Our History:
In the early 2000s, brought thousands of nurses from India to the shores of the United States of America due to a nursing shortage. This massive immigration of Indian caregivers brought many new challenges for Nurses of Indian Origin. Some of these challenges included Licensing processes, scheduling, staffing levels, and computer skills.
In 2005, few Nurses started to meet together at community events to discuss the need for an organization to support the needs of Nurses from India, especially Kerala. These brainstorming sessions sparked the interests of many nurses to form an advocacy group – merging the energy of the newer generation and the knowledge of the first.
In 2006, a new professional organization was born in Philadelphia to help support and advocate the growing needs of nurses with Indian origin. PIANO, Pennsylvania Indian American Nurses Organization was born with an eye catching, self-describing emblem created by Mr. George Nadavayal. The Inauguration for this organization took place in August of 2006 at St. Thomas Syro Malabar Church Auditorium, located at 608 Welsh Road, Philadelphia.
Mrs. Bridget Vincent was named the founding President of PIANO, the new Nurses Association. George Nadavayal, Rosamma Sunny, Bridget Parappurath, Susan Sabu, Susan Pallam, Lila Mathew, Mariamm Thomas,Valsa Thattarukunnel, Molly Rajan , Alice Attupuram and Sara Ipe were amongst the original group that broke ground with PIANO. Mrs. Aney Paul, a New York legislator, also played key role by supporting the initial stages of this Organization.
In October 2006, PIANO was inaugurated by Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Hon. Ronald D Castile. Mayoral candidate Sam Katz was also present during this event. Sara Gabriel, National Coordinator for Nurses Organization, along with a state of National and Local leadership as well as clergy from different denominations were also present. Speakers at this event, emphasized about the importance of such an organization.
Over the years, PIANO, helped to fight for better working conditions for all the Nurses in India by working with Indian leadership. Many media outlets recognized the efforts of this Organization. Piano has played a key role in bringing better pay and working conditions of Nurses in India during the nursing strikes, by supporting the nurses financially and through their own communication channels to help drive change.
PIANO also took initiative by partnering with the American Cancer Society to help administer health screenings of uninsured Asian women. Additionally, providing community health education and elderly abuse prevention, as well as conducting blood drives, CPR classes, EKG sessions and NCLEX review classes etc were some of the other initiatives by Piano
To this date, this organization prospered under different Presidents. The initial challenges were overcome by the continuous leadership under Bridget Parappurath, Susan Sabu, Mr.George Nadavayal , Laila Mathew, Mary Abraham, Santosh Samuel and current president Sara Ipe.
This organization will provide support and cherish the new and current members by standing as a beacon of support to those who need it along with continuous support to young nurses of India and other charity works.
This organization could not have been possible with out the support of many local well-