Article by Gwen Jones, Department of Family Services
(Posted 2025 September)
Fidelita Levy came to the United States in 1962 to help meet the country’s need for nurses. After marrying her husband, she became a U.S. citizen and raised a family. For many years, Levy worked in communities all over the country, taking care of sick and injured people and teaching the next generation of nurses. At her last job with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General, she investigated healthcare issues to make sure veterans got the best possible care. One of her final investigations even led to the discovery of a serial killer.
Fidelita Levy was born in the Philippines in 1939 to parents who had emigrated from China. Her parents ran the only store in their small village, selling almost everything people needed. Levy was one of 14 children, but sadly three of her siblings passed away as babies. In the Philippines, the government didn’t give citizenship to anyone who was born there, like the United States does, so Levy and her siblings weren’t considered Filipino citizens. “For the 23 years I was in the Philippines, they called us aliens,” she says.
Levy studied nursing and worked as a registered nurse for two years before being recruited to work in the United States. Several of her friends, who were also nurses, had already moved to the U.S. and encouraged her to come too. In 1962, Levy got a visa through the Exchange Visitor Program and moved to Rochester, MN, to work at St. Mary’s Hospital, which is part of the Mayo Clinic.
Moving to Minnesota wasn’t easy, but Levy felt welcomed by her many friends and the friendly community. Once, she went with a roommate to audition for the Rochester Civic Theater’s production of the musical "South Pacific." To her surprise, while her nursing friends were cast as dancers, Levy was given the role of Liat, one of the lead characters. Many doctors from the hospital played in the orchestra, so the theater worked around their busy schedules for rehearsals and performances.
Not long after moving to Rochester, Levy met Neil Levy, who had been invited to her birthday party by a mutual friend. Neil was originally from Milwaukee, WI, and had moved to Rochester to work as a technician at the Mayo Clinic. The two hit it off and got married just three months later. After her two-year visa expired, Levy applied for permanent residency and became a U.S. citizen in 1969.
One of Levy’s biggest challenges in Minnesota was handling the freezing winters. Although she bought a winter coat, she still wasn’t prepared for the brutal cold. “I didn’t know how to dress up until I got married; Like layering and wearing woolen things. I didn’t know you didn’t wash wool, so my husband’s woolens all shrunk,” she recalls.
The couple moved a lot over the years to find better jobs. In total, they lived in seven states and 15 cities. During this time, they also raised three daughters. After living in Rochester, they moved to Chicago, where they both earned their master’s degrees. Levy got free tuition to attend Loyola University and taught there for a year. She also taught nursing at George Mason University and the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Every new place came with its own challenges. In South Dakota, Levy led a team of nurses at a VA hospital. She heard that some nurses wondered why she, the only Asian nurse, was their supervisor. Even so, Levy made some close friends in South Dakota, and they have stayed in contact over the years. She also recalls a very strange medical appointment while living in Auburn, AL. When the doctor learned that she had lived up north, he responded quite seriously with “Damn Yankees!”
While working and raising her family, Levy also conducted medical research. In 1982, her journal article, “The Effect of Oxygen Inhalation on Oral Temperature” was published in Nursing Research. Her study showed that patients could have their temperature taken orally even while receiving oxygen. Prior to her study, it was believed that oxygen would affect the thermometer’s reading, so patients’ temperatures were taken in other, more stressful locations. In another article, published in the Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery in 1987, Levy disproved the common belief that it was necessary for nurses to strip the chest tubes of patients every two hours, a process that hurts nurses’ fingers. That year, she was the only nurse invited to present her findings at a medical conference in Beijing, China.
In the early 1990s, the Levys moved to Pasadena, MD. While her husband worked at the U.S. Patent Office in Alexandria, Levy worked at the VA hospital in Baltimore. The couple later moved to Alexandria, VA, and in 1995, Levy accepted a position to oversee the Office of Healthcare Inspections in the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG). Because the role was newly created, she was given free rein to do the work how she saw fit. “It was a good job because there was no precedent. You make up your own way of doing things because it was a new office,” she says.
Levy traveled all over the country to investigate patients’ complaints at VA hospitals. During one investigation, she recalls reviewing records at seven hospitals to see if doctors were faithfully following patients’ advanced directives. Levy admits that her biggest challenge was driving. As someone who learned to drive at age 35, navigating each new town or city (before GPS was widespread) was difficult. She recalls stopping often to ask locals for directions.
One of Levy’s last investigations for the VA OIG proved to be the most disturbing. She and her team traveled to Northampton, MA, to investigate complaints made against a nurse named Kristin H. Gilbert, whose coworkers noticed that she was often working when a patient died. The investigation revealed that Gilbert had injected patients with high doses of epinephrine, triggering cardiac arrest. In 2001, Gilbert was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, and two counts of assault with intent to kill two others. She is currently serving four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. As a nurse, Levy was shocked by the murders. “We don’t talk about nurses killing in school. I had never heard that mentioned,” she says.
In April 2001, Levy received the Golden Eagle Award for her investigation of Gilbert. The Golden Eagle Award recognizes individuals who have exemplified exceptional work across the Inspector General Community.
After working for over 40 years, Levy retired in 2003. She is happy that she retired in Fairfax County, which she says is her favorite of all the places she’s lived. Her reasons include the numerous public parks, proximity to the museums and monuments in Washington, D.C., and temperate weather. She also feels at home here, saying, “You see a lot of immigrants. You have a group of ten people, and nobody was born in Virginia. Everyone came from somewhere else.”
Levy has kept busy in retirement. Although she volunteered throughout her life, retirement allowed her to do even more. Prior to the pandemic, she did blood pressure checks at Hollin Hall Senior Center and took care of their fish tank. She also collects clothing, books and household items to send to her village in the Philippines. Levy devotes a lot of her time to gardening, a favorite activity, and donates bouquets of fresh flowers to the George Washington Rec Center, where she and Neil swim.
Although she hasn’t lived in the Philippines for over 60 years, Levy has maintained ties with her birthplace and family that lives there. She has been a frequent visitor to the Philippines over the years and enjoys hosting family members, who often travel from the Philippines to visit her.
Levy first came to the U.S. to fill a vital need in our healthcare system. Over the years, she has cared for people all over the country while building a life and raising a family. Like many immigrants, her contributions have made our community a better and kinder place to live.
This article is part of the Golden Gazette monthly newsletter which covers a variety of topics and community news concerning older adults and caregivers in Fairfax County. Are you new to the Golden Gazette? Don’t miss out on future newsletters! Subscribe to get the electronic or free printed version mailed to you. Have a suggestion for a topic? Share it in an email or call 703-324-GOLD (4653).