Award for innovative parish nurse.

A nurse who has made a difference to more than 5000 people in the community has won first prize in the inaugural 3M Tegaderm professional development grant.

Parish community nurse Peleiupu Tautua, who works with Procare Network Auckland, has worked for many years with more than 30 Pacific churches across Auckland. She has developed a number of innovative programmes (held usually in the evening and on weekends), and co-ordinates health screenings and exercise programmes, as well as linking church members to a local GP. She will use her $1200 grant to attend the annual Pasifika Medical Association conference in the Cook Islands.

The grant's second prize of $800 was won by dermatology nurse Ann Giles for organising the last year's dermatology nurses' and allied health professionals' conference. Giles works at Greenlane Clinical Centre's dermatology department and organised the conference with no sponsors, no money and very little experience. She plans to use the grant to attend the dermatology nurses' conference in Australia. The annual 3M grants can be used for higher education, conference attendance or further research.