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Istana Tea Reception
and Presentation of President's Award for Nurses.
On 30 July 2004 , President and Mrs S R Nathan hosted a Tea Reception at the Istana for 600 nurses and guests to celebrate Nurses' Day. During the Tea Reception, the President also presented the President's Award for Nurses.
This prestigious annual award is given to recognize the profession's best nurses who have shown outstanding performance and exemplary contributions to the profession and the community over a sustained period of time. This year, the three recipients are:
Ms Janet Choo Kim Lan, Assistant Director, Nursing, Changi General Hospital
Dr Premarani Kannusamy, Senior Principal Nursing Officer, Ministry of Health (HQ)
Mr Edward Poon Wing Hong, Director of Nursing, Dover Park Hospice
Ms Janet Choo Kim Lan
Assistant Director, Nursing
Changi General Hospital
Ms Choo is an admirable nurse with excellent clinical nursing leadership. Being one of the local nursing pioneers for case management and clinical pathways, she set up the case management unit in CGH and had presented many papers on this topic locally and overseas. As chairperson of CGH Nursing Research Committee, she has facilitated many nursing research projects.
Ms Choo is passionate about quality improvement. Under her leadership, her teams have won gold awards in national conventions. In 2002, she was awarded the National Day Efficiency Award. Ms Choo is highly committed to personal and professional development. She was awarded the “Academic Excellence Award” by the University of Sydney for her outstanding academic performance in the Master of Health Science (Management) course.
During the SARS outbreak last year, she headed the CGH contact tracing team. Her team's effective response in contact tracing closely complemented the national SARS containment efforts.
At the grassroots level, she is presently the chairperson of the Women's Wing for Punggol North Constituency.
Dr Premarani Kannusamy
Senior Principal Nursing Officer
Ministry of Health (HQ)
Dr Kannusamy is an exceptionally capable nurse with many talents. She has pioneered many initiatives for nursing in Singapore , such as obtaining block grants for nursing research activities and conceptualising the first nursing website in Singapore . She is an active advocate of evidence-based practice. She has presented research papers in local and international conferences.
Dr Kannusamy's contribution to the nursing education of Singapore is notable as well. She was instrumental in the development and implementation of the Master of Nursing programme in NUS. Currently, she plays a pivotal role in the curriculum development of the proposed Bachelor of Science in Nursing programme.
In 1995, she was the 1 st recipient of the Professional Nurse of the Year Award.
She imparts her professional expertise in various community projects such as the training of home carers and health education. In 1995, she was presented the 10-year Community Service Award for her dedicated voluntary service. Last year, she was presented the Lifelong Learning Award by the Ministry of Manpower.
Mr Edward Poon Wing Hong
Director of Nursing
Dover Park Hospice
Mr Poon is an enthusiastic and dynamic nursing administrator. He is also a clinical leader in palliative care nursing, who actively promotes awareness in the hospice movement.
He actively drives care initiatives in Dover Park Hospice. This includes the weekly nurse-led ward round, wound management protocols, and the introduction of palliative outcome scale.
His research studies focus on palliative care. He has presented papers at local and international conferences.
Mr Poon frequently goes beyond the call of duty : visiting his patients after their discharge, comforting bereaved patients' families and coaching volunteers. For his contribution to palliative care, Mr Poon was awarded the Hospice Nurse's Award by Rotary Club Singapore . Recently, he received the Healthcare Humanity Award for his dedication to care.
Despite his busy schedule, Mr Poon finds time to give talks to nurses and the community. He initiated and organized several continuing education courses on palliative nursing. He set up the carer training centre in Jurong and volunteers as a consultant at the Bishan Counselling Corner.
The award comprises a trophy, a certificate and $6000 which will be used by the recipient to attend conferences and training programmes for professional and personal development.
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