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https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/e01a02a5275dadd3db3b51847119a083.jpg
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https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/0aeaf495ae52da29ab69feea7f8683fe.wav
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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<p>Grattan Street Stories: Memory of Place</p>
Subject
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Occupational Lore; Life History; Built Heritage; Health; Ireland; Cork; Middle Parish
Description
An account of the resource
<p>This collection focuses on a building on Grattan Street which has served as a Quaker Meeting House, a public Dispensary and as the Grattan Street Health Centre. The project was a collaboration between the CFP and the Cork North Community Work Department, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, Health Services Executive HSE. </p>
<p>The interviewees fall into two main groups: those who worked in the building and those who lived in the surrounding area and availed of the services provided in the building.</p>
<p>This project follows on from the collaboration with the HSE in the “<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>”. There is a further connection between the two projects as many of the staff and services once provided in the Grattan Street Health Centre have now relocated to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. This topic of the relocation of services is also covered in some staff interviews. <br /><br />To date (October 2021) 13 interviews have been completed for the project.<br /><br />Interviewees discuss the Grattan Street building itself in terms of its historic significance, its benefits and drawbacks as a workplace. Broader themes related to or inspired by the building are also touched on including: personal relationship with the building, staff camaraderie, the problems with parking, memorable incidents at work, patient experiences and descriptions of the people and services for which the building catered.<br /><br />Healthcare professional interviewees detail their training, career progression and comparisons between Grattan Street and other workplaces. Their testimonies also provide a link with the community of patients they served giving further insight into attitudes to healthcare, diseases, vaccines, description of social conditions and the changes in medicine and technology in their working lives.<br /><br />Non-healthcare professional interviewees describe childhood experiences in or around Grattan Street (The Marsh or The Middle Parish), the social, cultural and economic conditions of the area, tenements, businesses, attitudes to and experiences of healthcare, vaccines, diseases, medicines and medical professionals as well as observed changes in these areas over time.<br /><br />Interviewees also reflect on the possible future uses of the Grattan Street building.<br /><br /><strong>Related Reference Sources</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Barrington, R.<em> (</em>1987) <em>Health, medicine and politics in Ireland, 1900–1970</em>. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.</li>
<li><span>Butler D.M. (2004) <em>The Quaker meeting houses of Ireland</em></span>. Dublin : Irish Friends Historical Committee.</li>
<li><span>Byrne, J. (2004) <em>Byrne's dictionary of Irish local history.</em> Cork: Mercier Press.</span></li>
<li>Cooke, R. T. (1999) <em>My Home by the Lee</em>. Irish Millennium Publications: Cork.</li>
<li><span>Dempsey, P. J. & White, L. W. ‘Childers, Erskine Hamilton’. <em>Dictionary of Irish Biography</em> </span>[Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Harrison, R.S. (1991) <em>Cork City Quakers 1655-1939: A Brief History</em>. Cork.</li>
<li>Houston, M. (2004). ‘Life before the GP’. <em>The</em> <em>Irish Times. </em>Available at : <<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599">https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599</a> > [Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Keohane, F. (2020) <em>The Buildings of Ireland Cork City and County</em>. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.</li>
</ul>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-2020
Contributor
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<p>Interviewees: Edith O’Regan, 'Mary', Sean Higgisson, Aoife O’Brien, Eileen Kearney, Imelda Cunning, Jane Ward, Liam Ó hUigín, Joe Scanlan, Mary Mulcahy, Philomena Cassidy, Don Morrissy, Derek O’Connell</p>
<p>Interviewer: <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=2&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Kieran+Murphy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kieran Murphy</a>, (<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a>)</p>
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
<p>Cork, Ireland 1940s-2020s; Waterford, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Limerick, Ireland;</p>
Relation
A related resource
<p><strong>Exhibition</strong></p>
<p>Artist Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave (also an interviewee for the project) created a visual artwork based around the Grattan Street Medical Centre building itself, as a workplace and health centre. The artwork incorporated direct quotations from the oral history interviews conducted for the project, and also included brief historical paragraphs about the building researched, written and edited by the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy. This exhibition was launched on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 in “St Peter’s” on the North Main Street where a “Listening Event” was also held to mark the occasion.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" alt="Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" /><br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"></p>
<p><strong>Presentation and Listening Event</strong></p>
<p>To coincide with the launch of the Grattan Street Stories Exhibtion on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 a listening event and presentation of the history of the Grattan Street Medical Centre building and description of the project was given by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/427A7714-1.jpg" alt="427A7714-1.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Presentation</strong></p>
<p>In 2019 at the OHNI conference the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy discussed social media and oral history which included audio excerpts from the Grattan Street Stories Project along with photographs of the building.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" alt="Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Audio Visual Presentation</strong></p>
<p>An audio-visual slideshow was produced featuring oral testimony from the Grattan Street Stories Project and combined with suitable images of Grattan Street and from Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave’s exhibition. This was created by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnjEtQeOb3I&t=1s&ab_channel=CorkFolklore" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Audio Visual Presentation Available to listen and view here.</a>
<p><strong>Health and Vaccines Oral History Research<br /></strong><br />Many of the interviews conducted for the Grattan Street project formed an integral part of the testimonies and research for the innovative<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">'Catching Stories'<span> </span>of infectious disease in Ireland </a>project funded by the Irish Research Council.<br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" alt="Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Social Media</strong> <br /><br />Numerous suitable audio excerpts from the oral history interviews have been edited and shared on CFP's social media channels.<br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736</a>
<strong>Orthopaedic Hospital</strong><br />Cork Folklore Project in collaboration with the HSE conducted an oral history project focussing on the Orthapaedic Hospital in Gurranabraher. <br /><br /><span>Many of the staff and services once provided at the Grattan Street Health Centre site were moved to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. </span><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>
<strong>Swimming Article</strong><br /><br />Kieran Murphy and James Furey co-authored an article about<br /><a href="https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com/p/swim-city?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Swimming in Cork</a> which appeared in the online magazine Tripe + Drisheen. This article features a number of interview extracts collected as part of the Grattan Street Stories Project.
<strong>Related Interviews<br /><br /></strong>CFP_SR00756_Quilligan_2019;<br />CFP_SR00758_Broderick_2019;<br />CFP_SR00670_OShea_2018;<strong><br /><br /></strong>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Cork Folklore Project
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Language
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English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Audio
Format
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16 .wav Files
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Edith O'Regan
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Kieran Murphy
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
103 Minutes 40 Seconds
Location
The location of the interview
Grattan Street Medical Centre
Original Format
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.wav
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
24bit / 48kHz
Time Summary
A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.00 - 0.00.23</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Intro</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.23- 0.02.04</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Games Played as Child in Youghal</strong></p>
<p>Grew up in Youghal. Children’s games: chasing games, Red Rover, What Time is it Mr Wolf?, Chainy. Elastics game: Long piece of elastic tied into a loop with a person at each end with complex rules about how to jump in and out and over and back. Played tennis: in the tennis club and also “over the gate”. It was the era of John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova and Bjorn Borg. Played a form of football. Made mud pies.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.02.04- 0.02.26</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Describes game Chainy or Chainey in more detail</strong></p>
<p>Still played in her child’s school. One person catches another and they must keep holding hands and keep catching people until they are all holding hands in a long chain. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.02.26- 0.03.06</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Describes Red Rover or Bulldog</strong></p>
<p>She didn’t like Red Rover. Stand in chain and chant “Red Rover, Red Rover, we call over X” Begins with 2 children holding hands and the person who is called over must try to run through their hands and break the link, which Edith says always hurt and as she was “quite small” she was usually the weak link. If someone didn’t break the link they had to join that chain. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.03.06- 0.03.47</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Games on The beach</strong></p>
<p>Not much time in the water/sea because it was too cold. Made sandcastles, sand tunnels, forts, dams to keep the sea out or bring the sea in. These plans never worked and Edith says “you learned about futility as a smallie”.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.03.47- 0.04.38</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Playing Without Adult Supervision</strong></p>
<p>Spent a lot of time quite bored in fields or on bikes. “We’d just head off on the bikes for the day: I don’t really know where we went or why we went.” Only television was RTE 1 and RTE 2- “Poverty 1 and Poverty 2” there was nothing to watch. Call to friend and come back when felt like it. No phones. Improvised ways out of problems. Reasonable amount of time without adult supervision. But there were always watchful adult eyes: “if you were doing something you shouldn’t be doing your parents would usually hear about it.”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.04.38- 0.05.00</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Where not allowed to play</strong></p>
<p>Places not allowed to be on bikes when little: out the front on the main road where cars were quite fast. Not supposed to go on the back fields where there was a bull. (Suggestion in her response is that they may have not always obeyed!)</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.05.00 - 0.05.16</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Home</strong></p>
<p>Mum, dad and sister 3 years older. Mum was primary school principal. Dad worked Monday-Friday 9-5.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.05.16- 0.06.51</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Primary School</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Remembers being cold and very bored. Went to school in “Park” on a crossroads on the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. Where her mum was teacher. 2 teacher outside toilets and no central heating when she started school. There was a stove to heat the classroom very like the school in Muckross Farms. Two “boot rooms” or cloakrooms. Inside toilets eventually installed. Very few students.</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.06.51- 0.09.50</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Secondary School</strong></p>
<p>Went to Loreto in Youghal it was also very cold. Some years were in prefabs. The school was near the lighthouse. When you were bored you could look out to the sea from an old redbrick house which was left to the nuns. It was very exposed to the weather- wind, rain and salt spray from the sea-wall.</p>
<p>Enjoyed maths and science. Lots of repetition in the schoolwork. Would prefer self-directed learning not just learning by rote. For people with other kinds of intelligence it wasted their potential and opportunity. Heuristic learning- learning through play and experience.</p>
<p>She learned how to sew a button, balance a cheque book and pay a bill. Skills for living in the world: how to cook how to clean how to look after your physical health, mental health should be taught.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.09.50- 0.11.19</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Love of Nature and Science leading to Medicine.</strong></p>
<p>Was always interested in nature and biological sciences: “mad about nature”. When 13 or 14 a friend brought a roadkill mink to science class to dissect it. The teacher was a bit squeamish, but Edith said she would do it “no bother”. Remembers “pure awe” at how remarkably perfect the insides were, “how it all fitted, and it all worked”. Had dissected earthworms before. Drifted then to wanting to do medicine. Set her heard on it.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.11.19- 0.14.09</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Medicine as a Vocation, the Determination Required</strong></p>
