REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE CHILDREN’S HAEMATOLOGY AND ONCOLOGY DAY UNIT
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE CHILDREN’S HAEMATOLOGY AND ONCOLOGY DAY UNIT OUR LADY’S HOSPITAL
I am delighted to be here with you this afternoon to open the new Paediatric Haematology and Oncology Day Unit. It is always an honour to be asked to participate in the start of something new, but in this case, in particular where the care and wellbeing of so many young children are involved, it is a profoundly moving experience. I would like to thank Mr. Michael Lyons, former Chief Executive Officer for his kind invitation and to welcome your new Chief Executive Officer, Mr Lorcan Birthistle. I wish him well in this new, important role.
The good news is that childhood cancer is relatively rare compared to later life, but that is no comfort to the one hundred or so children who will be diagnosed with cancer this year or the twenty families who will face the loss of their precious sons or daughters because of it. There is a trail of misery associated with childhood cancer, a grief of biblical proportions - Rachael weeping for her children.
And it is in that very difficult space that you put yourselves: comforting and caring, healing and hoping. Because of your commitment to this special vocation we have more treatment options, higher survival rates, more return to normal life than ever before, more of the miracles that parents and children pray for and long for.
Today the story takes another encouraging step with the opening of this unit- the result of a mammoth undertaking begun back in 2002. The establishment of the National Paediatric Oncology Centre here at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children has been the single biggest development in child healthcare for some years. It is an achievement to be proud of and whatever your role, big or small, it is a credit to the formidable partnership which delivered it. The Department of Health & Children, the HSE, Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, the National Children’s Hospital, Tallaght and St. James’s Hospital all deserve recognition, thanks and congratulations for what they have achieved within this relatively short space of time.
The care of children is a sacred trust, and the care of sick children even more so. It is a trust you take very seriously and here the patient is at the very core of all you do. Everything that happens here has been thought through with a sensitivity to the child patient and his family, a desire to share the burden, to make it as light as possible from the smallest practicalities to the serious business of treatment.
Those who come here will get the very best of professional care and that will give them huge relief. They will meet staff who are interested in them, welcoming and reassuring and that will give them huge comfort.
They will come to a place which is physically pleasant and attractive. They will enter a system that is smart and efficient - designed to ensure that their time is not wasted in unnecessary travel. They will be part of a community of care that embraces the needs of families, friends and carers as well as patients and professionals.
You know better than anyone just how overwhelming the emotional and psychological aspects of cancer and cancer treatment can be. These you have to deal with along with the physical aspects. You have met children of the most daunting courage who have taught you a thing or two about human endurance and acceptance. You have met children whose trust in you is absolute and unquestioning and you have met youngsters whose anger and fear you have had to absorb with patience and compassion. You have helped to sustain life for many children and for some, nursed them to a careful, pain-free death.
Thanks to your dedication and professionalism Ireland’s survival rates are on a par with Europe and the US and we have seen a welcome long-term decrease in mortality rates. These things do not happen by coincidence but by commitment and we owe considerable thanks to Professor Owen Smith and his team for the way in which they put their skill and expertise at the service of our sick children. A special congratulations to Dr. Fin Breatnach who has recently retired, and I would like to add my own thanks to those of the many children and their families he has helped in his life’s work for children diagnosed with cancer. I wish him a happy and healthy retirement.
To those who will lead and drive the work of this Unit, making it a leader in its field and a place of first-class expertise, I wish each of you great fulfilment and success. To those who come here fearful and in dread I wish you the comfort and confidence of knowing you are in the finest hands and in the best place, a place of real hope.
On behalf of the patients and families who will pass through these doors in the coming years, I thank the management and staff here at Our Lady’s for the preparations you have already made to ensure that here they will find world-class care and support.