Michael O'Sullivan and Theresa O’Sullivan
Tuberculosis
Michael and Theresa are husband and wife and live on Fairhill on the north side of Cork city. Michael is 87 years old and Theresa is 85 years old. In this interview they both talk about their experiences of TB in Cork during the 1940s and the 1950s. In particular Michael talks about 3 siblings that contracted TB and spent time in sanatoriums. His brother spent 4 years at Heatherside Sanatorium in north Cork before being transferred to St. Finbarr’s hospital for a further 3 years. Two of Michael’s sisters spent between 2-4 years at Sarsfield Court sanatorium. Michael talks about visiting his sisters but not his brother because of distance and lack of transport. To this end he did not see his brother for 7 years. Michael talks about the emotions experienced when his brother came home. Michael talks about visiting his sister at Sarsfield sanatorium on his wedding day with his wife and talks about the car breaking down en route. Michael also talks about learning that he had TB when a chest x-ray in circa 2018 revealed scarring on his lungs reminiscent of TB. Theresa talks about her cousin Elsie who spent time in Mount Desert Sanatorium. Theresa talks about how Elsie would help to lay out the dead in the mortuary. Theresa also talks about the many young girls that died of TB at the sanatorium. During the interview the girls are referred to as country girls which Theresa explains was a term used to describe the daughters of farmers. Theresa talks about the girls catching TB from cattle on the farm. Theresa also talks about a friend called John who spent time at Sarsfields Court sanatorium with TB. When John was released home he was never able to work again due to a weak chest as a result of recurring chest infections. Michael and Theresa discuss family, community and societal attitudes towards TB. They talk about what people were told about TB and how they believed TB was transmitted. They talk about visiting the sanatoriums and the lack of social restrictions that they observed there. They talk about how fresh air was considered a treatment for TB and how the patients spent a lot of time outdoors. Michael and Theresa talk about the popularity of smoking and describe how some would find relief from breathing difficulties through smoking. Michael and Theresa conclude their interview with a discussion on the current Covid 19 pandemic and discuss the differences and similarities with the TB pandemic of the 1940s and the 1950s.
Cork Folklore Project
Cork Folklore Project
Cork Folklore Project
22.03.2021
Cork Folklore Project
Cork Folklore Project
wav
English
CFP_SR00795_Osullivan_2021
Edith O'Regan: Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
Ireland; Cork; Youghal; Middle Parish; The Marsh; Grattan Street; Occupational Lore;
<p>Edith grew up in Youghal where she recalls playing childhood games including Red Rover, chainey, a makeshift tennis and sandcastles on the beach.</p>
<p>Describes attending school in cold substandard buildings. Preferred self-directed learning to rote memorizing. Her love of nature and science was evident early and evolved into her passion to follow medicine as a vocation and career, despite the opposition of her parents and GP who feared it would be a hard life especially for a woman.</p>
<p>Reflects on the deficiencies of medical training in University College Cork, especially the deliberate use of fear and humiliation in teaching which has left a negative mark on her and other colleagues. Suggests that the need to imprint so much information through humiliation is no longer necessary due to improvements in technology.</p>
<p>Outlines her career path through various roles, experiences and responsibilities including working in Accident and Emergency and time in New Zealand. </p>
<p>Discusses her impressions of Grattan Street Medical Centre both as a physical building with leaks and in disrepair and as a unique workplace with a community of multiple disciplines which function well together.</p>
<p>Speaks about her current work as an Area Medical Officer, the kind of patients she sees and typical issues that arise including developmental checks on babies and following up with parents.</p>
<p>Reflects on attitudes towards medicine and the HSE especially among parents, and how as a doctor she has to deal with this in order to achieve best outcomes for child patients.</p>
<p>Outlines the problems with Grattan Street staff car parking and the issues it cause.</p>
<p>Talks about the outlines of the history she has gleaned about Grattan Street Medical Centre Building as a Quaker Meeting House and as a public dispensary.</p>
<p>Speaks of the marriage registry office which is part of the Grattan Street building, where weddings happen during her work day creating a strange but joyous contrast.</p>
<p>Discusses the amount of paperwork and documentation required for all the work in Grattan Street that remains from past decades which fascinates her.</p>
<p>Reflects on her hopes and the possible futures for the Grattan Street Medical Centre building, and the fate of services that will move to St. Mary’s Primary Care Centre in Gurranabraher. Compares the two locations and emphasizes the importance of a good workplace culture within a building. Talks about possible patient attitudes to the new building. Hopes it will have a communal staff canteen.</p>
<p>Outlines the importance of administration staff in contributing to positive experiences for patients and facilitating the efficient work clinical staff.</p>
<p>Reflects on the difficulties of a medical career including 90 hour weeks, missing out on parties and travelling, and having to tell mothers that their babies have died.</p>
Cork Folklore Project
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
7 February 2019
Cork Folklore Project