<p>Mom and dad really didn’t want her to do medicine at all. They called in the local GP to tell her not to do it- which had the opposite effect. She applied for medicine at 16 when she sat her leaving cert for the first time and had to repeat it because she didn’t get enough points.</p>
<p>In some ways in hindsight her parents were probably right. It is a hard life and requires working very hard for a very long time. Edith was a premature baby and was always physically small and thin and her parents were concerned. Her colleague with an Italian grandmother described the need to do medicine as being like a holy fire [Note: “sacro fuoco” maybe?] similar to a vocation but perhaps not spiritual. If you have this fire nothing else will do. She also applied for computer science. If she hadn’t done medicine in college, she thinks she would have gone back to do it later in life.</p>
<p>Local GP told her it’s a very hard life for a woman- which is not the thing to say to a 15-year-old. Thinks the nuns that taught her was feminist in their way as they were ambitious for their students. The GP said that you don’t want to do nightshifts when pregnant or be on call when you have small babies. The cards are very much stacked against you to make it in medicine as a consultant as a woman. Edith says he was right but that you don’t want to hear that at 15.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.14.09- 0.15.17</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Nuns’ Ambition for the girls</strong></p>
<p>Only one in school to do medicine. Many of the students did honours maths. There was competition between the boys’ school and the girls’ school. They’ve now combined. Some schools didn’t offer honours maths or honours science subjects to leaving cert for girls.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.15.17- 0.18.40</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Medical Training in UCC University College Cork</strong></p>
<p>Didn’t love medicine in UCC. Didn’t find the training easy- a culture of throwing people in to it. Students told that most of them would become GPs and that medical students learn themselves they don’t need to be taught. Lectures often had little relevance to what was in the book. Clinical training involved bullying, teaching by fear, humiliation. Consultant was seen as god. Lots of waiting around for people who didn’t turn up. Mental fallout for some of the people in her class. And the system may not have made them better doctors. Saw how students were taught differently overseas. Students were getting sick in the morning with nerves before clinics.</p>
<p>Had friends who weren’t doing medicine. Met her now husband at 19. Always had something outside of medicine to stay grounded. Always liked the clinical work and the patients. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.18.40 - 0.23.40</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Clinical Training</strong></p>
<p>Book learning- through lectures. Clinical placements for students with a particular service for a time follow their team and learn how to take a patient history and examine a patient. Initially must ask about everything when taking patient histories until you know what to look for. Lived in nurses’ home in Limerick for six weeks. Consultant would take you to see an interesting patient to ask you questions. Some were fine but some were set up so that you would definitely fail so that you know that you know nothing and be humiliated.</p>
<p>It was done to everybody no one was singled out.</p>
<p>Describes how the consultant asked students questions.</p>
<p>Thinks that the experience has left a mark on her and otherwise confident colleagues as they sometimes have difficulty answering questions in group settings, or when in a particular tone. Describes it as like being triggered.</p>
<p>Edith didn’t go to one consultant’s clinics because she found she wasn’t learning from him. No one would notice if she wasn’t there. Jokes that she hopes UCC doesn’t as they’ll take away her degree!</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.23.40- 0.25.25</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Why this teaching system was used in UCC</strong></p>
<p>Consultants wanted to imprint the exceptions and rare cases on their minds so they wouldn’t forget. It was basically the Socratic method. They were once told that they weren’t good enough to be medical students. Then not good enough to be the vets in Ballsbridge and lastly that they weren’t good enough to be the medical correspondent in the Irish Times! Sounds funny now but at the time they were devastated. But Edith still remembers the name of the particular type of amputation due to this scene. This system of teaching & learning was designed when people need to remember a lot of information. Now things have changed as “all the information is there” now you need to learn how to use it.</p>
<p>An interesting patient is one which had something which was rare. Edith describes it as something with four legs, a tail and neighs but is a zebra not a horse. </p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.26.05- 0.30.07</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Career Path for medical students</strong></p>
<p>SHO- senior house officer. After qualifying you become an intern. After a first year as an intern you can become an SHO. Then become a Registrar, then a Senior Registrar, Specialist Registrar and eventually a Consultant. SHO could be 2-4 years long. SHOs are the general grunts they do all the hard work.</p>
<p>Edith did 6 months surgery in Mercy Hospital, 6 months of medicine in the South Infirmary Hospital and really enjoyed them. Every thirds week in the Mercy they worked 110 hours. In hindsight they had “ridiculous levels of responsibility”. Then did the 2 year specialist paediatric training scheme in Dublin.</p>
<p>Then did paediatrics in New Zealand, then accident and emergency. Did GP training in New Zealand. Returned to Ireland when her eldest daughter was 1. Worked as GP in Cork. After her twins were born Edith went back to work when they were 8 months old. She worked for Swiftcare for 5 years. Husband stayed at home to mind children and was going to go back to work. She was clinical lead with Swiftcare which included corporate, management and clinical. Looking to reduce her hours and her friend asked if she would be interested in a job in Grattan Street and she started March 2013. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.30.07- 0.33.44</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Enjoyed Accident and Emergency work in New Zealand</strong></p>
<p>Edith says A&E in New Zealand is fabulous. It was real doctoring. The immediacy of it. See lots of different things. Got her clinical confidence- could deal with anything. Security removed anyone who was abusive. There was always enough resources, staff, beds. People weren’t burnt out in the way they are in Ireland. Requires being on call on nights.</p>
<p>Did A&E in the Hutt outside wealthy Wellington CBD Central Business District and Porirua. Deprived areas around the Hutt so there were cases of self-harm, domestic abuse and patients from lower-socioeconomic areas. Gravitated towards those areas, similar in her time in Temple Street. In Cork Edith works mainly in the Northside. The social supports either weren’t there or didn’t work in her experience in Ireland. Children unable to access basic dental care was unheard of in New Zealand where they have better primacy care.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.33.44- 0.36.36</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Early Memory & description of Grattan Street Medical Centre </strong></p>
<p>A woman working downstairs said it was like coming to Colditz [German WW2 Prisoner of War Camp]. Arrived with a friend. Everyone was so nice.</p>
<p>An old Quaker Meeting House. In busy urban areas between a school, busy road, houses, church complex. Hodgepodge! Kind of Victorian road frontage. Older building at the back made of cut stone. Higgledy-piggledy. Different types of signage. There’s a bit of a railing and bit of a ramp. Building kept together with duct tape and bits of binder twine. It’s a bit sad looking. But it has been here a long time and will be here in the future. A building that’s seen use and is embedded in the community. In keeping with Middle Parish. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.36.36- 0.39.02</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Services in</strong> <strong>Grattan Street Medical Centre </strong></p>
<p>Health centre which provides community-based services for people based in Middle Parish, inner-city area, eye clinic provides community eye services for all of the North Lee HSE area- from Blarney to Carrigtwohill. Community podiatry clinic. Community medical doctors: child development clinics and vaccination services for North Lee. Public Health Nurse (PHN) services based in Grattan Street. Home Care Services Unit. Community dental services has moved out. Girls at front desk do European Health Visit Card and stamp forms- eye clinic etc. Community Welfare Officer used to be there as well but they have moved. Vaccination services. Similar but disparate services. Serve different populations within the community.</p>
<p>Community based services are geographically decided rather than by your condition.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.39.02- 0.40.40</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Engagement with a Community Based Service</strong></p>
<p>Hopes that services run in the community for the community get a better engagement rather than traveling to a tertiary centre. More likely to engage with a PHN who you may have been to before than an anonymous person in an anonymous clinic that changes each time you go. Community knowledge of Grattan Street in a way that there isn’t for CUH. Grattan Street doesn’t deal with life and death so expectations are different to a hospital. Physically less distance for people to travel in the community. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.40.40- 0.43.44</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Working in Grattan Street Communal Building</strong></p>
<p>Uses Grattan Street for office-based work. Some clinics in Grattan Street but the demographics have changed and there are fewer babies and young children in the area. Primarily paper-pushing and renewing the connections that you have with the people who work in Grattan Street. Clinics in South Doc so it’s possible for Edith not to meet any other healthcare professionals only patients so Grattan Street is a social hub and important part of the job where information is transmitted in a more informal way not through writing. Importance of feedback. And Grattan Street facilitates that.</p>
<p>Communal building. Can see people walking past and talk to them if you leave your office door open. Facilitates those networks. You will know who is in the building and check in with Celine in the office to see who else is there and what is happening.</p>
<p>AMO- Area Medical Officer now Community Medical Doctors.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.43.44- 0.51.20</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Clinics and Patients in Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Afternoon clinic downstairs in room 4 in Grattan Street. 6-10 patients in an afternoon clinic from 2:30-4pm. Anything referred in by the PHN or the assessment of needs- the disability services, and early intervention- concern with an ongoing developmental delay in child in the community. Checks for vision, head checks, hip checks. Partly routine partly not routine.</p>
<p>Patients tend to be very early or very late. People will turn up 30 minutes early or 15-20 minutes late. Other places people turn up on time or a few minutes late. But with small babies delays happen for parents. Staff has high tolerance for that. Sometimes a mum will come with other children as well, or with a granny or granny will come with the children or there will be a friend or helper there too. Majority of patients come from PHNs. Form from PHN saying who their GP is and why they’re being referred. Always checks their names especially as more and more patients don’t have a typical Irish name. Some of them change mobile numbers often so checking those details is important. Change of address is also a problem. Some come from Edel House a women’s homeless service.</p>
<p>Takes a background history or birth history- where they were born, birth weight, past medical history. Discuss risk factors, examine patients and how to proceed and be very clear with follow up instructions with the parents. We only remember 30% of what we are told.</p>
<p>Usually don’t see patients again- not a follow up, ongoing service, don’t provide therapeutic intervention.</p>
<p>“Good at normal”- this is within the range of what we expect. Much of medicine is about the abnormal.</p>
<p>Most usual medical issues she deals with: Vision checks for squint, hip checks- concern about deformation, head checks. Developmental assessment- concern about autism or global developmental delay or intellectual disability.</p>
<p>Preschools are good at spotting developmental concerns and referring them.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.51.20- 0.54.53</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Attitudes of Parents towards Health & Medicine and HSE</strong></p>
<p>Parents want the best for children and are happy to do the best what it takes. Rare case where parent is in denial about their child’s situation- Edith doesn’t hassle them so as not to sour therapeutic relations down the line. Most people engage unlike adult medicine. Some parents may have complicated or chaotic lives and social workers may need to get involved. Advocate for the child’s best interests and is represented in the family. Even parents with most complicated lives can address the child’s needs.</p>
<p>HSE is different. Expectation of a bad service especially where Grattan Street looks a bit rough and ready, but surprised that they get a good service and Edith is pleasant and doesn’t rush them out. Difficult conversations about telling parents of long waiting lists. Edith cannot speed up assessments. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.54.53- 0.58.43</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Most Unusual Cases come across</strong></p>
<p>Doesn’t like unusual. Should not be seeing anything acute or sinister. A child staring into space could have autism sometimes it could be an absence seizure which needs a difficult treatment. Genetic abnormality which causes a developmental delay. Acute cases usually picked up by the paediatricians. Be careful about not scaring parents. Sometimes parents are reluctant to go to hospital. Acute cases are the ones that you think about when you go home and are not at work.</p>
<p>Acute is something which cannot wait. Less concerned about something which is stable and isn’t going to change eg if someone is fragile X a chromosomal condition which causes developmental delay, commonest cause of intellectual disability- if a patient has this it is not going to go away. But if there’s a child you think has a brain tumour which has given them an acute squint which has come on over 24 hours out of nowhere then you don’t want to wait. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.58.43- 1.01.44</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Dealing with Parents Reluctant to go to Hospital</strong></p>
