Josephine Punla, Josie or Pin as they call her, was born in Baguio City, Philippines on January 11, 1951. The youngest of 11 children, live birth thru the union of Agapito Dicang from San Gabriel, La Union and Lorenza Tiongco of Guagua, Pampanga, met and resided permanently in Baguio City, where all the 14 children were born.
She finished her elementary school at Bonifacio Elementary School in 1962. She graduated from high school and pre-nursing, liberal arts, in University of Baguio in 1968.
She graduated in Nursing at Chinese Hospital and Medical Center School of Nursing in 1971 and passed her board exam the same year as a registered nurse.
Josephine migrated to the United States in April 1974 and was employed as a Graduate Nurse at Saint James Hospital in Newark, then as a registered nurse after passing the U.S. board exam in 1975. She worked in the surgical unit for 6 months and pursued her dream and goal to work as a critical care nurse, attending classes and seminars as prerequisites.
In March 1976, she got married in City Hall of Newark, New Jersey, and in August at Saint James Catholic Church in Newark to Arturo Punla, a BA in Fine Arts at University of Santo Tomas in Manila who opted to be in business. She was blessed with 3 children: Josephine Anne, Arthur John, and Andre Jay. They are all married now and gave her 8 grandchildren in total.
In spite of her busy schedule with her kids and work, she never neglected her professional and personal growth. In 1991, she obtained her Critical Care Registered Nurse certification (CCRN), maintaining it till retirement. She continued to attend international conferences in NTI almost every year in different places for critical nurses and new trends to help her patients.
She also studied short courses in real estate and insurance and got a license in both, only using them for short periods and for personal knowledge, as her passion was in nursing.
Josephine Punla is also a member of BLD (Bukas Loob sa Diyos), a Charismatic organization of the Archdiocese of Newark, where she was involved with Word ministry contributing to BLD covenant news.
She also served every year for 10 years in medical missions in different places in the Philippines as the BLD head of post-op recovery. She helped host a medical mission in her home province La Trinidad, Benguet in 2013. She stopped joining medical missions in 2020 at the start of Covid.
In spite of her bilateral mastectomy in August of 2019, she continued to work full-time in critical care to help out during the Covid pandemic. After Covid, she continued to travel around the world, admiring the history and culture of different countries and visiting religious places. Fascinated with all her experiences, she never stopped dreaming and thinking of what to do after retirement (officially retired April 2025 after 50 years of service).
When not travelling, she spends time with her family and reminisces about her childhood and the impossible dreams she once had. She used to read stories of people who successfully achieved their dreams: the singer, songwriter, fashion model and designer, architect, interior designer, private plane owner, and people who made it in the financial world without jeopardizing their human morals, dignity, and respect.
One day, while reading and exploring her curiosity of AI, she came across ads on publishing a book with AI. She enrolled in FPA, a thorough, comprehensive guidance in writing fictional stories. My curiosity and interest awakened me. I used to write poems, verses, and my diary as young as I could think of. Now that I’m in the course, my dilemma is I don’t have much knowledge in computers. I refuse to give up because it helps me with my mental exercise. Although it’s difficult for me, it relaxes me to know that there’s still room in my brain for learning new things and the happiness I feel that my impossible dreams now become reality in writing.
Join me in my journey as I write Sweet Romance love stories of pure love that never ends but only begins. When the heart is broken, it loses hope, but love never ends. It endures, finding its way to one’s heart that nourishes it, waiting for it to bloom again.
Out of the blue, while thinking of a name that carries my initial JP, it just burst in my mind like a dream—a lovely name of an author. Googled it, and nobody owns it. My name I accepted.
Yours truly,
Josephine Punla is the Vice President of JNESO District Council 1 and the President of the JNESO Saint James Hospital Local Nurses Union, a certified critical care nurse. Currently, she is employed as a staff nurse in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Saint Michael’s Medical Center in the City of Newark. Born in Baguio City in the Philippines, Punla graduated from the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center in Manila in 1971 and immigrated to the United States in 1974 to accept a position with St. James Hospital in Newark. She was employed by the hospital as a critical care nurse for 34 years until its closure in 2008.
During her time at St. James Hospital, Punla fought to unionize the facility’s nursing staff and to ensure that the community maintained access to quality healthcare. In the hospital’s final years, she led organizing efforts in the Ironbound community to save St. James, speaking with community leaders, making her case in Trenton, and rallying residents of the city and healthcare workers in the hospital.
After the hospital’s closure, Punla accepted a position at Saint Michael’s Medical Center, where she first served as a hemodialysis nurse and later as a critical care nurse. She was appointed and elected as the Vice President of the St. Michael’s Medical Center Local JNESO Union. Punla is actively engaged in the fight to save Saint Michael’s Medical Center and joins JNESO members in the Coalition for Patient Rights and Safe Staffing in New Jersey at the Statehouse in Trenton.
In her spare time, Punla is active in Bukas Loob sa Diyos, a covenant organization under the Archdiocese of Newark. She serves in The Word Ministry, The Mission Ministry, and as a volunteer in the organization’s annual medical mission in the Philippines.
