REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON A VISIT TO ST PATRICK’S HOSPITAL TO OPEN THE NEW DEAN SWIFT
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON A VISIT TO ST PATRICK’S HOSPITAL TO OPEN THE NEW DEAN SWIFT ADMISSIONS WARD
Tá lúcháir mhór orm go bhfuil me ábalta bheith anseo libh inniu, agus ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl daoibh as an failte a bhí caoin, cneasta agus croíuil
I am delighted to be with you today in St Patrick’s for what is a milestone in the history of mental health care, the opening of this new Dean Swift Admissions Ward. I owe thanks to Medical Director, Professor Anthony Clare for his invitation to share this special day with all those who take righteous pride in this place and whose hopes for the future are encapsulated in these state-of-the-art facilities.
When things change significantly for the better it is usually because someone dared to have a vision which energized and drove the mood for change. It was such a mood which drove Dean Swift to leave his entire legacy for the foundation of St. Patrick’s and I have no doubt that the legendary Dean who was notoriously difficult to please would be well pleased to see this gathering in St. Patrick’s today.
Swift believed that vision was the art of ‘seeing things invisible’. His ambition was to create a safe haven to protect and treat psychiatrically ill patients in an environment in which no matter what the prevailing orthodoxy, no matter how revolutionary the equipment or treatment, the patient would be the center, the focus of care.
In St Patrick’s Hospital, the patient is that centre. Through its 250 years of service this hospital has remained true to Swift’s deeply held convictions - availing of improvements in diagnosis and treatment, and championing a positive attitude towards psychiatric illness. Fidelity to that vision has not happened by coincidence but by the commitment of the staff, the board of governors, the patients and friends and all those who make St Patrick’s what it is.
Serious ill health of any kind can be frightening and deeply unsettling both for individuals and their families. Mental ill-health brings all that and much more, for it carries the heavy baggage of centuries of fear and misunderstanding which have skewed attitudes, which indeed you might say have made public attitudes themselves unhealthy.
Few families in Ireland escape some experience of mental illness. And we know just how profoundly it affects sufferer, family, friends, employers, colleagues and neighbours. Thankfully, there have been enormous strides made over the last decade in heightening awareness of mental illness. That terrible stigma with which it was associated, is diminishing as people speak more openly, more intelligently, more advisedly, on a subject that requires still more airing.
Those of us who have ever been in hospital, whether as a patient or concerned relative of a patient, know just how stressful it can be. Absorbed in our own trauma we make serious demands of the medical and nursing professions. We are all aware of the stressful world of medical care, the long hours and many appointments, the pressure of being always seen as the problem–solver, of having to bring to every individual that human face of care and compassion which makes the difference, which determines if the experience of treatment is one filled with fear, or one which builds up hope. Every person is in need of reassurance and respect, of patient listening and a consoling word, of being made to feel that his or her needs, worries and concerns are important and matter. These deeply human needs go right to the heart of mental health care in a special way. These are things that no money can buy, no technology can replace. These are the very qualities that have earned the medical profession and the nursing profession the special place of affection, pride and trust, they hold in the hearts of the Irish people.
Modern psychiatric care is changing and with those changes come pressures on psychiatric hospitals to change in order to cope and remain relevant in the 21st century. Anyone looking at these first -class facilities which will provide an intensive care and acute admissions facility, can only be inspired with great confidence and hope for the future of psychiatric care here. But more than being impressed with what the eye can see, it is hard not to be impressed with those “things invisible” so dear to Swift. The fact that the ward was designed with enormous input from staff, patients and of course, architects, with emphasis placed on light, space and open air, says a lot about the nature of relationships here and the profound respect for the contribution of the many diverse individuals whose lives touch and shape this place.
If Swift was notorious for his savage indignation much of it stemmed from his impatience to see a more caring world and from his anxiety that there would be more hope, more heart for those who suffered from mental ill-health. He knew what it was to doubt his own sanity. He knew what it was to suffer the stigma associated with it. His insight into the struggle associated with mental illness provoked in him a certainty that good health care could hold the key to this mysterious landscape of the mind. It is a fitting tribute to him that as St. Patrick’s makes a statement about the future through this new ward, that it should carry his name and his vision as fresh as ever it was, into a new Millennium.
I would like to congratulate Professor Anthony Clare, Brendan O’Donoghue, CEO, his predecessor, Noel Breslin, Michael Connolly, Chief Nursing Officer and all concerned in the completion of this magnificent project. I hope that you will continue to find personal and professional fulfillment in bringing real hope and comfort, through the best of professional care to our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, neighbours and friends who face the difficult journey of psychiatric illness. Everything about this place tells them that they need not face that journey alone.
Go maire síbh.