iranian-American Bobak Ferdowsi, NASA's "Mohawk Guy," part of the Mars Curiosity rover team;
• Parents of Hadiya Pendleton, an honor student who was shot and killed at Harsh Park on Chicago's South Side;  Hadiya was part of Obama's public inaugural celebration in January 2013;
• Gov. John Kitzhaber of Oregon;
•  Machining expert Bradley Henning;
•  Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers first Latina mayor of Avondale, Arizona; and
• Technician Lee Maxwell, responsible for turning on the power for new wind turbines built around the US.