<strong>Other Interviews in this Collection</strong><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/242" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00704_Collins_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/243" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00706_Higgisson_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/244" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00712_O'Brien_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/245" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00713_Kearney_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/246" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00714_Cunning_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/247" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00717_Ward_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/248" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00727_OhUigin_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/249" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00728_Scanlan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/250" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00729_Mulcahy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/251" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00732_Cassidy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00760_Morrissy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/253" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> CFP_SR00762_OConnell_2019</a>;
1 .wav file
English
Sound
CFP_SF00696_O'Regan_2019
Cork, Youghal, Ireland, 1970s-2010s
Derek O'Connell: Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
<span>Ireland; Cork; Middle Parish; The Marsh; Occupational Lore; Medicine; Family; University;</span>
<p><span>Originally from Winter’s Hill, Derek describes his home and family: siblings, grandmother, his GP mother and his father who worked in insurance. He outlines his mother’s tasks and equipment as a GP. </span></p>
<p><span>He describes his routine on school days, attending St Aloysius school and awareness of tenement houses en route. All the family except his father who was traveling returned for a big meal at lunch time prepared by a local woman who worked for them. Always ate fish on Friday. Recalls respectability being very important.</span></p>
<p><span>He recalls the Haggart or “Haggy Field” at the bottom of Wyses Hill where “ponnies” or chamber pots were emptied.</span></p>
<p><span>He remembers family adversities: death of his mother, father’s heart attack and his brother’s autism.</span></p>
<p><span>He outlines more of his family history: paternal grandfather involved in construction of Fitzgerald’s park and the 1902 Cork Exhibition, maternal grandfather Cronin was a cattle dealer, Cronin’s Field at the top of Cathedral Road may be named after him.</span></p>
<p><span>He mentions pawn shops and how the family christening cups would “go missing” and be located in the local pawn. Also recalls a “shawlie” asking him to fill her a jug of porter from a bar as she did not want to be seen going inside herself.</span></p>
<p><span>He describes his Christian Brothers secondary school, the violence of corporal punishment, the teachers and cycling to and from school. Discusses the emphasis on rugby at the school, the elitism of this and the uniform. Reflects how in retrospect the school failed to address personal or emotional problems the pupils had. Mentions the one-day-a-week school nearby. Describes the Eglinton Baths.</span></p>
<p><span>Talks about studying for the Leaving Cert at Holy Trinity College with “Doc Payne” before attending UCC. Recalls studying and socialising at university before outlining his further medical training, specific cases in hospitals (North Infirmary, </span>CUH (Cork University Hospital)<span> and St. Finbarr’s) and ultimate career trajectory towards becoming a GP.</span></p>
<p><span>Reflects on improvements in medical care including vaccines, nutrition, public health and improving survival rates for many diseases. Remembers delivering his first baby and reviving a child who died from cardiac arrest. </span></p>
<p><span>Describes ultimately working on Grand Parade as a GP in the surgery of Dr Michael Cagney who had fought in the Spanish Civil War. </span></p>
<p><span>Discusses making house calls in “The Marsh” area, and the treatment of psychiatric problems.</span></p>
<p><span>Finally, Derek reflects on his career, the sense of guilt and hypervigilance instilled in his medical training, and how mistakes are made when not following your intuition. </span></p>
Cork Folklore Project
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
11 December 2019
Cork Folklore Project
<strong>Other Interviews in this Collection </strong><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/240" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00696_O'Regan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/242" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00704_Collins_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/243" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00706_Higgisson_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/244" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00712_O'Brien_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/245" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00713_Kearney_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/246" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00714_Cunning_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/247" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00717_Ward_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/248" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00727_OhUigin_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/249" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00728_Scanlan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/250" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00729_Mulcahy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/251" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00732_Cassidy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00760_Morrissy_2019</a>;
1 .wav file
English
Sound
CFP_SR00762_OConnell_2019;
<span>Cork, Ireland, 1970s-2010s</span>
