.Kerry man, John Garvey (left) and daughter Claire O’Shea (third from left) present a cheque for €10,628 to Bernie O’Halloran, CUH Charity and Damian McGovern, Business Manager, CUH, to enhance patient care for Cancer, Neurology, and Cystic Fibrosis Services at Cork University Hospital.
KERRY man John Garvey and his family have raised €126,726 for Cork University Hospital (CUH) over the past 12 years, in gratitude to the hospital for the treatment of a family member.
This week, Mr. Garvey, from Foilmore near Cahersiveen, and his daughter Clare Garvey, presented his latest donation of €10,628 to representatives from the hospital and CUH Charity. This recent contribution will be divided among the Cancer, Neurology, and Cystic Fibrosis Services at the hospital and used to enhance patient care by allowing for upgrades to ward facilities across these Units.
For over a decade, Mr. Garvey and his family have organised and hosted an annual benefit dance in aid of CUH. The event took place recently at the Ring of Kerry Hotel in Cahersiveen, on Nollaig na mBan on January 6, with music and entertainment by Noreen Ash. Each year, through the generosity of the hotel’s proprietors, the venue is provided free of charge.
At the presentation of this year’s cheque from the Garvey family, Damian McGovern, Business Manager at CUH, thanked their continued efforts in aid of the hospital, “Because of the huge generosity of the Garvey family, Cork University Hospital has been able to make significant improvements to facilities that continue to change the lives of our patients for the better.”
Cork University Hospital is the biggest and one of the busiest hospitals in the country, covering Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, Clare and Kilkenny, with an ever growing population needing services at the hospital. CUH Charity was established in early 2012 with the mission of fundraising to provide vital equipment and services for patients attending Cork University Hospital.
For further information on how people, businesses or schools can support the CUH Charity please contact info@cuhcharity.ie or phone on 021 4234529. For further information go to www.cuhcharity.ie, or join the conversation on Facbook.com/Cork University Hospital Charity or @cuhcharity on Twitter.
.Siobhan O’Brien, has started a petition for a bypass of Macroom. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
A TRALEE woman has decided to start a petition pushing for a bypass of Macroom which she hopes to present to the Minister for Transport.
Siobhan O’Brien, from Alderwood Road, has been making trips with an ill relative three times a week to Cork University Hospital for treatment. The journey has become arduous for her and concerning for the health of her ill passenger.
“If we don’t do something about it, no one will think there’s an issue,” said Siobhan O’Brien.
The stretch of road from Ballyvourney to Macroom, with its twists and turns, can be an ordeal for any driver, but when carrying a sick passenger the journey becomes acutely more difficult.
Siobhan, has spent up to 30 minutes stuck in Macroom, with traffic so bad she has been able to switch off the engine and even eat her lunch.
Two or three times a week, Siobhan travels down to CUH, where her relative will continue to need treatment into the future.
“I’m worried for my relative, she is frail and I really don’t want to be sitting in a car in Macroom. The more I’ve been travelling the more I’ve been dealing with this and knowing I will be dealing with this going forward, I wonder what’s happening with this town and why doesn’t Kerry and Cork have a proper link?”
“The two counties need to get together and need to put that in place with proper infrastructure. There is a lot of twists and turns in the road, you turn a corner and there could be a truck coming at you,” she said.
The petition is directed at Minister for Transport, Paschal Donohue, to move the bypass of Macroom up the list of works in the government’s plans.
“I don’t know where a bypass of Macroom is on Mr Donohue’s list of priorities, but it really should move up. I think the Kerry TDs and Cork TDs need to do more about it. I know they support it, but I think it’s time that the people of Kerry made their voice heard,” said Siobhan.
“They are expecting patients, who may not feeling great, to go on these winding roads and stay stuck in traffic jams. If that was happening in Dublin it wouldn’t be tolerated at all.”
“I’ve spent 30 minutes getting from one end of the town to the other, I’ve turned off the engine and sat and had lunch in my car. That’s fine when it’s just me, but when there is someone next to me who needs to get to the doctor and has a deadline for an appointment that could take hours…I’m fearful of what’s in front of me for the next year.”
“CUH is now the centre of excellence for the south-west. That’s all very well and I’m delighted we have the expertise and senior consultants down in Cork, but it’s getting to them that’s the issue. If this is how the Minister for Health wants to see the HSE grow, with all Kerry people seeking specialist care in Cork, that’s fine, but the roads need to be taken into consideration as well.”
“I’ve been on the Minister for Transport’s website and there is a lot of projects being on in Dublin which is his constituency. This is the problem, are we going to need a Minister for Transport to be a Kerry or Cork TD in order for something to be done?”
“I’ve heard about back roads that will bypass Macroom, but when you have an older person with you who is sick, the best option is still to take the best road. I’d love for other people to jump on board and say ‘yeah she’s right, lets do this,” she said.
TraleeToday.ie’s Fergus Dennehy travelled on the Kerry Cork Health Link Bus this week and spoke to people for whom the service is vital for many reasons…
The Kerry Cork Health Link Bus.
