Tag Archives: St Joseph’s hospital

Students in Knockanean National School’s second and third class visited St Joseph’s Hospital on Monday to finally come face-to-face with residents they had been corresponding with over the last few months. From April to June this year, as part of the Artist in Schools Scheme, local artist Rachel Macmanus with the co-operation of second class teacher Ciara Felle, third class teacher Tina Gavin, as well as Caitriona Crotty, the Activities Co-Ordinator for St Joseph’s, pupils had written letters to their ‘pen pals’ in St Joseph’s. The project was overseen via Zoom due to pandemic restrictions, with Rachel and the teachers helping the students write letters to St Joseph’s residents; on the other side, Caitriona Crotty read out the letters at the hospital and assisted the residents in replying to them. The scheme concluded on Monday when the two classes came to the hospital to show the murals that they had painted for their pen pals, featuring all the things they …

STAFF in St Joseph’s Hospital have hit back at recent “inaccurate” claims that residents were left unwashed for months. The Clare Champion has learned that staff members in St Joseph’s are furious over recent public statements made by Deputy Violet Anne-Wynne and Deputy Cathal Crowe in the Dáil in view of their assertion patients were left unwashed for months. The newspaper can reveal that staff are also upset with the HSE for giving a public apology concerning care in St Joseph’s as they believe this was not justified. A union official has confirmed staff couldn’t shower patients during a Covid-19 outbreak but instead used a basin with soap and water, which was used to clean a patient from head to waist before this was emptied and a new basin was obtained to clean the patient’s bottom half. This was completed in line with agreed HSE procedures, which was not referenced in the recent HIQA report. The newspaper has been assured …

THERE was a n-ice surprise for the residents and staff of St Joseph’s Hospital in Ennis at the weekend. The family of resident Mary Skerritt came up with a novel way of celebrating her 99th birthday, while keeping socially distanced, by organising for an ice-cream van to pay a visit to the nursing home. Mary was born on May 8, 1922 in Miltown Malbay and is the mother of seven children, along with being a proud grandmother and great grandmother. Her son Michael told The Champion that because of Covid-19 they were unable to celebrate her birthday the way the family would have liked, so came up with this idea to mark the occasion while also saying thank you to the hospital staff for their dedicated care. “It was just a fabulous day and we had great weather for it. We were trying to come up with ideas of what we could do for her birthday and this one was …

ZIMMER Biomet Shannon and Galway delivered much needed Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the Rehabilitation Unit at St Joseph’s Hospital in Ennis recently. The Rehabilitation Unit in St Joseph’s provides a multi-disciplinary in-patient service to older people who have experienced deterioration in function following recent illness or surgery. PPE is necessary to help protect residents and staff from COVID-19 and Zimmer Biomet are delighted make this donation in light of national PPE shortages. It is understood about 5,000 items of PPE were donated including shoe covers, masks, googles, visors, protective gowns and other equipment. A Mid-West HSE spokesman said the health authority are are delighted to receive donations of PPE, which is used in accordance with Infection Prevention and Control (IP&C) standards, protecting both the residents and the staff. Asked how long this PEE will last for staff and residents in St Joseph’s, the HSE outlined PPE is used according to National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) guidelines, some of …

A €42 million investment package for community hospitals in the Mid-West has been announced by the Government. The plan includes a €12 million provision for a new 50-bed extension to St Joseph’s Hospital, Ennis, while the remaining 100 beds there will be refurbished in the existing facility. This investment will ensure compliance with HIQA standards, delivering a comfortable modern care facility for our older people. In the past 12 months there been significant investment in facilities in Community Hospitals in Ennistymon and Kilrush, with works at Raheen also currently underway.

A new 150-bed multi-million euro elderly care facility on a greenfield site on the outskirts of Ennis is the preferred option of the HSE to deal with infrastructural deficits in St Joseph’s Hospital. Following discussions with HSE senior management, Deputy Pat Breen said providing a new geriatric hospital on the outskirts of the county town is being prioritised by the authority, following criticisms of the physical environment in St Joseph’s in a report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). In its response to the report, the HSE confirmed it has examined options regarding the design and layout of the centre and has also undertaken an option appraisal exercise. “Arising from this, a proposal has been prepared outlining the costs required to enable the centre to meet HIQA environmental standards. The provider is committed to the long-term future of the centre,” the HSE stated. While a number of options are being explored concerning the provision of long-term elderly residential …

STAFF members in St Joseph’s Hospital are planning a ‘crew cut’ for a fundraising event in memory of their former colleague, Anne Fox, who lost her battle with cancer in September 2013. Three of Anne’s former colleagues are stepping forward for the short back and sides by hairdressers from K&G Hair Salon on Parnell Street, at the function in O’Keeffe’s Bar, Lifford, on February 27. But that’s not all. The group, and the 10-year-old niece of one of the volunteers and the daughter of another, will then hand over their tresses to the Rapunzel Foundation to make into wigs for children and adults who suffer from alopecia. Tommy Guilfoyle, Deirdre Allan and her daughter, Mary, who works in Ryan’s Centra, and St Joseph’s colleague, Nuala Casey haven’t had a haircut since last April or May. Tommy’s niece, Ava Burke, aged 10, a pupil in Gaelscoil Micheál Chiosóg, has never had more than a trim. Now she’s prepared to have 14 …

THE lack of public rehabilitation services for patients following the closure over Christmas of a unit in St Joseph’s Geriatric Hospital, Ennis has provoked anger. The Rehabilitation Unit in St Joseph’s, which can accommodate 11 male and 11 female patients, was closed at short notice on Monday, December 23 last. It also provides respite support for Clare carers, who are looking after family members that require 24-hour care, such as Alzheimer’s patients. This is the first time that this unit closed in the last four or five years. While the HSE is unable to give a definite date for the reopening of this unit, the agency predicted this service would resume “when demand increases, most likely next week”. HSE West Health Forum member, Councillor Brian Meaney, is “shocked” with its closure and has requested the HSE to allocate whatever resources are necessary to fast track the re-opening of this unit. Councillor Meaney stressed this rehab unit provided a vital recovery …