<p>Most parents want what’s best for child. Sometimes parents can sometimes be preparing to fight to get what they think their child needs, and be adversarial. Can spend much of consultation time to get the parent onside. Have to be careful to not reinforce the idea that the parent thinks they need to push harder to get what they want. Explains that she wouldn’t do for someone else’s child what she wouldn’t do for any of her own. That can be a powerful message for a parent. If that doesn’t convince them then she has to start thinking about social workers: is there child abuse, is the parent drunk or stoned. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.01.44- 1.02.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Why People may be reluctant to go to Hospital</strong></p>
<p>Down to resources: can’t afford taxi, no one to mind children, don’t want to go to CUH Cork University Hospital. Often single mums, mums without social supports, or trying to work and mind children. Physical upheaval is difficult. Logistically and economically difficult for parents. Example from Gurranabraher.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.02.30- 1.04.58</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>What it is like to work in Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Unique. Communal building, sense of community. Even people that you don’t deal with clinically you get to know which is important. Buildings are about the people in them not just the services they provide. Physicality of the building- open gallery- you can see & hear who is there. Would prefer it if was a warner building. Survivor bonding over the deficiencies of the building. Problems with parking. People say they work in Grattan Street not in podiatry.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.04.58- 1.06.24</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Parking</strong></p>
<p>Small area for parking, not big enough for all the people who work there. Have to move your car to let people out. Didn’t park in the car park when working a half-day because wouldn’t be able to get out. School and houses also use the parking area and they can get cross if they are blocked.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.06.24- 1.09.12</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Past of the Building</strong></p>
<p>Quaker meeting house. Building is set up like a church- entrance with arch and sweeping staircases, ceiling roses, curved picture rails. Awareness of the thickness of the walls and windows, not the typical shape for an office building or healthcare centre. Stone plaques outside in the parking area which commemorate the building.</p>
<p>Was a dispensary from the 1940s one of the school nurses on the list of interviewees has a friend whose father was the dispenser or pharmacist there. Some of the came to Grattan Street as children for speech and language therapy. No anecdotes about when the lights went out or when it flooded.</p>
<p>Cultural understanding of dispensary is that it was a publicly funded pharmacy but that they were fairly grim places for the ordinary not the great and the good. Lots of rooms and big building.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.09.12- 1.11.37</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Weddings in the Registry in Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Other part of the building is the registry office at the front where people get married. Weddings out the front when coming to work. Children crying and elderly people. Swathe of human life. Unusual to see weddings in the urban work environment which makes everyone smile. And she will miss that when they move. Thinks other employees will have stories and anecdotes.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.11.37- 1.15.00</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Paper & Documents in Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>No one would believe how much paper is in the building. No one removes paper because no one knows who it belongs to. Paper based system for records. Accretions of paper. Shared office space where very little is thrown away. Extraordinary volume of paper created and used. Referrals done on duplicate books with carbon copy. Referral books for services which no longer exist- going back as far as the 1970. Old computers unused. Random boxes of leaflets.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.15.00- 1.18.10</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Words to Describe Grattan Street and its future</strong></p>
<p>Community. Resilience. Service. If it was a dog it would be a Labrador, and old smelly one with bad teeth that farts a lot! A pet that everyone loves. Would hate to see the building closed and empty. Sense of spirit in the building. </p>
<p>Understands that Quakers signed over the building with the view that it would be used for health services to the community. There’s no disabled access or toilets at present. Buckets in kitchen when it rains. Won’t do well if it is left empty and cold. Community based health resource rather than offices and admin.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.18.10- 1.22.13</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Future of Services moving from Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Services moving to St Mary’s health campus. Podiatry moving to St Mary’s. PHN have moved already. Vaccination will move to St Mary’s. Eye clinic will move to St Finbarr’s. Dental has gone to Finbarr’s. Unsure about European Health Cards. Home Care may stay here. Marriages will stay. They have had little information about the services. Understands the complexity of project managing the move. Eye clinic will be physically remote from St. Mary’s. Lose sense of networks even though you can still pick up the phone. Lose contacts and networks and personally knowing people in other services. Personal knowledge of how other people work. It gives you more information about how to triage or perceive a referral when you know the people. Anything that interferes with getting information relevant to the patient and decision-making will make her job slightly harder.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.22.13- 1.25.19</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Sense of Patients’ Perspectives</strong></p>
<p>Some clinic space may have to be kept in Grattan Street because of the most vulnerable patients in the area eg. from Edel House and newly arrived immigrants, and people who have moved out of direct provision. Families where English might not be first language and from backgrounds where there might be poor healthcare. Travel may be difficult for these patients, especially going “up the hill” to St Mary’s. Will advocate strongly to keep a clinic in Grattan Street- it’s easier to move 1 doctor to see 30 patients than vice versa, and do not need any specialised equipment. Grattan Street is a disaster for people with cars- St Mary’s is much better it has parking, space and coffee shops. Ensure that better services elsewhere don’t leave more vulnerable patients behind. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.25.19- 1.27.47</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Comparison between Grattan Street and St. Mary’s</strong></p>
<p>St Mary’s will have: heating, lifts disabled toilets, large waiting areas, easy access. [Edith’s phone vibrates during this section] In Grattan Street if you are on crutches you can’t come to work. St Mary’s will fix these problems. Change is hard. [Edith’s phone vibrates during this section] With a new start if gives the staff a chance to effect the culture of the new building. Everyone in the building making small inputs. Christmas lunch potluck and baby showers in Grattan Street for which there is no policy or permission required people organised it themselves- autonomy and power.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.27.47- 1.31.31</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Culture of the New Building & Importance of Admin</strong></p>
<p>People need to feel they have some autonomy of their workplace eg. the signs in Grattan Street which people put up without needing permission. Every clerical and admin staff can hear the patients who come into Grattan Street so they understand that they are not a piece of paper or a number. Further away people are from the person they provide the worse the service provision. Service lives and dies on its administrative staff. When admin staff goes on holidays the clinical staff are bereft! Importance of admin staff even though their role can be minimised. But in Grattan Street there is a good balance. St Mary’s may be isolated in separate rooms.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.31.31- 1.33.02</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>What Makes Good Admin Support?</strong></p>
<p>Patience. Being able to spin so many plates. First point of contact for people who use the service. People who understand that it’s really important. Although HSE gets a bad reputation every admin staff has been helpful and gone above and beyond. Celine in Grattan Street is very patient. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.33.02- 1.35.14</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Patient Expectations of St Mary’s</strong></p>
<p>Big scary, bewildering building. Hope that people will be made to feel welcome. Scale of foyer area is colossal and may be overwhelming. Community should have some autonomy over the building in the same way the staff should. Comfortable seats and accessible baby changing facilities may be enough to make people feel welcome.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.35.14-1.38.08</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Centralised Canteen</strong></p>
<p>Would like to see centralised canteen for the staff with access to healthy food. Small things become important. Easy to walk around and access healthy food. Sense that the community can use the space- not much green space on the northside. Chance to look at a different model of healthcare. Moaning is easy and can create a toxic culture if things never change.</p>
<p>Small kitchen room on St Mary’s health campus. St Finbarr’s has a centralised canteen but CUH doesn’t. Give people healthy options on site.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.38.08-1.40.43</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Community connection with Grattan Street more generally</strong></p>
<p>Edith has little interaction with Middle Parish community. Sees people coming and going from Middle Parish Community Centre and from the SHARE Centre, may help them across the road. Very little interaction which she finds quite sad. Would know some of the support workers in Edel House through working with them and phone calls.</p>
<p>Reality of life is everyone is very busy. No funding for other community outreach projects. May run ante-natal classes in Grattan Street which would be good. The more engaged the community can be with the building the more likely they will be to turn up to their GP appointment or diabetic nurse appointment. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.40.43-1.43.40</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Reflection choosing Medicine</strong></p>
<p>Would not want any of her children to do medicine. Comes at a big cost. Have to work 90 hour weeks and tell mother that their babies had died while her friends were traveling and going to parties. Have to go through hard parts of job to get to a role that you like.</p>
<p>Came first in paediatrics in UCC please don’t tell Prof Carney/Kearney that she only went to about 2 paeds lectures! But spent a lot of time in the wards. Children are direct and Edith likes that.</p>
<p>Interview Ends</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Edith O'Regan: Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
Subject
The topic of the resource
Ireland; Cork; Youghal; Middle Parish; The Marsh; Grattan Street; Occupational Lore;
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
7 February 2019
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CFP_SF00696_O'Regan_2019
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Cork, Youghal, Ireland, 1970s-2010s
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
1 .wav file
Relation
A related resource
<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>;
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Description
An account of the resource
<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>
A & E
A and E
Accident and Emergency
Addiction
Administration
Adult Supervision
Alcohol
Ambition
Ambitions
Anatomy
Appointment
Appointments
Attitudes to Health
Authority
Autonomy
Babies
Baby
Beach
Bicycle
Bicycles
Bicycling
Bike
Bikes
Books
Bored
Boredom
Building
Buildings
Built Heritage
Bull
Bullying
Bureaucracy
Car Park
Car Parking
Career
Career Path
Careers
Central Heating
Child Abuse
Childhood
Childhood Games
Children
Children’s Games
Clerical
Clerical Staff
Clinic
Clinics
Communal
Community
Computer
Computers
Confidence
Consultant
Consultants
Cork University Hospital
CUH
Cycling
Decision-Making
Decisions
Degree
Deprivation
Deprived Areas
Disability Access
Discipline
Dispensary
Dissection
Doctor
Doctoring
Doctors
Documents
Drink
Drunk
Edel House
Emigration
Employment
Exam
Examination
Examinations
Exams
Expectation
Expectations
Feminism
Feminist
Fields
Files
Filing
Game
Games
General Practice
GP
Grattan Street
Gurranabraher
Health
Healthcare
Heat
Heating
Hierarchy
Home Life
Homeless
Hospital
Hospital Ward
Hospital Wards
HSE
Hurt
Husband
Injury
Job
Late
Lateness
Learning
Marriage
Marriages
Marsh
Mathematics
Maths
Medical Centre
Medical Student
Medical Students
Medical Training
Medication
Medication Training
Medicine
Medicines
Mental Health
Mercy Hospital
Middle Parish
Middle Parish Community Centre
Nature
New Zealand
Nuns
Nurse
Nurses
Nursing
Occupation
Paper
Paperwork
Parents
Parking
Patient
Patients
PHN
Playing
Power
Premature Babies
Premature Baby
Public Health
Public Health Nurse
Public Health Nurses
Quaker
Quakers
Registry Office
Religion
Reluctant Patient
Reluctant Patients
Reputation
Resilience
Resilient
Resource
Resources
Responsibility
Role of Women
Room
Rooms
Routine
RTE
Rules
Sandcastles
School
School Days
Schooldays
Schoolwork
Sea
Seaside
Security
Services
SHARE
Social Disadvantage
Social Work
Social Worker
Social Workers
Sport
Spouse
St Mary's Health Campus
St Mary’s Health Campus
Staff
Student
Student Life
Students
Substance Abuse
Teacher
Teachers
Teaching
Technology
Television
Temperature Control
Tennis
The Marsh
The Middle Parish
Tide
Tides
Time
Training
Transport
Transportation
Travel
TV
UCC
University
University College Cork
Vocation
Ward
Wards
Wedding
Weddings
Welfare
Wellington
Women
Women in Work
Women's Lives
Work
Working
Working life
Workload
Youghal
-
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/258f8a9e64793339a507e3a85bd81702.jpg
e245f89b3e8cbbb2c200a3033ee23a69
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/3125ce6124ce89fa3fce67b1a9671623.mp3
77a259a8bfc162d7ef72e5ad87d179a5
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<p>Grattan Street Stories: Memory of Place</p>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Occupational Lore; Life History; Built Heritage; Health; Ireland; Cork; Middle Parish
Description
An account of the resource
<p>This collection focuses on a building on Grattan Street which has served as a Quaker Meeting House, a public Dispensary and as the Grattan Street Health Centre. The project was a collaboration between the CFP and the Cork North Community Work Department, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, Health Services Executive HSE. </p>
