Nilda Chong started collecting stamps in Panama when she was ten years old and became a member of APS when she was a young adult. Work got in the way and Nilda paused her philatelic activity. Now that she has time (Nilda is currently a retired physician living in California), she became a member of APS again. The valuable information and resources available through APS inspired Nilda to get back to her stamps. Nilda collects Panama and Canal Zone stamps.
Nilda wanted to share a story that she wrote about the Panama Commemorative Stamp: 1992 Workers Health Year. At the time Nilda was the national director of the Occupational Safety and Health Program, and was involved in the issuance of this stamp in Panama. The entire process took about a year and the coordination among governmental entities involved a great deal of awareness raising effort and work. Looking back, Nilda realized that if she had not been interested in stamp collecting, this stamp would probably have never existed!
Read the story below:
Panama Commemorative Stamp: 1992 Workers Health Year
The World Health Organization declared 1992 as the International Year of Workers Health. The intent of the proclamation was to raise awareness to protect workers whose health was impacted by negative factors that were preventable. At the time, I was the head of the workers’ health program in the Health Ministry in Panama. I was involved in the initiative that led to the issuance of the country’s 1992 commemorative stamp.
As a stamp collector myself, I embraced the idea a year earlier, in 1991, when I initiated conversations to explore possible partners. Soon, I learned that issuing a stamp is an extremely complex matter that requires incredible planning and collaboration.
First, the two entities responsible for workers health in Panama, the Ministry of Health and the Social Security System, had to come to an agreement to work as equals. This was not an easy task at the time given that the Ministry of Health primarily had the role of making policies and norms while the Social Security System had its own norms and was responsible for the operational aspects of the program. Historically, the two entities had encountered difficulties in working together. Negotiating an agreement took nearly the first six months of 1991.
The next step was to approach the Postal Service to sell the idea of issuing a commemorative stamp. This involved a great deal of red tape especially with their planning department given that the postal service in Panama had limited funds. Nonetheless, the initial conversations were very encouraging because they wholeheartedly embraced the idea. Securing the final approval from the head of the postal service took about four months. This brought us to the end of 1991.
The design of the artwork became a very exciting part of the project beginning in 1992. Fortunately, the Social Security System had a multimedia department that was very interested in collaborating. An artist from the department was designated to work on the project but a new difficulty arose. The artist required funding for art materials to develop many iterations of the artwork for the stamp. Every detail of each one the versions that the artist produced had to be discussed, analyzed, and negotiated.
The Pan American Health Organization, the World Health Organization’s branch for the Americas, enthusiastically provided financial support for this part of the project. With all the art supplies he needed, the artist completed the artwork for the final design that, after much discussion and negotiation, was selected by the Ministry of Health and the Social Security System.
The original artwork was finally delivered to the Postal Service in the first trimester of 1992. At this time, although the project was on their agenda, there was a great deal of uncertainty. There were other projects that were competing for funds and the artwork reached the postal service behind schedule. After completing many sessions and conversations to convince them that the stamp would benefit workers’ health, the artwork was sent to Colombia for printing.
At this point, the printing office in Colombia took the job but would not give assurances that they could deliver the issue before the end of 1992. Finally, after two years, the most exciting day of the project was December 21, 1992 when the Panama Postal Service released 100,000 15-cent stamps and 400 first day cover envelopes.
Stamp design and technical details
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