Pádraig was good today. He was back in the wheelchair. He was back out on the roof terrace. He is back eating. But not just once. Twice. And this was just the first day of it. We’ll do that for some time. In no time, no time at all, he’ll be eating his three meals a day. Really.
No doubt about it.
Did you listen to the news today? Did you hear anything new? Let me guess.
Nothing, really.
And that is the really sad news.
Over the past few days, the Irish media were packed with news, comments, and statements from officials and politicians and journalists with appeals to the Taoiseach, our Irish prime minister, to “make this the best little country in the world for people with disabilities“, as Sara Burke did in The Independent last Thursday.
The papers and some commentators are having a go at Taoiseach Enda Kenny because they focus on a remark he made in the 2011 election campaign when he, as quoted by the Irish Times, asserted “to be making Ireland the best small country in the world in which to do business may not be total nonsense after all”. Recently, the Irish Times conceded that Enda Kenny is doing well delivering on his promise – “If you’re a multinational that is.”
They don’t really do Enda Kenny justice, because what he is saying and what he repeated in a speech at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner on 9th October 2014 in the Dublin Convention Centre is:
“It’s not just about the pay-cheque; it’s about their sense of worth, their place in the world, their contribution to their family, community and country.
This has been the goal from day one of Government: to be the best small country in the world for business, to raise a family and to grow old with dignity.”
The pity is, that, overall, he is focussing on the multinationals, as rightly observed by the Irish Times.
Here is what makes me really mad: EVERYBODY KNOWS!
There was another Prime Time report some months ago about not the first, but the 5th case baby death at Portlaoise Hospital. It revealed that the parents of the baby worked day and night to find out what had happened. They assembled all the details they could find and sent them to the Health Authorities to make them aware that something had gone terribly wrong in that hospital – only to find out, eventually and after months of hard work into the early hours of the morning, that the hospital, the people working there, and the health authorities had known what had gone wrong all along.
EVERYBODY KNEW, except the people most concerned, but everybody that could have done something about it. There were new recommendations and new guidelines.
This morning, I heard on the news that the staff of the ICU in Beaumont Hospital is planning to go on strike because they feel that the conditions there are unsafe.
How on earth can politicians and the people responsible talk about investigations, commissions of enquiry, and pretend to be surprised and shocked to hear about what is happening?
They know. EVERYBODY KNOWS.
Really.
This is the best country in the world to find help and support when you most need it – from your family and friends. Now, lets ask the government to join us. Today, it’s their choice. Tomorrow, it’ll be ours.
Really.
Hospi-Tales 
Hi Reinhard.
I read your post (beautifully and concisely written as usual) with a heavy heart. When I worked as a physiotherapist we were told that our fundamental was ‘do no harm’ – the hippocratic oath (although apparently this isn’t in the oath http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath) . We (my class of physios) never took an oath and it appears that doctors and anyone else working in health care in Ireland (and I include cleaners, shopkeepers etc in this) aren’t required to take an oath.
And maybe that’s where it all (the revolution in caring – An Saol is part of the revolution) has to start – in the basis of a oath to care, do no harm, take responsibility etc etc. People who take oaths take it seriously – why else would many of the marriages that last so long, last so long?!! ‘for better and worse’ etc
Perhaps this is where the new beginnings are in Ireland – maybe this is where your concise, poetic language can come into play – the drafting of an Irish oath to care for its people, to do no harm, to care at all costs, to give to those who are disadvantaged above ourselves. And upon entering into the health-care professions or enviornment each person has to take the oath and if the oath is broken the person has to face the consequences – whatever they may be – mainly to be placed away from where they can do harm.
Something like this. I hope I am not burdening you with this.
Le meas
Colm
PS – tell Pádraig I said hello and also that we have a new album that I will send once we get the copies in the door. And the gig we are doing ‘near Hamburg’ is near Flensburg and a good 2 1/2 hours outside of Hamburg and perhaps a bit adventurous for Pádraig at this stage.
There are a couple of great ideas in your comment, Colm! I like the one about a revolution in health care. Really, who needs another enquiry? Or another apology? Things need to change. And whoever works in healthcare should take an oath and commit themselves to a code of practice. And An Saol will be a great place to demonstrate how that works. No burden, but a great idea to work on!
Flensburg is a lovely city, but it will probably be a bit too far away for Pádraig to be there, as you say. Will you be arriving in / departing from Hamburg? Could you remind me of the date? Tried to look it up on the web but couldn’t find it…
Le meas,
Reinhard
This is an interesting article on the existing oath – but it speaks only of doctors and not the ‘average’ health care professional. C
So glad to read that Pádraig is doing so well – pass on a hug from his Rúnaí!!
Colm’s message is interesting – whatever about a Hippocratic Oath, where does ‘humanity’ and ‘care’ enter our horrendous health system (without even starting on basic cleanliness)?
And you are right, Reinhard – friends and family manage to move mountains, but should they have to? In an ideal world, I believe that the systems should be in place to deal with all eventualities, and to support friends and families of patients, instead of adding to their distress and emotional instability at a time of enormous challenges.
A programme aired last Tuesday night – Prime Time Investigates – and showed us shocking and deplorable lack of respect, no care and down-right brutality to patients in Aras Attracta in Swinford, Co. Mayo – how many more like these are around our country?
If ever ‘An Saol’ was needed is NOW!
Heard Dreamboat on Céilí House on Radio 1 – I have copies for sale in Coláiste Eoin!
Grá agus barrógaí,
Siobhán x
Passed on the big hug, Siobhán:)
I think, Siobhán, that the only way to affect change is to show that there is another way of doing things. There are so many people, and not just patients and their relatives, but also those working in this ‘broken system’ (to quote Enda), who really, really want to do things better, with humanity and providing the proper care, that it might just take a spark like An Saol to get rid of the old and build something new.
You are absolutely and completely right: what on earth are they talking about tax cuts, buying people’s votes for the next (upcoming?) selections, when the most vulnerable people in our society are neglected, injured, and some of them dying in care and in hospitals when they should be looked after in the best possible way?
Grá agus barrógaí,
Reinhard
Mo leithscéal – I forgot the link to the article.
http://www.medicalindependent.ie/39580/with_promises_to_keep
The date is 23rd January.
We would be arriving into Hamburg in the afternoon and driving straight to the venue – apparently it is an old farm house or something like that and apparently, again, it is an important gig strategically as the person running the gig is an important part of the German ‘folk mafia’!!!
I will send you the details as soon as I have them.
Come on the revolution!!!!
C
I’ll note the date, Colm! Would be nice to meet. – We’ll keep going!!!!
Reading all this along (sorry for not haven’t read it earlier) It remainds me so much about the situation in Spain. I just wanted to point out that Spanish and Irish people are very helpful and familie concerned but : What happens to those that have no familie? That is also another thing that makes it so important that the Governement makes a serious change in helping people.
Can you imagine the injustice, Ana, that one of the biggest Irish hospitals, Beaumont, where Pádraig was, had to close down a day or two ago, because it did not have the resources to cope, when the Government is talking about lowering personal tax, and not charging hardly any tax at all to multinational companies? My Turkish-born German-raised barber in Dublin told me some years ago that he and his friends would not call an ambulance in an emergency but a taxi to the airport. At the time, we both laughed our heads off and thought it was really funny. Just a week or two ago, The Irish Times published a story about Pádraig in a section called “generation emigration” as if Pádraig had been emigrated…