<p>The interviewees fall into two main groups: those who worked in the building and those who lived in the surrounding area and availed of the services provided in the building.</p>
<p>This project follows on from the collaboration with the HSE in the “<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>”. There is a further connection between the two projects as many of the staff and services once provided in the Grattan Street Health Centre have now relocated to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. This topic of the relocation of services is also covered in some staff interviews. <br /><br />To date (October 2021) 13 interviews have been completed for the project.<br /><br />Interviewees discuss the Grattan Street building itself in terms of its historic significance, its benefits and drawbacks as a workplace. Broader themes related to or inspired by the building are also touched on including: personal relationship with the building, staff camaraderie, the problems with parking, memorable incidents at work, patient experiences and descriptions of the people and services for which the building catered.<br /><br />Healthcare professional interviewees detail their training, career progression and comparisons between Grattan Street and other workplaces. Their testimonies also provide a link with the community of patients they served giving further insight into attitudes to healthcare, diseases, vaccines, description of social conditions and the changes in medicine and technology in their working lives.<br /><br />Non-healthcare professional interviewees describe childhood experiences in or around Grattan Street (The Marsh or The Middle Parish), the social, cultural and economic conditions of the area, tenements, businesses, attitudes to and experiences of healthcare, vaccines, diseases, medicines and medical professionals as well as observed changes in these areas over time.<br /><br />Interviewees also reflect on the possible future uses of the Grattan Street building.<br /><br /><strong>Related Reference Sources</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Barrington, R.<em> (</em>1987) <em>Health, medicine and politics in Ireland, 1900–1970</em>. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.</li>
<li><span>Butler D.M. (2004) <em>The Quaker meeting houses of Ireland</em></span>. Dublin : Irish Friends Historical Committee.</li>
<li><span>Byrne, J. (2004) <em>Byrne's dictionary of Irish local history.</em> Cork: Mercier Press.</span></li>
<li>Cooke, R. T. (1999) <em>My Home by the Lee</em>. Irish Millennium Publications: Cork.</li>
<li><span>Dempsey, P. J. & White, L. W. ‘Childers, Erskine Hamilton’. <em>Dictionary of Irish Biography</em> </span>[Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Harrison, R.S. (1991) <em>Cork City Quakers 1655-1939: A Brief History</em>. Cork.</li>
<li>Houston, M. (2004). ‘Life before the GP’. <em>The</em> <em>Irish Times. </em>Available at : <<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599">https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599</a> > [Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Keohane, F. (2020) <em>The Buildings of Ireland Cork City and County</em>. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.</li>
</ul>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-2020
Contributor
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<p>Interviewees: Edith O’Regan, 'Mary', Sean Higgisson, Aoife O’Brien, Eileen Kearney, Imelda Cunning, Jane Ward, Liam Ó hUigín, Joe Scanlan, Mary Mulcahy, Philomena Cassidy, Don Morrissy, Derek O’Connell</p>
<p>Interviewer: <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=2&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Kieran+Murphy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kieran Murphy</a>, (<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a>)</p>
Coverage
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<p>Cork, Ireland 1940s-2020s; Waterford, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Limerick, Ireland;</p>
Relation
A related resource
<p><strong>Exhibition</strong></p>
<p>Artist Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave (also an interviewee for the project) created a visual artwork based around the Grattan Street Medical Centre building itself, as a workplace and health centre. The artwork incorporated direct quotations from the oral history interviews conducted for the project, and also included brief historical paragraphs about the building researched, written and edited by the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy. This exhibition was launched on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 in “St Peter’s” on the North Main Street where a “Listening Event” was also held to mark the occasion.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" alt="Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" /><br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"></p>
<p><strong>Presentation and Listening Event</strong></p>
<p>To coincide with the launch of the Grattan Street Stories Exhibtion on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 a listening event and presentation of the history of the Grattan Street Medical Centre building and description of the project was given by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/427A7714-1.jpg" alt="427A7714-1.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Presentation</strong></p>
<p>In 2019 at the OHNI conference the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy discussed social media and oral history which included audio excerpts from the Grattan Street Stories Project along with photographs of the building.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" alt="Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Audio Visual Presentation</strong></p>
<p>An audio-visual slideshow was produced featuring oral testimony from the Grattan Street Stories Project and combined with suitable images of Grattan Street and from Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave’s exhibition. This was created by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnjEtQeOb3I&t=1s&ab_channel=CorkFolklore" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Audio Visual Presentation Available to listen and view here.</a>
<p><strong>Health and Vaccines Oral History Research<br /></strong><br />Many of the interviews conducted for the Grattan Street project formed an integral part of the testimonies and research for the innovative<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">'Catching Stories'<span> </span>of infectious disease in Ireland </a>project funded by the Irish Research Council.<br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" alt="Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Social Media</strong> <br /><br />Numerous suitable audio excerpts from the oral history interviews have been edited and shared on CFP's social media channels.<br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736</a>
<strong>Orthopaedic Hospital</strong><br />Cork Folklore Project in collaboration with the HSE conducted an oral history project focussing on the Orthapaedic Hospital in Gurranabraher. <br /><br /><span>Many of the staff and services once provided at the Grattan Street Health Centre site were moved to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. </span><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>
<strong>Swimming Article</strong><br /><br />Kieran Murphy and James Furey co-authored an article about<br /><a href="https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com/p/swim-city?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Swimming in Cork</a> which appeared in the online magazine Tripe + Drisheen. This article features a number of interview extracts collected as part of the Grattan Street Stories Project.
<strong>Related Interviews<br /><br /></strong>CFP_SR00756_Quilligan_2019;<br />CFP_SR00758_Broderick_2019;<br />CFP_SR00670_OShea_2018;<strong><br /><br /></strong>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Cork Folklore Project
Rights
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Cork Folklore Project
Language
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English
Type
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Audio
Format
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16 .wav Files
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Derek O'Connell
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Kieran Murphy
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
84 Minutes 15 Seconds
Location
The location of the interview
Cork Folklore Project Hub, North Cathedral Visitor Centre, Roman Street
Original Format
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.wav
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
24bit / 48kHz
Time Summary
A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.00 - 0.01.58</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Family and House</strong></p>
<p>Grew up on Winter’s Hill between Blarney Street and Wyses Hill on northside of Cork. The third of 4 children all delivered by caesarean section. His mother was very small and the local GP, one of the first “lady doctors” of which there were only 4 or 5 at the time, and they covered for each other. Father worked in insurance and had a good job as assistant manager of insurance company. Mother worked full-time. Always family member in the house to help out, including a grandmother. An old male relative lived in the 3rd floor of the house. That wasn’t unusual, it wasn’t always one room per person. But it solved childminding issues. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.01.58 - 0.02.20</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Grandmother</strong></p>
<p>Remembers grandmother’s lap, her dark blue apron with designs on it and knitting needles. She died when he was about 3.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.02.20 - 0.04.33</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>House and Mother’s GP Surgery</strong></p>
<p>3 storey detached house, a bit unusual. Further back from the road than others, with passage in called “the passage”, hen house in front and back of house, which was normal at the time. Mother did house calls in the morning. In the evening they had to go to the dining room because the front room became the waiting room and she had her surgery upstairs. Learned young how to answer the phone. People might arrive with urine in a Paddy whiskey bottle. In retrospect she was checking pregnancies or urinary infections. He was frightened of her steriliser- an electric pot with instruments in it. Syringe needles were sharpened on an oil stone before being put in steriliser, and no one seemed to get infections.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.04.33 - 0.07.59</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Routine/ Typical Day at Home & School</strong></p>
<p>Walked down Wyses Hill to school in St Al’s (St Aloysius) which was a girl’s school. Teachers Miss Brett, Miss Curran (Chris Curran’s sister maybe), Sister Aloysius in first class which was more challenging because she didn’t like the boys. There was two thirds girls in the class. At that time this was normal practice.</p>
<p>Walked across Vincent’s bridge across by the Mercy Hospital and across by lark’s bridge. Recalls where the labour exchange is now (Intreo Centre Hanover Street) there were beautiful Georgian Houses (tenement houses) in terrible condition with lots of washing out and women out talking to each other and several generations playing, and that was normal. No one thought there was anything right or wrong with it, it was just the way it was.</p>
<p>Went home for lunch, and often had soup and a main course especially in the winter time. A lighter meal in the evening. All the family returned home for lunch except his father who might be traveling to Bantry or Skibbereen which was a long way at the time. A lady prepared the meals for the family. People who worked in the house lived locally and were like members of the family. They might work for 2 or 3 years and move on, often when they got married. Someone else would come then, often by word of mouth, perhaps through his mother’s GP practice.</p>
<p>Always ate fish on a Friday which he didn’t like. Suspects there was a rota for meals. ‘Meat and two vegetables’ was always the meal. Felt privileged to have that as not everyone could, and there was a good bit of poverty around. Recalls a “soundbite” from Blarney Street: “Johnny come in for your rasher and two eggs!”</p>
<p>There was a great respectability, everyone respected everyone else and there wasn’t any talking down to people- it wasn’t acceptable. </p>
<p> </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.07.59 - 0.09.49</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Playing near Home & the Haggard</strong></p>
<p>Didn’t get out of the house all that much. Played football outside the door for a while. Area called “the Haggy” across from where they lived, the Haggard* which was a kind of wasteland roughly where fancy apartments at bottom of Wyses hill are now. People used to dump their “ponnies”** in the old days. It wasn’t regarded as a place you’d go, it was just a steep hill. But people went there with their (chamber) pots. But the stigma of it not being a clean place remained even maybe 100 years after running water and sewage came in. So when playing football if the ball went down the haggy no one wanted to fetch it.</p>
<p>Was not allowed to go out to play football, mother would have had a “conniption fit” had she known they were out doing that.</p>
<p>[*Haggard or Haggart: A farmyard or small enclosed field; a vegetable patch or kitchen garden. Or area adjacent to the farm yard or what once was a farm yard. Traditionally this was an enclosed area on a farm for stacking hay, grain or other fodder. (sources: Wiktionary, meathfieldnames.com]</p>
<p>**[ponny or ponnie: earthenware or metal pot or mug (Source: A Dictionary of Hiberno-English: The Irish Use of English ed. Terence Dolan)]</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.09.49 - 0.12.43</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Family, Changes and Adversity</strong></p>
<p>Mother died when he was 13. Dad had had 1<sup>st</sup> heart attack previous year and he had retired from work and started an insurance brokerage as a hobby. Sister Catherine did medicine and went to America and didn’t want to return. Different doctors tried to keep mother’s GP practice going. Older brother in insurance now retired.</p>
<p>Younger brother Michael born hypothyroid and had severe autism slept in his room and found it normal to share a room with a practically non-verbal brother. Remarks on how people what people can accept as normal even if inconvenient and that people are strong in the face of adversity.</p>
<p>Discusses the resentment and rage which is normalised by the internet which has also contributed to the polarisation of politics “it’s as if only extremes are correct”. History suggests consensus is what works. The manipulation of social media has contributed to this phenomenon. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.12.43 - 0.14.47</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Mother, her GP work and her car</strong></p>
