REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON HER VISIT TO OUR LADY’S HOSPICE, HAROLD’S CROSS, DUBLIN
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON HER VISIT TO OUR LADY’S HOSPICE, HAROLD’S CROSS, DUBLIN FRIDAY, 26TH NOVEMBER, 1999
Tá áthas an domhain orm bheith anseo libh inniu agus tá mé buíoch díbh as an chuireadh agus as fáilte fíorchaoin a chur sibh romham.
I am delighted to have this opportunity to be with you all today in Our Lady’s Hospice, a name that is a byword throughout Ireland for the spirit of caring and compassion which inspired the founder of the Sisters of Charity, Mary Aitkenhead, almost two hundred years ago to care for the poor and suffering of her era. Today, her spirit lives on in this Hospice, in the warm atmosphere of love and dedication experienced by all who have entered here over the past hundred years and more. I would like to express my warm thanks to Sr Muriel and to all of the staff here for their very kind invitation.
Around 1,500 people every year benefit from the services offered by this Hospice, ranging from extended care to rheumatology rehabilitation to palliative care. Yet more important than any statistic is the way in which you have provided those services, by realising the integrity of your vision of treating people with respect, dignity and compassion. At a time when our health services are becoming increasingly high-tech, with medical marvels and treatments constantly emerging, it is important that the focus of medical care remains firmly on the individual human being, an individual with social, spiritual and psychological needs as well as medical requirements. Wherever there is a person, there is a person in need of reassurance, of a kind look, of a consoling word, of respect and equitable treatment, of being made to feel that his or her needs, worries and concerns matter. These are things that no money can buy, no computer can generate, no technology can replace. They start in the human heart and are fostered in the lives of people like Mary Aitkenhead, in the lives of the Sisters and staff who have worked here down through the years, in all of you who continue to uphold that proud legacy today.
That ethos is evident in all of your services, in the extended care facilities for individuals with diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, right through to the care of people with rheumatic diseases. But it is especially crucial in the case of palliative care. So often in the past, the dying person lost all sense of control over his or her life, and his or her dying. So often they and their families were left to cope alone with their fears, isolated by a world which, despite the inevitability of death for us all, could not cope – did not wish to cope – with the imminence of death. What this hospice has shown is that human dignity need not and should not diminish with the approach of death, nor does the dying person’s days need to be lived as if death had already occurred, as if each day was a day only of mourning and sorrow.
That is what you have achieved here through your day care programme and activities, which enable both in-patients and those who are cared for at home, to meet and socialise with each other, to extend their horizons and widen their social circle. It gives them fresh new stories to tell, the excitement of getting something new out of each day. That is often just as important as the medical treatment they receive.
Wherever there is a patient, there is also a carer, a family, a set of friends, all of whom are also touched by the illness. One of the great strengths of Our Lady’s has always been the way in which you have included those individuals, recognising their concerns, their need to be involved, but enabling them also to have a much-needed break from time-to-time, to recharge their batteries and regain the energy needed to carry on. We need our carers to be healthy and strong, physically, emotionally, spiritually. And when full-time care is needed, they know that their loved one is in the best possible hands. The continued involvement of carers and families at this time is part of the holistic approach to care of the dying, for all are drawn into this circle of being with death. We don’t want it to be a circle of dread, a place which overwhelms them, but a circle in which they feel supported, encouraged and confident. That is what Our Lady’s Hospice gives them.
I know that the tremendous work done by the staff here would not be possible without the exceptional level of voluntary support you receive, especially in terms of raising much needed funds. The high regard in which the Hospice is held by the people of Ireland is evident in the generosity with which they have supported it down through the years. From coffee mornings to mini-marathons, the evidence is out there, answering those who wonder out loud if we are becoming more selfish as a society. The facts here speak for themselves – of a people who care and keep on caring.
I know that Our Lady’s Hospice has further ambitious plans in the pipeline to further improve the range of services you provide. I wish you every success with that, and I know that the vision which has inspired all who work and come into contact with the Hospice, will remain as vibrant and vital as ever in the years to come.
Is iontach an obair atá ar siúl agaibh anseo. Guím rath agus séan oraibh sa todhchaí.