Government honours red Red Cross and army nurses.

The Government has honoured New Zealand Red Cross delegates for their role in bringing aid to South Asia following the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.

Prime Minister Helen Clark awarded the New Zealand Special Service Medal (Asian Tsunami) to nurses Colleen Clarke and Marion Picken and relief delegate Douglas Clark (pictured above) at a special ceremony at the end of March. Clarke, who works as a medic on one of the Maul oil rigs off the coast from New Plymouth, and Picken, a nurse educator at Wellington Hospital, worked in a 100-bed International Red Cross field hospital in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. They were part of an international team of nurses, surgeons, water engineers and others. Picken worked primarily in the wards, while Clarke was put in charge of the hospital's ambulance service.

"The field hospital was a wonderful facility," said Picken. "We had the cleanest theatre in Aceh because it hadn't been damaged by the sea. As a result, our recovery rates were good. The main conditions we treated were inhalation pneumonia, tetanus, infected wounds and fractures. We were all impressed by how resilient the Aceh people were, despite the devastation all around them."

Seven Army nursing officers were also awarded the Special Service Medal. Captains Ian Barrett, Georgina Parata-Turvey, Rose Fraser and Shaun Fitzell, Major Lee Turner and Lieutenant Hayley Claridge were awarded for their work in Banda Aceh, white Major Deb Blythen was awarded for her work in Indonesia and Thailand. Parata-Turvey was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in this year New Year's Honours for her rote in Banda Aceh.

Devastated areas in which New Zealanders were involved in relief efforts include Banda Aceh, Phuket (Thailand), Galle (Sri Lanka), Male (The Maldives) and the Andaman Islands. Those eligible for the awards include members of the Police and Defence Forces, World Vision and Oxfam volunteers, and staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.