Embers of Care: How a Filipino Nurse Is Turning Migrant Health Workers’ Stories Into Art

Filipino nurse and artist John Yayen moved from Palawan to Cambridge, England, got through his first UK winter by painting, and turned that habit into Embers of Care, a 100-portrait series celebrating migrant healthcare workers across NHS trusts and the Royal College of Nursing.

In this episode of Love n' Leary, Marion Leary and Rebecca Love talk with Yayen about why visibility matters for internationally educated nurses, how he interviews his subjects before painting them, and what the UK story has in common with the Filipino, Caribbean, and African nurse experience in US hospitals.

They cover:

• Yayen's path from Palawan to a UK nursing license in 2022
• How donating paintings to save storage space grew into a national project
• Partnerships with the NHS, Royal College of Nursing, Counterpoints Arts, and Arts Council England
• The dual audience for the series: migrant workers who see themselves, and locals who see the people behind the scrubs
• His advice to nurses with a creative side: start now

Article about the podcast: https://nurse.org/news/john-yayen-embers-of-care-migrant-nurses/

Related Nurse.org coverage:

• "I Came Here With Two Suitcases and a Dream": A Filipino Nurse on Immigration and Nursing — Love n' Leary episode with Lulette Infante (August 2026). Companion to this episode.
• Philippines Mass Nursing Exodus: 28,000 Filipino Nurses Took US Licensure Exam in 2024 — the pipeline stat.
• 'Nurse Unseen' Documentary Reveals The Hidden Impact of Filipino Nurses in The U.S. — US workforce share.
• How to Work in the US as a Foreign-Educated Nurse — resource for international nurses eyeing the US.

Related links:

• Embers of Care: https://www.yayenart.com/embersofcare
• John Yayen's artist site: https://www.yayenart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yayenart/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-yayen-11b8502a5/
• Cambridge Conservation Initiative — Entanglement (Yayen's other project): https://www.cambridgeconservation.org/our-work/arts-programme/john-yayen-entanglement/
• Working Class Creatives Database: https://www.workingclasscreativesdatabase.co.uk/member/john-yayen
• KFF on foreign-educated nurses in US hospitals: https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/the-growing-role-of-foreign-educated-nurses-in-u-s-hospitals-and-implications-of-visa-restrictions/
• Full video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB2HK09r4LU

Jump Ahead:

01:00 - Marion welcomes John Yayen, RN: Filipino nurse from Palawan, now in Cambridge
03:21 - Rebecca on parallels with Filipino nurses in the US
04:57 - How Embers of Care began as a space-saving habit
08:02 - Honeymoon vs. real-world phase of moving abroad
09:04 - Partnerships with NHS trusts, Royal College of Nursing, Counterpoints Arts
10:11 - Why stories reach people in a way data does not and the 100-portrait goal
11:23 - Representation, impact, advice for nurse-artists : "Just do it"
13:24 - Closing and tease of possible US exhibit

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