Remarkable Irish Nurse Retires from ICU Job At Age of 80

An Irish nurse has been given a warm retirement send-off after working at an intensive care unit at a hospital in England until she turned 80.

Fran Meachin, originally from County Donegal, began her career in Warrington Hospital in the 1960s and after further education and spells in other hospitals, she returned there in 1980 to take up an ICU role which she held for the past 42 years.

Her only break was during the pandemic when she was advised to shield.

You can read about Fran’s remarkable achievement in the area’s local newspaper The Warrington Guardian here.

Midwives Help Sought for Doctoral Research

A trainee clinical psychologist is seeking the help of midwives to explore their experiences of delivering maternity care to women on the autism spectrum.

Laura Moore is undertaking doctoral research at UCC.

This project has received ethical approval from UCC and is being supervised by a senior lecturer (Dr Fionnuala Larkin) at UCC and a senior psychologist in Cork University Maternity Hospital (Dr Freda Wynne). 

Ms Moore is hoping to recruit five maternity care professionals to participate in a one-hour interview which could be conducted online or in person. The interviews would be anonymised and would not focus on details of participants' current workplaces, but rather their overall experiences working in maternity care with women on the autism spectrum. 

As part of this project, she is also recruiting autistic women to explore the experience of receiving maternity care from their perspective. It is hoped that this piece of research can be used to inform guidelines around possible adaptations to maternity care for this group.

If you would like to take part, you can email Ms Moore on laura.moore4@hse.ie

Nurse Margaret Thanks Daffodil Day Donations

An Irish Cancer Society night nurse has spoken of the privilege she feels in her role.

Margaret Kingston says she felt inspired to take up the role after seeing first hand how the charity helped a member of her own family in her final days to stay at home.

The West Cork nurse was speaking to her local newspaper The Southern Star as the charity held its annual Daffodil Day appeal. You can read Margaret’s story here.

Ireland AM Presenter Talks of Incredible Nurses Who Cared for Dying Father

Ireland AM Presenter Muireann O’Connell has paid tribute to the nurses who looked after her father Brendan during the last days of his life.

“They would come into the house, and you know at a time where you’re quite vulnerable and your dad, the person you adore so much is in a very vulnerable position, they give so much dignity,” she said of the nurses from the Milford Care Centre in Limerick.

“They can be the most important person in the room but also feed into the back like you don’t even notice they are there because that is how good they are at their job, I don’t know how these nurses do it.

“You hear about it all the time but seeing it in action I was struck by it because it was truly phenomenal what they can do.”

You can read how the TV presenter is raising funds for the centre here.

Couple Pay Tribute to Ukrainian Nurses Who Cared for Surrogacy Baby

An Irish couple who were united with their baby born through surrogacy in Ukraine have sent their thanks to the nurses who cared for the child.

Gavin and Lesley-Anne Grimes said that their surrogate mother is safe and with her family.

The couple thanked the nurses and medical staff who took care of their daughter and kept her safe in the hospital as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to impact healthcare facilities. You can read more on the RTE news website here.

Clinical Nurse Talks of Her Decade Working with Ireland’s Homeless

A nurse who has worked helping to care for the homeless says she feels privileged.

“Trying to convince someone to go to hospital when you know they are on deaths' door, and they refuse for whatever reason, that can be a difficult situation to be in,” says Sinéad Grogan.

Sinéad works as an outreach clinical nurse manager with Safetynet Primary Care, helping to provide healthcare to rough sleepers or other homeless people without access to services.

You can read more on a day in the life of Sinead here.