Bay of Plenty nurse practitioner Pare O'Brien is following in the honourable footsteps of her late mother, Puti Puti O'Brien.
Pare O'Brien has been named the recipient of Te Runanga o Aotearoa New Zealand Nurses Organisation's highest honour, Te Akenehi Hei Award. The award was presented at an awards dinner in Wellington recently.
Pare, who became a nurse practitioner in February this year, said she was stunned and shocked by the award. Nurse practitioners are expert nurses who work within a specific area of practice incorporating advanced knowledge and skills.
"I am quite overwhelmed and feel so unworthy of it, particularly when I know of previous recipients. But I will accept it humbly on behalf of my whanau, hapu and iwi," she said.
Her mother, former patron of Te Kaunihera o Nga Neehi Maori, the Council of Maori Nurses, Puti Puti O'Brien, who died last year, received the award in 2002.