Nida Quirong Jones, third from right

Nida Quirong Jones came to the United States straight out of nursing school in the Philippines in December 1970, not expecting to stay long.

“There were severe nursing shortages in the United States in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and they were recruiting from other countries—England, Germany, Ireland, France, and there were five openings in Philadelphia,” she says.

After checking out the ads in a nursing magazine, Jones wrote letters to health care facilities in three states that were looking for nurses. Einstein was one of them. Einstein offered, and she jumped at it.

Jones wound up choosing Einstein for two reasons. The first reason was practical. Friends from nursing school were already working in Philadelphia, so she wouldn’t be such a stranger in a strange land. The second wasn’t at all practical, and it still makes her laugh.

“I chose Philadelphia because it sounds like ‘Philippines,’” she says. “It sounds strange, but that’s what I did.”

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