More than 100 Filipino-American doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists and medical support staff cheered and clapped Sunday morning as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo entered a conference room in the downtown hospital. In a crisp robin’s egg blue pantsuit, Macapagal-Arroyo smiled serenely and graciously reached out to as many hands as she could. Employees treated the visiting dignitary more like a rock star than a head of state.

The president said she was proud of Filipino-Americans’ contributions to the U.S. economy and to their homeland and she appreciated their passion for health care professions. During her 20-minute visit, she posed for group pictures with Community employees and exchanged pleasantries as secret service agents stood by.

Dr. Dominic Dizon, assistant clinical professor at UCSF Fresno, helped arrange for the popular Filipino president to visit the hospital. Dr. Dizon said he had been asked over and over, “Why Fresno?”

“I have been answering, ‘Why not Fresno?’” Dr. Dizon said.

More than 8,700 of Filipino descent live in Fresno County according to the latest U.S. Census estimates and many of them have gravitated towards health care professions. Norlina Dela Vega, nursing director and manager of Community’s DeWitt Subacute and Skilled Nursing Facility, said she wanted to be sure to tell the president “I recognize the education that we get in the Philippines is one of the best we have to be able to share with the rest of the world.”

Dela Vega said she doesn’t remember the last time she met a president of the Philippines. “I have a photo of when I was a baby and my mother took me to meet President Arroyo’s father when he was president.”

Phyllis Baltz, chief operating officer of Community Regional, was the first to greet Macapagal-Arroyo and said she was honored by the president’s recognition of Filipino staff’s significance in the community.

“I think it’s very exciting,” Baltz said. “I just think it’s a nice opportunity for the staff and the physicians to experience something that maybe in their own country would not be easy to do. To connect with the president, to have that opportunity here is a wonderful thing.”

Imelda Gamboa was one of two registered nurses along with Dela Vega to be part of the initial welcoming committee and she chatted with the president during the short walk to the hospital conference room. “That was exhilarating and thrilling,” she said afterwards. “I never thought I would have this up-close and personal encounter with someone so famous and powerful – and my size with a zing... She really gave us a sense that we are important.”

Loreto Castro, a registered nurse from a medical/surgery floor at Community Regional, was thrilled to see the president face-to-face, but even more for her to visit the hospital. “I’m very proud that she is here where we work, the best hospital in the Valley,” Castro said.