Col Saboco's extensive leadership and managerial skills rightfully earned her the designation as Chief Nursing Service. She accepted the challenge of leading the biggest component of the hospital with one goal in mind and that is to provide the best nursing care to our soldiers, their dependents, and authorized civilians.
She regularly assesses and evaluates the delivery of nursing services both in the general ward and special areas. She guides supervisors and head nurses in the overall planning and care of patients. She never fails to update the Commanding Officer in all aspects pertaining to nursing care and assertively makes recommendations relative to problems affecting patients and the nursing service personnel.
Looking into the morale and welfare of her personnel, she assisted in facilitating the processing of six (6) Nursing Attendants for application for the position of Nurse I, and is now awaiting the publication of orders. She made use of a Rating Tool which she developed to initially screen all the civilian nursing service personnel who are candidates for the Nurse I position even if the Chief Nurse is a non-voting member of the board.
Another milestone during her incumbency was the decreased rate of absences and tardiness of our civilian nursing personnel. She innovated ways to motivate our personnel to lessen such occurrences. She posted the list of personnel who were "Best in Attendance" for every quarter and were given recognition as "Outstanding Personnel" during the year-end activity. She made it a point to counsel personnel and gave them the opportunity to improve their performance.
She also initiated the revision of the Nursing Service Manual and formulation of the following SOP/policies:
- Attendance Policy
- Handling of Grievances and Complaints
- NOD, MT, Ambuman Duties and Responsibilities
With her desire to further improve the service capabilities and responsiveness of our medical teams and to be accredited by DOH, she made a letter request addressed to AFPSLAI and AFPMBAI for the procurement of ambulance and necessary medical equipment and supplies.
Col Saboco believed that our patients will not only need health care while they are in the hospital but will also need assistance once they will return back to duty. With this in mind, she conducted a livelihood project in coordination with Vetiver Philippines. Patients were thought how to propagate vegetables using alternative methods and this will give an avenue for our patients to earn extra income.
Col Saboco believes in Florence Nightingale's Environmental Theory which states that nursing is an act of utilizing the environment of the patient to assist him in his recovery. With the goal of providing an environment conducive to the wellness of patients, she conceptualized the creation of a Zen garden located at the AGH's 3rd floor. This garden is now being utilized by our patients and their significant others, lessening their boredom and aiding in their fast recovery. To further lessen their boredom, she started a free film showing activity to patients held twice a month at the AGH Multipurpose Hall. She also conducted two (2) lectures on Smoking to in-patients to provide them with health teachings and educate them on its ill-effects.
Knowing the meager resources at hand, she initiated income-generating projects, Tiangge and Bingo Socials to be able to procure items needed for the nursing service.
The proceeds of these projects were the following:
- board games for patients
- wish list of different wards and offices of the nursing service such as oven toaster, kitchen utensils, emergency light, electric kettle, electric fan, etc.
- fruit baskets for patients given during New Year's Eve
Furthermore, she also initiated a garage sale at the Military Nurses Officers Quarters and proceeds went to the enhancement of the MNOQ Kitchen.
As GAD Officer
Col Saboco was also designated as the GAD officer of AGH. She ensured the assessment of gender-sensitiveness of the hospital's programs and projects.
She submitted the 2020 GAD plans, programs, and budget of the hospital and successfully passed its deliberation to the board.
She programmed the enhancement of the hospital wards' comfort room and making it PWD and Senior citizen friendly to include the Nursing Service comfort room.
As TWG member
She is also an active Technical Working Group member for the PA Health Service Capability Enhancement Program. She selflessly offered her time and expertise to contribute to the realization of the program.
During the visit of President Duterte during the Philippine Army Anniversary, she was one of the members who played a vital role in the creation of the Capability Display showcasing the vision of the Philippine Army of a modernized and responsive mobile surgical unit. No less than PRRD appreciated the effort of the whole team and this paved way for the approval of the project amounting to 400 million pesos.