<p>Mother was very bubbly. Black hair with white stripe in the centre very careful about appearance hair was always done properly. Very hard worker with patients and at home. Expected high level of neatness and cleanness. She had a bubble car maybe 200cc with a door in the front. She covered other GPs. She went to Hettyfield and left 10 year old Derek doing his homework in the bubblecar. A 13 year old girl asked what it was and said “ours is a Consul Cortina”. The first time Derek felt his car might not be adequate. Bubble car had two seats at front one at back entered from the front. Recalls 4 children and his mother in the car! That was normal.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.14.47 - 0.16.53</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Mother & Father: Backgrounds and relatives</strong></p>
<p>Mother and father put great store in education. She was youngest of 11 and one of the first to go to university. Dad was youngest of 17 children many in the family had been engineers. Derek’s grandfather had been married twice. Derek’s paternal grandfather died in 1917 before his father was born. Paternal grandfather was a builder/engineer/contractor had a lot to do with building of Fitzgerald’s Park, he has photographs of the grandfather with his workers dressed in Victorian outfits for the Cork Exhibition (1902 probably).</p>
<p>Maternal grandfather was cattle-dealer Cronin. They lived up in Fair Hill which was subject to a compulsory purchase order in the 1960s by Cork corporation. Google maps lists Cronin’s Field at the top of Cathedral Road, assumes that this was the same field.</p>
<p>Knew relatives at top of Hollyhill who were farming until Hollyhill as we know it was build.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.16.53 - 0.18.04</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Pawnshops and stolen goods</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Two pawnshops on Lavitt’s Quay and one at bottom of Patrick’s Hill. Doesn’t recall who ran them. The Christening Cups were stolen a few times by the same person from the waiting room in the house and were located by the Gardaí in the local pawn shop.</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.18.04 - 0.21.36</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Secondary School: transport, teachers, shawlies, baths</strong></p>
<p>Went to Christian Brother’s College (CBC) after St Aloysius, his grandfather, father and brother had gone there. One teacher Mr Richard McCarthy known as Dicky Rashers called Derek by his father’s name because he had taught him as well. The story with Dicky Rashers was that he had dietary issues and after Christmas an announced that he had had rashers. He was a nice man.</p>
<p>If it was raining they got the number 14 bus down Wyses Hill which came every 20 minutes. They used to hide because Dicky Rashers would offer them a lift which they didn’t want from a teacher. Also cycled to school. Got wheels caught in railway track going to Eglinton Baths. Those railway bridges opened until the 1970s. Goods trains and Guinness trains used to cross over them.</p>
<p>Cycled up Patrick’s Hill to get to the Christian’s rugby field (Landsdowne). Cycled down the hill when it was raining, breaks failed and stopped where Brown Thomas is now.</p>
<p>Only 4 or 5 cars on Blarney Street at the time.</p>
<p>When 15 a shawlie stopped him near the Templeacre Bar (Gurranebraher Road) and she gave him a pint jug and asked him get her Guinness from the snug. She would not be seen going into the pub but wanted her Guinness. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.21.36 - 0.24.09</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Secondary school teachers</strong></p>
<p>Christians was somewhat elitist which a lot of people were not comfortable with. Many teachers were old and not qualified teachers. Mr Murphy taught him art for leaving cert, but he had been teaching junior infants. He was very small his feet would not touch the ground when sitting on a desk.</p>
<p>Mr Townshend music teacher and great musician.</p>
<p>All characters. Violence of corporal punishment, queuing around the classroom to answer questions on Geography or Latin. If you weren’t very academic you got a lot of beatings on the hands. Some of those less academic pupils became very successful businessmen. The Christian brother told the boys in the B class to be nice to boys in the C class because they might need to get a job from them later.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.24.09 - 0.26.04</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Secondary Schools in general, elitism & ‘One Day a Week School’</strong></p>
<p>The uniform was part of the school’s elitism. There was a school nearby “the Wana” (one day a week) and there was a clear difference between them and CBC. CBC had disciplined and scheduled classes all day. The one day a week school pupils were obeying the law, 12 or 13 years old selling papers to make money. They had to attend school until a certain age. People with dyslexia were beaten and treated with contempt.</p>
<p>Scoil Mhuire girls private school was nearby and quite posh. Around the corner was St Angela’s was less posh. Rivalry between Christians and Pres (PBC, Presentation Brothers College).</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.26.04 - 0.27.22</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Secondary School: lack of empathy, attitudes towards sports</strong></p>
<p>Was in first year of secondary school when mother died. There was no recognition of that in school and he dropped from A class to B class. A little help would have gone a long way. In retrospect there were probably a number of pupils with ongoing issues which were never addressed by the school, while the emphasis was on playing rugby. Rugby in Cork was elitist then too.</p>
<p>Derek joined Tramore Athletic soccer club. A cousin played tennis quite well and a Christian brother said “why wouldn’t he take up a boy’s game?”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.27.22 - 0.28.44</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Eglinton Baths, swimming, chipper</strong></p>
<p>Eglinton Baths had a boys’ pool and a girls’ pool. Probably 25 yards. White tiles with balcony around each pool. Communal hot showers, but the pool itself was freezing and stinking of chlorine. “It wasn’t unusual to be blue and wet!”. Went home via Maylor Street and went Matt Kiely’s chip shop to warm up a bit.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.28.44 - 0.29.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Changes after mother’s death, father’s career</strong></p>
<p>Younger brother went into full-time care when his mother died. And his dad was involved in local politics and trying to run a business. He was a Fine Gael councillor for over 20 years in the North Central part of Cork which would have been unusual. He was involved in the health board and the building of the regional hospital. He was chairman of the hospital board for years and of the health board. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.29.30 - 0.31.36</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Repeating the Leaving Cert with Dr Paye</strong></p>
<p>Derek always assumed that he would be a doctor. He was offered a place in dentistry in college which he declined. His dad got him into the Holy Trinity College on Washington Street “Doc Paye’s” which was a military camp for getting your leaving certificate. He is grateful to Dr Paye and Miss Paye.</p>
<p>For this school your hair was cut very tight, you wore a humiliating uniform, “you arrived on time or you didn’t arrive at all”. Mixed class, boys wore black, girls wore red with tartan. Every class was structured 45 minutes and took serious notes. They had studied the leaving cert papers and knew what needed to be learned. Still sees Dr Paye around and she must be a good age.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.31.38 - 0.34.15</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>First experience of University: courses and social and sport life </strong></p>
<p>After he resat the leaving cert he went to UCC in a course call First Common Science. This was an experiment when Pre-Med and Pre-Dent courses were done away with. In First Common Science you competed for your course.</p>
<p>Had little experience of social mixing, and enjoyed going to the Kampus Kitchen (Campus Kitchen) to smoke cigarettes and drink coffee, and drink beer in the evening if you could afford it. First Common Science was not a problem because of the work done in Dr Paye’s.</p>
<p>60 got into medicine, 20 into dentistry and the rest did other science degrees maybe dairy science and science. Glad he got to mix and get to know more people. Thinks that his son who went to Trinity to do medicine probably missed out on that aspect of social life as he went straight into medicine.</p>
<p>Small group of people in his course. There used to be rugby matches in the quarry in UCC where the Boole Library is now. The pitch was very muddy in winter. Dentistry were not able to field a team as there were not enough men doing the course. Playing the quarry you were just as good as everyone else because everyone was terrible.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.34.15 - 0.37.39</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>University: playing cards, betting, debating society, studying</strong></p>
<p>For the first year or two Kampus Kitchen was the place to play cards and a lot of money was won and lost there. He stopped playing cards because he saw people lose their grants. He once lost the money to be spent on a shirt for the Med Ball and had to attend with a pink shirt.</p>
<p>As regards clubs and societies looking back he thinks he should have attended the Philosoph (UCC Philosophical Society, college debating society). People who were from Cork probably got less involved in clubs and societies, whereas those living on or near campus would have become more involved.</p>
<p>Thinks the Philosoph would have broadened his education, mentions how Theo Dorgan was there during his time in college and thinks that Theo got a broader education compared to the narrower field of medicine.</p>
<p>His education was greatly advanced in 2<sup>nd</sup> Year Medicine while in the library fretting about a physiology exam maybe 2 weeks before the exam. A mature student around 35 years old told him “the information in a book is inversely proportional to its size”.</p>
<p> </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.37.39 - 0.39.37</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>What’s needed to become a doctor and to practice</strong></p>
<p>No one asks him as a doctor where he came in his class, and it wouldn’t make a difference anyway. Many people who were academically gifted would not have been suited to being doctors. Is concerned that a medical education which requires strong left-sided brain skills to remember and regurgitate material may not produce great communicators and not great doctors. Someone with an average IQ could be a very good doctor. The economics of being a doctor suggest that maybe it should not be so attractive for people and they would be better in IT or science.</p>
<p>Once you qualify in medicine that is only the beginning: you have to graft for jobs, get relevant experience and only then try to make a living. It’s just a primary degree unlike dentistry where you are a qualified dentist once you complete the degree </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.39.37 - 0.42.48</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Working in North Infirmary: learning, some memorable cases</strong></p>
<p>Went to the North Infirmary. Lovely hospital to work in, was very well-treated. Very hard work. 3 medical interns, 3 surgery interns, maybe 2 SHO (Senior House Officer) and 2 Registrars. Recalls first night he was on for surgery when a patient from motorbike accident was to arrive in and the SHO left before the patient arrived. Nurses were excellent. Learned how to do things. Learned how to recognise cases that were too hot to handle.</p>
<p>When on call started 9am Friday finished Monday at 5. There were very few GPs out of hours so got big queues in North Infirmary. Went to bed 4am one Sunday morning and he was told there was a young man with chest pain. The young man looked pale and sweaty and was wearing ex-army jacket which was “all the rage” at the time. Discovered that the man had been playing darts, had gotten a dart in the back and had a chest full of blood. Learned to be careful and not take things at face value.</p>
<p>Another night a man was brought in by his friends. At the time Match of the Day (football highlights and analysis TV programme on BBC) was at 7pm or 8pm. The man had been in the pub and “his leg was swinging in the breeze”, he had fallen off a bar stool and broken his hip around 7:30pm but had stayed in the pub until Match of the Day was over before coming to hospital.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.42.48 - 0.51.04</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Changes in healthcare: preventative medicine, vaccination, alcohol</strong></p>
<p>Suggests people may have been tougher in the past. Then reflects on the improvements in medicine and that “the good old days weren’t so good”, people didn’t live as long, not vaccinated, poor nutrition. As nutrition improved children became taller than their parents. Improvements in prognosis.</p>
<p>Enthusiastic about preventative medicine. Although the medical card system did not take that into account, doctors were not paid for vaccinations on the medical card but they did it anyway.</p>
<p>Gay Byrne encouraged people to get the measles vaccine. And there was a change in the demographics of the measles incidents over two years after that. Didn’t see cases of measles for 15-20 years, and it only reappeared when anti-vaxers (anti vaccination campaigners) appeared. Thinks it’s a scandal. Vaccination for measles is not individual it is based on herd immunity it requires 80-90% of the population to be vaccinated or the vulnerable will get it: people with immunodeficiency, leukaemia, chemotherapy.</p>
<p>Discusses the changes in gender demographics in relation to cardio-vascular diseases and risk factors.</p>
<p>There had been an economic difficulty with alcohol-you could only afford a small amount of alcohol (or cigarettes). But now alcohol is cheaper and cigarettes are more expensive. Mentions the trend of pre-drinking.</p>
<p>Suggests problems of alcohol appear to occur further north of the equator. Discusses the off-licenses in Sweden where you had to order alcohol a bit like the system of ordering products in Argos. If your order for alcohol exceeded accepted level you were not served. This didn’t prevent people drinking as they made their own.</p>
<p>Discusses the positive effect of smoking ban and the way people use the “nanny state” argument to oppose basic public health measures.</p>
<p>Talks about the improvements in treatments and survival rates particularly for cancers and cardio vascular diseases. Compares this to reactions of indignation. Points out the hidden nature of preventative health care which can be effective but is rarely seen of credited. Preventative care is also less well understood compared with waiting times for doctors or ambulances, number of hospital beds. Thinks the question should be about quality of life and what can be done to improve it. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.51.04 - 0.52.47</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>North Infirmary working routine, cost of hospitals</strong></p>
