A teacher’s best reward

Movie stars as doctors or nurses? Why not? The medical profession is a fertile source of movie and TV plots. Doctors and nurses have been immortalized in movies like Dr. Zhivago with Omar Shariff playing the tile role; Patch Adams starring Robin Williams; The English Patient with Juliette Binoche as nurse Hana; The Fugitive with Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble, Cider House Rules with Michael Caine as Dr. Wilbur Larch, among others. On TV there are ER, Grey’s Anatomy with Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd and Katherine Heigl as Dr. Isobel Stevens; St. Elsewhere, Chicago Hope, Nip/Tuck, House M.D., among others. George Clooney was the gorgeous Dr. Doug Ross in ER, while Denzel Washington played Dr. Phillip Chandler in St. Elsewhere.

Filipino doctors and nurses are in a big demand in countries all over the world. And one of the oldest review centers that help send nurses abroad is the R. A. Gapuz Review Center.

As chair and head reviewer of R.A. Gapuz Review Center Inc., Ricarte “Ray” Gapuz Jr. has been rewarded with one of the most prestigious recognitions in the field of business, the Agora Award for Entrepreneurship in 2005, handed out by the Philippine Marketing Association (PMA).

As icing on the cake, he received the Agora at the tender age of 33.

“It’s a one-in-a-lifetime experience,” Gapuz relates. “It’s quite humbling, looking at the roster of past winners: Henry Sy of SM malls, Socorro Ramos of National Bookstore, Ben Chan of Bench, Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee.”

All leaders in their respective fields.

He knows fully well that the PMA’s selection process involves rigor and the strictest criteria. “Some have joined seven times before winning. I consider myself lucky that I made it on my first try.”

The author of eight books and two interactive CDs on Nursing Licensure Exams, Gapuz surmises that his review center’s “strong social commitment” spelled the difference among the Agora judges.

“From the start, when we set up our company 14 years ago, we already put an emphasis on social responsibility,” he explains.

He is also the founder and chairman of the Rey A. Gapuz Foundation, Inc., which has sent numerous scholars through college.

“We have a lot of projects with the primary aim of giving back to society,” he says.

In fact, the very nature of his business bears a social component. “Our goal is to help nursing students pass the exams so that they can help their families.”

The R. A. Gapuz Review Center, with its five main and 15 franchised branches nationwide, has helped countless nurses fulfill their dream of working abroad.

(The R.A. Gapuz Review Center has five main centers—Baguio, Dagupan, Cebu, Davao and SM Manila. It also has 15 franchised branches nationwide: From as far north as La Union to as far south as Cagayan de Oro.)

As far as Gapuz is concerned, his most profound achievement is the fulfillment he derives from seeing his students learn new skills and improve their lot in life.

“It feels great reading my former students’ thank-you letters,” he says. “They tell me about the latest developments in their lives. They tell me how I’ve helped them. How I’ve changed their perspectives. These are things that money can’t buy. A teacher’s biggest reward is seeing how successful his students are.”

An acclaimed author and tireless teacher, Gapuz also looks up to his own mentors.

“My mother Evangeline Gapuz is the biggest influence in my life,” he points out. “She taught me principles of good living in very concrete ways. When I was younger, I didn’t understand these concepts, but later on I realized that these are lessons that I can apply in my everyday living.”

Professionally, he considers his fellow teacher in the review center, “Ma’am Dang Cruz as my mentor.”

“Ma’am Dang,” he professes, “has attained the peak in her nursing career. She worked as nurse specialist for the Department of Health and finished her master’s degree in Australia. But when her parents got sick, she went back to her community in Tarlac, to care for them.”

For Gapuz, his mentors exemplify the core values of the nursing profession—integrity, compassion, trustworthiness and familial love.

“At the end of the day, the true measure of your success as a nurse is how much you’ve helped your family,” he says.

He counsels young nursing students to stick to these core values. “They should remain committed to their families. I commend them if their goal is not personal gain, but to uplift the lives of their loved ones. It all starts in the family. If you have good families, a good nation will eventually be developed.”