Joe Scanlan: Grattan Street, Healthcare, The Marsh
<p><span>Joe recalls the dispensary on Grattan Street, its waiting room and the names of the doctors who worked there. He describes in detail his visit there to get a vaccination as a child. Discusses medical treatments administered at home by his mother including those for fleas and head lice. </span></p>
<p><span>Recalls as a teenager being told by a doctor who was smoking to give up smoking. Comments on how widespread smoking was at the time. Humorous story about asking a Garda for a cigarette. </span></p>
<p><span>Story of Cork character ‘Kick the Bucket’, a young man who was convinced he was going to die very soon but lived to be 81.</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks of playing on the streets of The Marsh and The Middle Parish as a child and how they would go to the Mercy Hospital if they were injured playing football. Describes rival groups of boys from Grattan Street and the Coal Quay having fruit throwing fights. </span></p>
<p><span>Describes how as a child he used a skull from a tomb in St Peter’s Cemetery to use as a Jack O Lantern. Returns to the topic of underage smoking and acquiring cigarettes from adults. </span></p>
<p><span>Explains a form of recycling where he collected empty glass bottles to return to a shop in exchange for money. He used the money for cigarettes and matches or to pay for a cinema ticket. Recalls Dermot’s Cake shop on Adelaide Street.</span></p>
<p><span>Talks about his passion for fishing, avoiding the bailiff and selling his fish catch to local fish and chip shops. Tells of his fishing rob being confiscated by the bailiff and retrieving it. </span></p>
<p><span>Mentions children taking sweets from a shop on Sheares Street without paying for them. </span></p>
<p><span>Discusses income inequality and buying clothes on the Coal Quay. Explains how he made floats for fishing from wine bottle corks made by his dad’s friend for Woodford Bourne’s on Sheares Street.</span></p>
<p><span>Reflects on crime and safety in the city centre and tells the story of a house being burgled where the owner shouted out that he had nothing worth stealing.</span></p>
<p><span>Outlines some long standing Grattan Street residents’ concerns about their neighbourhood today including students, student parties, students drinking on the street, cark parks, bus routes, student accommodation, Edel House, increased traffic, methodone clinics, community Gardaí and the HSE’s use of buildings in the city centre.</span></p>
<p><span>Remembers Shawlies on the Coal Quay, including his own grandmother. Describes the products sold there and farmers bringing vegetables with dirt on them by horse and cart. Mentions Ryan’s Pub on North Main Street and how the farmers might frequent it.</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks of the simple food and meals he ate, and how his shoes were pawned but bought back in time to wear for mass.</span></p>
<p><span>Recalls the violence and fear of St Joseph’s School and wanting to leave to go fishing. Speaks of his preference for St. Francis School where he was not beaten and learned a lot. Outlines getting food and cocoa in the morning at school. Tells the story of a father confronting a Presentation Brother for an excessive beating to his son. </span></p>
<p><span>Talks about food and his mother making bread and mentions other foods and treats from his grandmother.</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks about fatal diseases in the past including mumps. To receive medication in the dispensary you had to bring your own empty bottle. </span></p>
<p><span>Speaks about the work of the Middle Parish Community Centre especially in relation to addiction. This prompts Joe to speak of his own story of dealing with his alcohol addiction, the risks alcohol posed to his health, liver disease, his desire to see his grandchildren grow up and his happiness now he has successfully remained sober for many years.</span></p>
<p><span>Mentions the Barrett family who lived in the dispensary building.</span></p>
Cork Folklore Project
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
25 July 2019
Cork Folklore Project
<strong>Other Interviews in this Collection </strong><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/240" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00696_O'Regan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/242" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00704_Collins_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/243" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00706_Higgisson_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/244" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00712_O'Brien_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/245" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00713_Kearney_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/246" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00714_Cunning_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/247" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00717_Ward_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/248" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00727_OhUigin_2019</a>;<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/250" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00729_Mulcahy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/251" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00732_Cassidy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00760_Morrissy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/253" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> CFP_SR00762_OConnell_2019</a>;
Audio
English
Sound
CFP_SR00728_Scanlan_2019;
Imelda Cunning: Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
<p><span>Imelda grew up in Bathgate between Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland. Her mother was from Cork so Imelda spent time in Whitegate in her youth where she enjoyed the relative freedom she had there playing children’s games and spending time on beaches like Corkbeg and Inch.</span></p>