<p>In north infirmary there was a doctors’ room and dining room where you had your own seat and there was a colour television which was unusual at the time. 6 interns. You worked every day and every third night as well and every third weekend. But if someone was on holidays you had to work every second one.</p>
<p>The cost of a bed per night in the hospital was £80 and when it was closed the cost in other hospitals was £200-£300 per night. Discusses the merits of centres of excellence and lower-tech hospitals. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.52.47 - 0.57.07</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Further training in St Finbarr’s & CUH, reviving a child, CPR</strong></p>
<p>After North Infirmary did obs and gynae (obstetrics and gynaecology) in St Finbarr’s Hospital and CUH (Cork University Hospital). Great training, lovely, practical and kind obstetricians. A small nurse Sister Tutor called him at night for a mother giving birth. The nurse cleverly directed him in delivering the baby with a forceps while making it seem like he was the one doing all the work. “Without the nurses we’d be nowhere”. His daughter is a nurse and sees how knowledgeable and capable they are at the coal face. Unwise for doctors to ignore what nurses say. The importance of everyone being on the same team. Recalls an A and E (accident and emergency) nurse who had all the equipment ready while the doctor was looking up what was to be done.</p>
<p>Recalls a child around 7 years old who was dead from cardiac arrest after getting electrocuted on a Saturday afternoon. They used intubation, put up a drip, drugs, cardiac massage, and defibrillation. They didn’t have time to look up dosages they divided them amounts by 4 for a child. They had a good success rate at reviving dead bodies in North Infirmary- community response is key today. “an ambulance on its way doesn’t keep your heart beating.” Believes everyone should learn the basics of CPR. Recalls CPR in his GP practice. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.57.07 - 0.58.50</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Further medical training and useful A & E experience </strong></p>
<p>After obs and gynae he did paediatrics, psychiatry, and a year in A and E where he learned that a little smile went a long way. Talked about how to politely and carefully deal with cases which were not serious enough to be in A and E. Public who might be waiting all day did not see the very serious cases that were happening out of sight. It was good training for a GP practice.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.58.50 - 1.04.21</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Own GP practice, Dr Cagney’s GP practice & Spanish Civil War, </strong></p>
<p>Set up own GP practice on northside in their house. Found it lonely because there were so few patients coming in. He then practiced with Dr Michael Cagney until he got a stroke. Dr Michael Cagney was a remarkable man, big burly, chain-smoking man very kind to people. He would tell people to give up cigarettes while he was smoking at the same time. He was doing surgery and he returned to GP practice because he father had been running a practice but became ill. When Dr Michael Cagney sat his leaving cert he was too young to go to college so his dad and General Eoin O’Duffy decided to send him to fight in the Spanish Civil War. He rarely spoke about his time in that war, and must have been traumatised by it. He probably thought he was going out “to help the raped nuns.” Many people from Ireland went to fight in that war. And it was not that long ago.</p>
<p>Reflects on children today being used as soldiers in other countries, and being involved in drug gangs in Ireland and on those who leave to fight for Al Qaeda today and crusaders in the past.</p>
<p>Dr Michael Cagney was probably born around 1920. The practice was in 51 Grand Parade, 2 floors up. It was a very good practice, he was very ethical and kept very good notes on large A4 file in alphabetical order which was probably unusual for the time. They used the Merck Manual which was an encyclopaedia of therapeutics. You could ring surgeons for advice. There was a great sense of responsibility and great collegiality. Refers to the changing ways of doctors referring patients to hospitals.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.04.21 - 1.06.09</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>First day in new GP Practice, changes in care, responses to bad cases </strong></p>
<p>Remembers first day in Dr Michael Cagney’s practice which was in a back room and patients wanted to see Dr Cagney rather than Derek: “With respect to you doctor I’d like to see the doctor!” After time people came to see him specifically. Did everything, including: antenatal, postnatal and smears- it was perfectly normal for a male doctor to do a smear in those days before there were headline cases of doctors who did the wrong thing. Derek became deskilled in that area because it was too much of a risk.</p>
<p>Suggests that new practices are often introduced in response to hard cases. Mentions the response to the Dr Harold Shipman murders in England where GPs had to list the number of patients they had who died in one year to prevent a similar case. One GP made a mistake in their statistics and rang up to clarify them, but was told no one would ever read the statistics so it didn’t matter. Says that lots of information is gathered but never really used.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.06.09 - 1.08.05</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Learning on the job, diseases not disappearing </strong></p>
<p>Dr Michael Cagney learned surgery but had to learn paediatrics on the job. Thinks most people of average intelligence can learn very quickly when put in a situation.</p>
<p>Recalls a patient with a rheumatic heart and the hospital intern found it hard to believe. Derek says “diseases don’t go away they’re just waiting for you to forget that they happen”. Thinks there will be more outbreaks of diseases due to lack of vaccination. Polio outbreak in Amsterdam 20 years ago. “diseases don’t go away because you are sophisticated or rich or white.”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.08.05- 1.09.51</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Attitudes to vaccination, TB Treatments in Cork </strong></p>
<p>Discusses the positive attitude towards vaccination in the past. People had seen children with whooping cough and adults who had holes in their lungs because of it. Doctors had patients who had limps from polio epidemic in Cork in 1950s, knows of a patient who died of post-polio syndrome in their 70s.</p>
<p>TB was common but few admitted to having it- stigma associated with it comparable to leprosy or HIV. Mentions Mr Hickey in Sarsfield’s Court who was able to collapse lungs and do pioneering surgery to treat TB.</p>
<p>Thinks vaccination is question of statistics not opinion.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.09.51 - 1.12.20</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Routine as GP: house calls, pager, patients not going to hospital</strong></p>
<p>Typical day started around 9am. Might do 10 house calls in a day because people didn’t go to hospital or if they did not for very long. House calls were also more common back then because of the lack of transport options for patients. Discusses the pager service, finding a public pay phone and how getting in contact with a patient an hour after they used the pager was considered fast.</p>
<p>Dealt with a lot of pathology at home if patients did not wish to go to hospital. Could visit a patient at home every day for a week or two if they had a serious condition. It was very gratifying when patients recovered.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.12.20 - 1.15.06</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Public Health Nurse care</strong></p>
<p>Had little contact with the Grattan Street dispensary and health centre. Mentions the dental service there, ophthalmologist Dr O’Sullivan and public health nurses (PHNs).</p>
<p>When doing the membership of general practice in London he was not believed when he said there were only 2 PHNs for Cork city centre.</p>
<p>PHNs medical care had a physical, psychological and social side.</p>
<p>Knows that dispensary doctors had limited treatments: “blue tablets, red tablets and liquids”. They worked before the medical card system, which he thinks came in the 1970s. When Derek became a doctor the system was ‘fee per item’ you were paid a small amount for each thing you did as a GP. Everything had to be written in a duplicate book.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.15.06 - 1.17.52</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>‘The Marsh’ memories. Case of anaemic man</strong></p>
<p>Dad was in the St Vincent De Paul and many in the Marsh were living with 2 or 3 families (in some case 5 families) living in the same big Georgian Houses. Many of these were knocked down in the 50s and 60s and many moved to Cathedral Road and Fair Hill. Some families had lived for generations in the Marsh.</p>
<p>Recalls visiting a man a PHN was concerned about. Man lived with his dog and had a picture of Elvis on one wall and Jesus on the other. He was very anaemic but wouldn’t go to hospital. The remedy was some injections of B12, iron and oral folic acid and Meals on Wheels. Believes the problem was nutritional- living on spam sandwiches.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.17.52 - 1.20.35</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>People with psychiatric problems lived in the community in the past, now are being hospitalised</strong></p>
<p>Some people who lived in the city centre had come from elsewhere where may have been rejected. Some had mild schizophrenia or personality problems. They came to live in the anonymity of town. Many muddled along living in bedsits and had as much company as they wished.</p>
<p>Now similar cases are put in hospital maybe in situations that do not suit them. Discusses the idea of putting anyone with psychiatric problems into the same category. Compares how we treat other illnesses- there is no “abdominal ward” which would treat a huge array of different illnesses, these are catered for separately. Similarly he thinks it doesn’t make sense to put people who are depressed or hearing voices in the same place as those with an eating disorder. Does not think the problem will be solved by additional money alone.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.20.35 - 1.21.40</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Ability of people to cope. Publican ran bar walking on her knees</strong></p>
<p>Highlights the extraordinary ability of people to cope. Recalls an elderly lady (who probably had polio) and ran a bar walking on her knees on a bench behind the counter. Thinks that today there is more a demand for everything to be perfect and this can lead to unhappiness. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.21.40 - 1.24.15</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Reflects on career, mistakes and medical training</strong></p>
<p>Thinks that when he made mistakes it was because he had ignored the inner voice that suggested something didn’t smell right.</p>
<p>One of the things that was instilled in learning to be a doctor was basic guilt. The default was guilt, the sense that if something went wrong it must be your fault. That is the downside of medicine: trained into a guilt-trip. Makes you vigilant all the time which can be tiring.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t change anything, felt privileged and happy to meet people and make a connection and friends. It wasn’t possible to be friends with your patients, there had to be a dividing line, though he is friends with them now. You couldn’t do business with or have a relationship or a social life with a patient.</p>
<p>Peggy Cronin O’Connell and Vincent O’Connell were his parents’ names.</p>
<p>Interview Ends <strong>1.24.15</strong></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Derek O'Connell: Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
Relation
A related resource
<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>;
Language
A language of the resource
English
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
11 December 2019
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CFP_SR00762_OConnell_2019;
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
1 .wav file
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Description
An account of the resource
<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>
Subject
The topic of the resource
<span>Ireland; Cork; Middle Parish; The Marsh; Occupational Lore; Medicine; Family; University;</span>
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
<span>Cork, Ireland, 1970s-2010s</span>
Accident and Emergency
Alcohol
Autism
Baths
Being a Man
Blarney Street
Boys
Bubble Car
Cards
Career
Career Path
Cathedral Road
CBC
Characters
Child Rearing
Childbirth
Childhood Games
Children’s Games
Chipper
Christian Brothers
Cigarettes
Class
Cork
Cork city
Cork Exhibition
Cork University Hospital
Cycling
Disease
Doctor
dyslexia
Eglington Street Baths
Eglinton Street Baths
Elitism
Emigration
Fish
Fitzgerald’s Park
Food
Games
GP
Grandparents
Guilt
Gurranebraher Road
Hettyfield
Hollyhill
Hospital
Houses
Hypothyroid
Injuries
Intuition
Knitting
Lavitt's Quay
Leaving Certificate
Maylor Street
Measles
Medical Training
Medical Treatment
Medicine
Mental Health
Mercy Hospital
North Infirmary
Northside
Nursing
One Day A Week School
Parents
Patients
Pawn Shops
Placenames
Playing
Polio
Ponnies
Psychiatric
Public Baths
Public Health
Public Health Nurse
Pubs
Respectability
Role of Women
Rugby
Sarsfield Court
School
Schooldays
Shawlie
Shawlies
Shawls
Social Media
Social Status
Spanish Civil War
St Aloysius
stigma
TB
Teachers
Templeacre Bar
Tenements
The Marsh
Tuberculosis
UCC Philosoph
Uniforms
University
University College Cork
Vaccines
whooping cough
Winter's Hill
Working
Working life
Workplace
Wyses Hill
-
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/b6eb7006544fe1fb522f447dee3de52f.jpg
10248e94ef2f564f8895f44ceb9384f7
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/6d4c5036293e21d529400a9fc277bcb1.wav
d4bcd0d0f116f70cadd70d3b5bdebe1a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<p>Grattan Street Stories: Memory of Place</p>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Occupational Lore; Life History; Built Heritage; Health; Ireland; Cork; Middle Parish
Description
An account of the resource
<p>This collection focuses on a building on Grattan Street which has served as a Quaker Meeting House, a public Dispensary and as the Grattan Street Health Centre. The project was a collaboration between the CFP and the Cork North Community Work Department, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, Health Services Executive HSE. </p>
<p>The interviewees fall into two main groups: those who worked in the building and those who lived in the surrounding area and availed of the services provided in the building.</p>