MONDAY morning.
It’s 7.45am, the air is cold and the eyes are sleepy as I wait near McDonald’s in Rathass for the arrival of a service that, until recently, I had not known existed.
This service is The Kerry Cancer Support Group’s Kerry Cork Health Link Bus.
The Tralee based bus is a free service that takes those that are suffering from cancer and might not have any other way of getting to their treatment, up to Cork University Hospital (CUH) and back again.
The service is open to anyone that needs to avail of it and operates from Monday to Friday.
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It leaves Tralee and collects the service users in Castlemaine, Fossa, Killorglin, Killarney, Milltown and Glenflesk.
The people at Kerry Cancer Support Group allowed TraleeToday.ie access to the bus to chat to people who use the service about how important it is to them.
Eileen Finn, Mary O’Connor, Mary Foley and Mary O’Sullivan outside the Kerry/Cork Health Link Bus.
Marie Egan, from Tralee, who is currently three weeks into her six week treatment, is the first person that I sit down to talk with about her experience.
“It’s a brilliant service. It provides transport for those who mightn’t have any other way of getting up there every single day,” she said.
She touches on the social aspect of the bus, which, as I talk to more people, I realise is almost the most important aspect that the service is offering.
“You get to meet other people and it’s really a great support. They might be more advanced in their treatment stages and they are always on hand to offer you little tips about this or that. It’s very much a silver lining in a bleak situation,” Marie continued.
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The social side of the service is something that very much stuck with me as I sit and listen to the laughter and what can only be described as ‘banter’ fills the air.
I sit down with Anne Galvin at the front of the bus next after she cheerfully offers me and all the other passengers some chewing gum.
“Mentally, this bus saved me,” said Anne. “I found it very trying at the start. On the bus though, we were all helping each other out and we were all laughing and smiling before we knew it. It was better than any therapy,” Anne says with a smile on her face.
“I look forward to getting the bus in the mornings and meeting up with everybody. Everyone is there to help one another. You’ll always have the highs and the lows, but every time that we land [in CUH], there’s smiles all round. Sure, I still keep in touch with the girls that I’ve been up with. It’d be a massive loss for everybody if it [the bus] was not there anymore.”
We reach CUH as the bus is stopped right outside the doors to the Oncology Unit around 10.30am. Everyone gets off and is given tea and biscuits by those in the voluntary tea bar that is run there.
I take this opportunity to talk to one of the men that has been through it all with his passengers – the bus driver Mike O’Keeffe, who shares the responsibilities with another driver.
“It [driving the bus] has benefits if you’re doing it for at least a week at a time. You get to know the people and build a relationship with them,” he said.
He agrees with me when I say that if a regular passenger succumbs to illness it must be like losing a friend.
On the journey home I reflect on what has been an eye-opening experience in this quiet time. The social aspect and support network that stems from the bus is the thing that has stuck with me.
They all agreed that having someone there that you can to talk about anything or everything helps them to get outside their own heads for a while and forget for a time that they have this ‘disease’.
In that little way alone, ‘The Kerry Cork Health Link Bus’ is a vital resource and one which will be hopefully around into the distant future, thanks to the generosity of the people of Kerry who have donated and fundraised for the service.
For any more information on the service, you can find it on the Kerry Cancer Support Website by clicking here.
John Garvey presenting the cheque of €10,298 to representatives from the hospital and CUH.
KERRY has once again enhanced its image as a very generous county thanks to a south Kerry man.
John Garvey, who is from from Foilmore, near Cahersiveen has certainly done his part for charity after raising over €115,000 for Cork University Hospital (CUH) over the last 11 years in gratitude to the hospital for their treatment of a family member.
This week, Mr. Garvey and his daughter Clare Garvey presented the latest donation, to the amount of €10,298 to representatives from the hospital and CUH Charity.
This huge figure will be divided among the Cancer, Neurology, and Cystic Fibrosis Services at the hospital and used to enhance patient care by allowing for upgrades to ward facilities across these units.
Over the decade or so period of their generous campaign, Mr Garvey and his family have taken it upon themselves to organise an annual benefit dance in aid of the CUH. The latest event took place recently at the Ring of Kerry Hotel in Cahersiveen, with music and entertainment by Ger O’Donoghue.
Each year, through the generosity and goodness of the hotel’s proprietors, the venue is provided free of charge.
At the presentation of this year’s cheque from the Garvey family, Damian McGovern, Business Manager at CUH, thanked Mr. Garvey and his fundraising team for their continued efforts in aid of the hospital.
“Because of the philanthropy of the Garvey family, Cork University Hospital has been able to make significant improvements to facilities that continue to change the lives of our patients for the better.” he said.
Cork University Hospital is the biggest and one of the busiest hospitals in the country, covering Cork, Kerry, Limerick Tipperary, Waterford, Clare and Kilkenny, with an ever growing population needing services at the hospital.
CUH Charity was established in early 2012 with the mission of fundraising to provide vital equipment and services for patients attending Cork University Hospital.
