[brian]

From army medic to hospice's nursing director, Edward Poon is lauded for his outstanding work

THE 19-year-old army medic did not flinch when he had to evacuate a soldier whose leg had been mangled by a blast.
He kept talking to the soldier, asking for his name and his address, to prevent him from going into shock.

Mr Edward Poon's composure impressed his medical officer, who advised the full-time national serviceman to go into nursing, a path he followed to become the first man to receive Singapore's highest accolade for nurses yesterday.

The 40-year-old director of nursing at Dover Park Hospice won the President's Award for Nurses, introduced in 2000 to recognise exemplary nurses with a record for outstanding work.

'There's a career path for male nurses,' said Mr Poon, who dropped plans to study accountancy in favour of nursing school more than 15 years ago.