<p>This project follows on from the collaboration with the HSE in the “<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>”. There is a further connection between the two projects as many of the staff and services once provided in the Grattan Street Health Centre have now relocated to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. This topic of the relocation of services is also covered in some staff interviews. <br /><br />To date (October 2021) 13 interviews have been completed for the project.<br /><br />Interviewees discuss the Grattan Street building itself in terms of its historic significance, its benefits and drawbacks as a workplace. Broader themes related to or inspired by the building are also touched on including: personal relationship with the building, staff camaraderie, the problems with parking, memorable incidents at work, patient experiences and descriptions of the people and services for which the building catered.<br /><br />Healthcare professional interviewees detail their training, career progression and comparisons between Grattan Street and other workplaces. Their testimonies also provide a link with the community of patients they served giving further insight into attitudes to healthcare, diseases, vaccines, description of social conditions and the changes in medicine and technology in their working lives.<br /><br />Non-healthcare professional interviewees describe childhood experiences in or around Grattan Street (The Marsh or The Middle Parish), the social, cultural and economic conditions of the area, tenements, businesses, attitudes to and experiences of healthcare, vaccines, diseases, medicines and medical professionals as well as observed changes in these areas over time.<br /><br />Interviewees also reflect on the possible future uses of the Grattan Street building.<br /><br /><strong>Related Reference Sources</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Barrington, R.<em> (</em>1987) <em>Health, medicine and politics in Ireland, 1900–1970</em>. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.</li>
<li><span>Butler D.M. (2004) <em>The Quaker meeting houses of Ireland</em></span>. Dublin : Irish Friends Historical Committee.</li>
<li><span>Byrne, J. (2004) <em>Byrne's dictionary of Irish local history.</em> Cork: Mercier Press.</span></li>
<li>Cooke, R. T. (1999) <em>My Home by the Lee</em>. Irish Millennium Publications: Cork.</li>
<li><span>Dempsey, P. J. & White, L. W. ‘Childers, Erskine Hamilton’. <em>Dictionary of Irish Biography</em> </span>[Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Harrison, R.S. (1991) <em>Cork City Quakers 1655-1939: A Brief History</em>. Cork.</li>
<li>Houston, M. (2004). ‘Life before the GP’. <em>The</em> <em>Irish Times. </em>Available at : <<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599">https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599</a> > [Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Keohane, F. (2020) <em>The Buildings of Ireland Cork City and County</em>. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.</li>
</ul>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-2020
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<p>Interviewees: Edith O’Regan, 'Mary', Sean Higgisson, Aoife O’Brien, Eileen Kearney, Imelda Cunning, Jane Ward, Liam Ó hUigín, Joe Scanlan, Mary Mulcahy, Philomena Cassidy, Don Morrissy, Derek O’Connell</p>
<p>Interviewer: <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=2&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Kieran+Murphy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kieran Murphy</a>, (<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a>)</p>
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
<p>Cork, Ireland 1940s-2020s; Waterford, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Limerick, Ireland;</p>
Relation
A related resource
<p><strong>Exhibition</strong></p>
<p>Artist Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave (also an interviewee for the project) created a visual artwork based around the Grattan Street Medical Centre building itself, as a workplace and health centre. The artwork incorporated direct quotations from the oral history interviews conducted for the project, and also included brief historical paragraphs about the building researched, written and edited by the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy. This exhibition was launched on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 in “St Peter’s” on the North Main Street where a “Listening Event” was also held to mark the occasion.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" alt="Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" /><br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"></p>
<p><strong>Presentation and Listening Event</strong></p>
<p>To coincide with the launch of the Grattan Street Stories Exhibtion on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 a listening event and presentation of the history of the Grattan Street Medical Centre building and description of the project was given by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/427A7714-1.jpg" alt="427A7714-1.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Presentation</strong></p>
<p>In 2019 at the OHNI conference the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy discussed social media and oral history which included audio excerpts from the Grattan Street Stories Project along with photographs of the building.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" alt="Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Audio Visual Presentation</strong></p>
<p>An audio-visual slideshow was produced featuring oral testimony from the Grattan Street Stories Project and combined with suitable images of Grattan Street and from Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave’s exhibition. This was created by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnjEtQeOb3I&t=1s&ab_channel=CorkFolklore" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Audio Visual Presentation Available to listen and view here.</a>
<p><strong>Health and Vaccines Oral History Research<br /></strong><br />Many of the interviews conducted for the Grattan Street project formed an integral part of the testimonies and research for the innovative<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">'Catching Stories'<span> </span>of infectious disease in Ireland </a>project funded by the Irish Research Council.<br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" alt="Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Social Media</strong> <br /><br />Numerous suitable audio excerpts from the oral history interviews have been edited and shared on CFP's social media channels.<br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736</a>
<strong>Orthopaedic Hospital</strong><br />Cork Folklore Project in collaboration with the HSE conducted an oral history project focussing on the Orthapaedic Hospital in Gurranabraher. <br /><br /><span>Many of the staff and services once provided at the Grattan Street Health Centre site were moved to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. </span><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>
<strong>Swimming Article</strong><br /><br />Kieran Murphy and James Furey co-authored an article about<br /><a href="https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com/p/swim-city?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Swimming in Cork</a> which appeared in the online magazine Tripe + Drisheen. This article features a number of interview extracts collected as part of the Grattan Street Stories Project.
<strong>Related Interviews<br /><br /></strong>CFP_SR00756_Quilligan_2019;<br />CFP_SR00758_Broderick_2019;<br />CFP_SR00670_OShea_2018;<strong><br /><br /></strong>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Cork Folklore Project
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Audio
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
16 .wav Files
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Imelda Cunning
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Kieran Murphy
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
103 Minutes 3 Seconds
Location
The location of the interview
Grattan Street Medical Centre
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
.wav
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
24bit / 48kHz
Time Summary
A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.00 - 0.02.27</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Background and House</strong></p>
<p>Grew up in Bathgate between Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, mom is from Cork. Spent time in Cork as child granny from Greenmount. Great-grand parents lived in James Street. Granny from Barrack Street lived in Whitegate, married to a guard [Garda] from Cavan.</p>
<p>2 sisters and 2 brothers. 3 weeks in Cork, and holiday in October.</p>
<p>Old house and moved to estate where lots of people to play with. Then moved to house on main road where lots of older people.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.02.27 - 0.04.23</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Children’s Games</strong></p>
<p>Hide and Seek, chap door run (run away knock), elastics, skipping, marbles, kiss cuddle and torture (boys chased the girls and if you were caught you got to decide between as kiss, cuddle and torture), British Bulldogs (someone always got hurt doing it).</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.04.23 - 0.14.27</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Memories of Granny (Grand Mother)</strong></p>
<p>Impact on family still, had a saying for everything. Saw funny side of things even though she had a hard life. Getting Imelda to go back to the butchers claiming “those aren’t four lean chump chops”</p>
<p>Freedom of spending time in Whitegate, playing in Trabolgan- archway supposedly haunted by a duke.</p>
<p>Granny’s house was rented, beside the barracks, had four bedrooms. Mattresses for them when they called over.</p>
<p>Granny would cook scones, custard, stews. She played piano and sang. Loved music, had record of James Last.</p>
<p>One of granny’s sayings: “Throw a bit of lipstick on brighten yourself up”</p>
<p>She was small, wore glasses, long-sighted. She was a milliner and dress-maker. Annamae Aherne was a woman from the village who told Imelda her granny had made her first ball gown for her first dance. She did alterations for people. She had a Singer Sewing Machine with a foot pedal. In her 80s granny’s eyesight was going but she would work the foot pedal and Imelda thread the needle and guided it.</p>
<p>Granny crocheted as well.</p>
<p>She had lodgers. Eddie Tucker meteorologist at Roches Point lodged with granny for 25 years. Tony Cotter (meteorologist) lodged there for a while (Silvia was his wife). Headmaster at local school lodged with her for a while.</p>
<p>Liam Cotter walked her dog in the rain and when he returned she had a warm towel ready for the dog not Liam!</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.14.27 - 0.18.18</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Granny’s House in Whitegate</strong></p>
<p>Scotsman piper as a knocker on her front door. Beautiful view from her front door of the sea across to Cobh. There was a garage next door and she would sit and chat with Gerry O’Connell.</p>
<p>Spent time on Corkbeg beach where the refinery and holding tanks are now. There was a ballroom there. Spent all day on the beach. Dad and granny would bring the stews and potatoes from the house to the beach. Inch beach, even if it was raining.</p>
<p>In and out of the water all day. Inch had good waves to dive into. Cousins there as well. Lanagan cousins from Dublin, Gibson cousins from Leixlip.</p>
<p>She loved Cork because it had better weather than Scotland.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.18.18 - 0.22.25</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Stories from her Granny</strong></p>
<p>Granny said she heard a banshee the night before her husband died. Heard a noise at the door and opened it and there was no one there.</p>
<p>Grandfather stationed in Blarney before Whitegate. Thinks her granny “liked to play the field a bit” and had arranged to meet different men and she had to send her sister to meet one and cancel one of the meetings.</p>
<p>Granny’s sister cut off her granny’s long plaited hair. Imelda’s granddad used to cycle from Whitegate to Cavan to see his family and would get as far as Mullingar on the first day.</p>
<p>Great grand parents lived on James Street Mary Ellen and Jeremiah Ahern, buried in Ballyphehane cemetery. Learned about them from great-aunt in Greenmount Buildings off Barrack Street.</p>
<p>Dad was Scottish and had sense of Irishness but his mother didn’t as they left Northern Ireland as Catholics in a predominantly Catholic area.</p>
<p>Imelda’s mom went back and did her “highers” exams the same year Imelda was doing hers.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.22.25 - 0.24.50</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Grand-Aunt</strong></p>
<p>Grand-aunt was funny and had funny sayings like “drinking your tears” with laughter. A sideboard was where you kept dishes, condiments, sugar bowl, drawers with cutlery. Dish for the salt rather than salt shaker.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.24.50 - 0.31.26</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>School</strong></p>
<p>In Scotland: mixed school, state schools, catholic school. St Mary’s primary School Bathgate. Dad’s sister was a teacher and she came to that school when on her placement.</p>
<p>Mistress of the infant school would dye her hair a different colour every week pink and blue. Some of the teachers psychologically unhinged.</p>
<p>Nun who slapped people with a hoover slap and would run her knuckles down pupils’ spines.</p>
<p>There was a mine underneath the school to train the boys how to work in a mine. It had good sports facilities. At Christmas they had a Ceilidh, which Imelda had at her wedding and everyone loved.</p>
<p>She liked English and History. It annoys her that they weren’t taught Scottish history. Says there is a difference between rebellion and uprising.</p>
<p>Very little Irish history on their curriculum in Scotland.</p>
<p>She feels Scottish but has an affiliation with Ireland. She’s been in Ireland over 20 years and doesn’t think she will lose her accent.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.31.26 - 0.33.13</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Family Tree</strong></p>
<p>Great grandfather was apparently good with horses and was a coachman in Ballymena House although there is no record of him in the archives. He lived until his nineties. And he was a gardener too. Worked in garden in Ayrshire. Granny didn’t speak about Northern Ireland at all and considered herself Scottish.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.33.13 - 0.36.33</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Choice of Career and Career Path</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Didn’t know what she wanted to do in school, thought about optics but didn’t like physics. Applied for Podiatry in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Got a place in Glasgow and enjoyed it. Opened a practice in Bathgate, family involved in medicine. Dad was optician, sister dentist and sister optician.</span></p>
<p><span>Moved to Dublin when she was going out with a man from Drogheda and worked in Inchicore and then moved back home when they split up. Got a job with greater Glasgow health board. And worked in Lothian. Shettleston in Glasgow.</span></p>
