President's Award for top 3 nurses

THREE nurses, three disparate fields of contribution to the profession - infection control, nurse management and palliative nursing.

But excellence is the thread running through the work of Ms Lim Siok Hong, 54, Mrs Lee Siu Yin, 56, and Ms Sylvia Lee, 35.

They share one other thing: A deep satisfaction in what they do, and a certainty that this is the career for them.

For their work, they received the nation's highest accolade in nursing, the President's Award for Nurses, from President SR Nathan at the Istana yesterday.

The honours were given out in advance of Nurses' Day tomorrow.

Ms Lim, a senior nurse clinician, leads the infection control unit at the KK Women's and Children's Hospital and was in the battlefront against Sars in 2003.

These days, it is the H1N1 flu virus -  and her phone had been ringing off the hook and after hours. She also checks that face masks fit the part- timers manning the screening points and that the flu protocols are followed.

Her role extends beyond H1N1 - she sees to it that proper steps are taken when someone comes down with tuberculosis, chicken pox or any other 'catching' disease, and volunteers her expertise in places like Cambodia.

Asked what she finds gratifying, she said: 'It has made me realise that I can help a person I do not know, just by providing a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on.'

Mrs Lee Siu Yin, the National University Hospital's nursing director, has come a long way from being that child who, when hospitalised, saw how nurses brightened a patient's day.

That was what she wanted to do, she resolved. She went ahead and achieved her goal. Starting as a midwife 30 years ago, she climbed the career ladder and now leads 2,400 nurses.

Moving up has taken her to a whole new arena - that of designing systems that match patient-care needs with the number of nurses on hand to do the work. The system she came up with has been used in other public hospitals.

She expects nurses to think critically and learn continuously. 'Gone are the days when nurses just carry out doctors' instructions,' she said.

Recently appointed adjunct associate professor by the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine's Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, she will teach there, besides doing so at the Nanyang Polytechnic.

The third award recipient is also the youngest to have bagged it since the inception of the honours a decade ago.

Ms Sylvia Lee's turf is the Dover Park Hospice, where she manages terminally ill patients - most with less than three months to live - and guides other nurses.

A specialist in palliative care and holder of a master's in gerontology, she is the pioneer among 'advanced practice nurses', meaning she is qualified to carry out some tasks done by doctors.

Although she sees a death among her patients almost every day, she has a decidedly bright outlook on her job: 'People always say it's a depressing place but there is so much laughter here. It's about living and not dying.'

She walks the journey with her patients, becomes a trusted friend and helps them through psycho- social and spiritual struggles. Some grow so close to her they ask for her to be there in their last moments.

Her family will contribute one more person to nursing: Her younger sister wants to be a nurse too.