<p><span>Describes her Cork grandmother Eileen O’Reilly née Ahern who always saw the funny side of things. She was a milliner and dressmaker and took in lodgers, usually meteorologists working at Roches Point. She also claimed to have heard the banshee the night before her husband died. </span></p>
<p><span>Speaks of her humorous grand-aunt who lived in Greenmount and describes her home including the sideboard and salt dish. “Drinking her tears” was one of her sayings.</span></p>
<p><span>Imelda refers to her schooldays in Scotland including corporal punishment administered by nuns. Her school had a mine beneath it to train the boys to work in mines when they were older. Was not sure of her career when she was in school but she came from a medical family. Her father chose their school subjects with a view to them acquiring vocational jobs rather than corporate jobs where they could be fired.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses her father’s optician practice and how she and her family worked with him there writing prescriptions and repairing glasses. </span></p>
<p><span>Speaks about moving to Glasgow for college, finding the people friendly and accidently living in an alcohol-free part of the city. Enjoyed the college ski club.</span></p>
<p><span>Describes her podiatry clinical experience in Scotland. Explains that podiatry requires dexterity. Podiatrists work on a range of issues including biomechanics, diabetes, gangrene, neurovascular disease, wound care, ulcer prevention and more. Mentions the Irish Medicines Board regulatory issues surrounding podiatry nail surgery in Ireland at the time of interview.</span></p>
<p><span>Explains that the typical podiatry patient in the Grattan Street Medical Centre is usually high risk. States that podiatry services need to be expanded so they deal with more moderate risk patients in order to catch early problems and thus prevent them becoming serious issues.</span></p>
<p><span>Says that her first reaction to the Grattan Street building in 1999 was that it was like Colditz prison because of the bars on the windows. Explains that she does not share other staff’s love of the Grattan Street Building because of this and further criticises the leaky roof, holes in the walls, dirtiness of the canteen, and its general unsuitability as a clinical environment. Imelda encourages patients to complain about the conditions in the building but they don’t wish too as they are satisfied with the service. She has had positive experiences with other staff in spite of the building not because of it. She will miss the people not the building.</span></p>
<p><span>Mentions a patient’s negative opinion of refugees arriving in Ireland in the past, but says that it’s no longer a common opinion.</span></p>
<p><span>Expresses positivity in relation to the move to St. Mary’s Primary Care Centre Gurranbraher. Hopes that the services can be expanding and the workplace will be greatly improved including storage space, a computer system, space for filing cabinets.</span></p>
<p><span>Remembers that her older patients spoke of the dispensary in Grattan Street where they received free medicines and doctors’ appointments. </span></p>
<p><span>Expresses surprise that someone would want to get married in the Grattan Street marriage registry office as she does not like the building.</span></p>
<p><span>Mentions that podiatry work requires you to adapt to people and situations and also negatively affects your back. Speaks of patients telling her things in confidence that go beyond podiatry and her attempts to assist them such as encouraging them to contact counselling services due to sexual abuse and bereavement.</span></p>
<p><span>Recalls some incidents during flooding events while at work.</span></p>
<p><span>Describes how she saw many cases of rickets in Glasgow but none in Cork, while Cork had a higher rate of patients with long-term effects from polio, including the need for shoe adaptations or splints.</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks about vaccines and how to encourage people to take them. Suggests that the success of vaccines in suppressing diseases has meant that many parents haven’t seen any cases of these diseases and thus do not appreciate the risks they pose.</span></p>
Cork Folklore Project
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
7 May 2019
Cork Folklore Project
<strong>Other Interviews in this Collection </strong><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/240" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00696_O'Regan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/242" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00704_Collins_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/243" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00706_Higgisson_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/244" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00712_O'Brien_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/245" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00713_Kearney_2019</a>;<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/247" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00717_Ward_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/248" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00727_OhUigin_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/249" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00728_Scanlan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/250" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00729_Mulcahy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/251" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00732_Cassidy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00760_Morrissy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/253" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> CFP_SR00762_OConnell_2019</a>;
3 .wav files
English
Sound
CFP_SR00714_Cunning_2019;