<p><span>Job came up for diabetic unit in CUH, Dr O’Halloran looking for a podiatrist which she didn’t get but was second on the panel but didn’t understand what that meant. Later a job came up in the community and she took it, back in 1999. </span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.36.33 - 0.39.54</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Choosing Podiatry for University & career. Dad’s influence</strong></p>
<p>Had been thinking about different options but couldn’t come up with anything better and felt pressurised to make a choice. Hated Podiatry after the first year as it was mostly revision for her and she was bored. She began to enjoy it in second year when there was more patient interaction and became more challenging.</p>
<p>Her dad had a formula for all the children in school for which subjects they did. He thought that if you have a vocational job that you will always be employed, didn’t want them to be hired by large corporate companies where they could be fired.</p>
<p>Her brother did law, brother is GP, sister dentist, sister optometrist. Thinks her dad was a bit closed to other occupations. It wasn’t bad advice but she won’t be using that approach with her children.</p>
<p>A nephew doing economics and another doing architecture and they love them. Family is all fairly artistic but it wasn’t an option at the time.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.39.54 - 0.42.00</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Father’s Optician Practice</strong></p>
<p>Imelda and family worked there. She could write prescriptions for lenses and repair glasses.</p>
<p>Dad worked five days a week and two evenings as well. Didn’t have much time off. He had five kids had to work hard. He retired at 67. Still enjoys his whiskey.</p>
<p>He’s very sociable, people would wait for two hours to go to see him. He would be buzzed for the next patient but he would still be talking to the previous one.</p>
<p>Teachers in her school would know what Imelda was doing because they would have heard from her dad.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.42.00- 0.44.15</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Living in Glasgow and College</strong></p>
<p>Loved people from Glasgow who are friendly and warm more so than Edinburgh. 17 when went to college, she had done 6 years in secondary school. Claire, a friend from school, did podiatry as well. But they picked a flat to live which was a “dry area” where no alcohol was served.</p>
<p>Ski club in college. Imelda says if you can ski in Scotland you can ski anywhere because it’s dangerous and icy and with exposed rocks.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.44.15 - 0.48.06</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Training </strong></p>
<p>Small college not affiliated with university, and it was a diploma. Not a degree and affiliated with Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh and Caledonia in Glasgow.</p>
<p>On Crookston Road in a prefab where the clinics were. Because it was free everybody came and they could cater for 40 or 50 people. A podiatry school was established in Ireland about 6 years ago (2013) it’s in NUIG Galway University. Cork put in a bid for it but didn’t get it. [Whispers that Cork should’ve gotten it!] thinks that they bought the curriculum and course content from Glasgow.</p>
<p>Glasgow was a small place so you got to know the lecturers well.</p>
<p>Training was 9-5. Over the summer clinical set had to be done over the holidays because patients needed to be seen. 2 or 3 days of lectures and 2 or 3 days of clinics as well.</p>
<p>Lots of hours of clinical training which she thought was good to get the practical experience as podiatry is a job that requires dexterity.</p>
<p>She thinks the focus now in training is more on the background, and that a lot of people graduating now cannot treat a corn because they haven’t been shown properly or haven’t been exposed enough to it. Focus is also now more on wound care.</p>
<p>Focus on wound care in high risk patients means you lose skills in other things like biomechanics and nail surgery.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.48.06 - 0.52.38</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Role of Podiatrist</strong></p>
<p>Not about cutting toenails. They do cut toenails if there is something wrong with them. Holistic view of the patient. Look at the patient from the waist down. Biomechanics is the way people walk and the alignment of the joints and muscles. Hen toed and bow-legged. Some things can be corrected if seen early enough.</p>
<p>Most of her patients are older, they are diabetics or have neurovascular disease or other neurological issues which you are not correcting just offloading to prevent ulceration.</p>
<p>Diabetes on the increase and its complications can cause terrible things with feet- ulcers, gangrene etc. Wound care is a big part of what she does. Including removing skin, tissue and bone from wounds.</p>
<p>Focus on wound care may not be what they should be doing. Issues with nail surgery. Hopes it will be sorted when State Registration comes in.</p>
<p>4 staff when Imelda started 20 years ago and there are 6 now. She thinks there should be over 60 now in her Cork area based on the population. There were 96 podiatrists in Glasgow when she worked there. Biggest population in HSE South.</p>
<p>Fighting fire all the time not doing any prevention.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.52.38 - 0.57.00</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Typical Client or Patient</strong></p>
<p>All high risk. Greater risk or have had ulceration, infection, amputation, gangrene. Active means they currently have one of those issues. Those with potential to develop problems may have problems with circulation, sensation or underlying medical conditions.</p>
<p>Should be getting the moderate risk people and helping them from developing into</p>
<p>Never-ending ‘like painting the Forth Bridge’. [colloquial expression for an unending task]</p>
<p>Lots of diabetics. Majority of those with foot diseases are vascular because the vascular team doesn’t have a foot team. Mainly over 65s.</p>
<p>But have people under 65 and have a few children too.</p>
<p>Frustrating to only by offering a limited services because of lack of staff.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.57.00 - 0.58.28</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Nail surgery</strong></p>
<p>Podiatrists enjoy doing nail surgery. When local anaesthetic issue is cleared up they will have to be retrained in nail surgery in NUIG (National University Galway). Not legal under Irish Medicines Board to use and buy and store anaesthetic. Could use it now if they could get a patient group directive going.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.58.28 - 1.01.50</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Podiatry in Glasgow</strong></p>
<p>More of a general podiatry service. More structure in the services. Specialist clinics with pathways. A wider range than in Cork. Range of things that should be seen in Cork but were seen in Glasgow.</p>
<p>Worked with foot care assistant. Did a biomechanics clinic. Did a nail surgery once a month to keep up to speed. Doing the same thing in Cork becomes monotonous and boring a bit of variety is more interesting and challenging.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.01.50 - 1.05.26</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Impression of Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Thought it looked like Colditz because of the bars on the windows. Was feeling quite despondent about it. Thought “oh my god what have I done”</p>
<p>Marion O’Donovan founded the podiatry service in 1967 in Greenmount Community Centre.</p>
<p>Imelda had been working in Bishopbriggs in Glasgow seeing 30 patients a day- which was lunacy. Worked with foot care assistant and it was like a conveyer belt. She used a scalpel for the debridement [the removal of damaged tissue or foreign objects from a wound.]</p>
<p>When she started with Marion they had 4 patients in the morning. Marion was very kind to her and didn’t want to scare her by giving her too many patients at the beginning. Told Marion “you could book in a few more!” Marion was very nice and ‘mothered’</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.05.26 - 1.08.06</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Big Changes of Staff</strong></p>
<p>Speech and language were there and left before Imelda started. Secretarial staff- there has been a huge turnover of staff from Admin support. Aisling who is the current agency staff is great.</p>
<p>Imelda, Marion, Helen, Vicky were in Podiatry. Marion is retired. Helen has been there the longest. Helen does 2 days a week, Vicky does 3 days a week, Imelda does 4 days a week.</p>
<p>PHNs change a lot, AMOs change a lot and admin staff has changed as well. Lots of people coming through Grattan Street and so Imelda knows a lot of people from different areas- a good form of networking. Good that she knows who to contact, especially about patients.</p>
<p>[Phone Rings. Interview Paused]</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.08.06 - 1.09.31</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>[interview restarts]<br /><br /><strong>Dislikes Unsuitable Grattan Street Building</strong></p>
<p>Never thought it was a nice building. Bars on the windows. Hasn’t seen it painted. Money has not been spent on it. It’s a clinical environment which has not been well maintained. Imelda will not be sad when Grattan Street closes. Substandard. Holes in the wall. Will miss the camaraderie.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.09.31 - 1.10.42</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Parking in Grattan Street and relations with Colleagues</strong></p>
<p>Parking has been a nightmare. There has nearly been fisticuffs about it. May have to move your car ten times when with a patient. Lucky to have free parking.</p>
<p>On the whole got on well with colleagues, except for a few who were hard to get on with due to odd personalities.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.10.42 - 1.12.00</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Patients’ Perspective of Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Imelda tries to get patients to complain about the holes and cracks in walls. People don’t want to complain but they are happy with the service and the people.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.12.00 - 1.15.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Grattan Street vs a Different Environment St Mary’s</strong></p>
<p>Would like pleasant surroundings for the workplace where people spend so much of their time.</p>
<p>Imelda describes Grattan Street as a kip. 20 years working in that environment is not good.</p>
<p>Hopes that in St Mary’s the services can be expanded. Set up an ad hoc foot care clinic in Mayfield and it was a way of saving HSE money as patients were being prescribed bespoke footwear from GPs which is expensive and may not often be needed. Imelda can insert insoles into stock shoes which helps the patients and saves the HSE money. No shelves have been put in to stock the shoes. </p>
<p>St Mary’s will have a space for storing shoes, there will be a workshop, a state-of-the-art sterilisation room and four clinical rooms. They are also going paperless. They will have a new computer system. This is possible because they are such a small unit. There are 8 filing cabinets in podiatry in Grattan Street and there will not be space in St Mary’s for these. </p>
<p>Hopes that the camaraderie of Grattan Street will continue in St Mary’s, although she has heard the canteen is small and it’s hard to get to the kettle.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.15.30 - 1.21.12</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Grattan Street, Attitudes to Migrants and Refugees</strong></p>
<p>Imelda started in Grattan Street in 1999 there had been a brain drain going on in Ireland with people leaving. Since there was no school of podiatry in Ireland they were relying on people from the UK coming to fill positions. One of Imelda’s first patients was very angry that an Irish person couldn’t be found to do her job. She told him not someone as good as she was!</p>
<p>This patient had had a few children who had to leave to get work and he couldn’t understand how Imelda came in and got a job and they weren’t able to. Around this time refugees started to come into Ireland. Imelda was surprised by the racism of the over mainly 65 year old patients and what they thought it was acceptable to say. Imelda thinks it would be worse if she were black. She heard a lot of hatred towards immigrants because so many people had to leave Ireland to get work. Imelda pointed out that Irish people had to be accepted in places that they went to.</p>
<p>People were suspicious of her coming into the country possibly because they weren’t used to people coming into the country. People would say things about immigrants taking “our jobs”. Wouldn’t expect to hear people say that so openly in Glasgow as a much more diverse city.</p>
<p>Imelda doesn’t hear those kinds of comments now.</p>
<p>She thinks that new graduates get a hard time from patients at first, because they are new, younger and it is almost a rite of passage. It can be hard for patients having been used to one clinician to switch to a new one.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.21.12 - 1.23.50</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Change in Patients</strong></p>
<p>Imelda knows of a woman from Africa whose foot was put into a fire. She survived but the deformity she has is horrific. [1:22:23 phone rings and Imelda says she has to move her car] Woman was only 13 when this happened to her.</p>
<p>Many similar stories and stories from older people of sexual abuse. Imelda feels ill-equipped to deal with it. If Imelda hears of it she has to report it, but the patients don’t want her to report it and just want to tell her in confidence. They have maybe never spoken to anyone about it before. They tend to open up as they see the same person repeatedly so they build up trust.</p>
<p>[Pause Interview for Imelda to move her Car]</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.23.50 - 1.25.20</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>[Interview Restarts]<strong><br /><br />Helping Patients beyond Podiatry</strong><br />In Imelda’s role she feels she is a bit of a social worker as well.</p>
<p>Refers people to counselling services which are free in North and South Lee. For sexual abuse, deaths etc.</p>
<p>Quite a few patients do take that help but you have to almost make the phone call for them.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.25.20 - 1.28.45</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Future of Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Imelda doesn’t know exactly what is happening with Grattan Street but thinks other services are moving in. Thinks work will have to be done on the building if it is to keep functioning for the HSE.</p>
<p>There was bucket in canteen collecting water every time it rained for a years. No one should have to work in an environment like that Imelda thinks.</p>
<p>Imelda just feels that about Grattan Street that she will “close the door” and “put it behind me”.</p>
<p>Hates the canteen and the building thinks it’s horrible, dirty and filthy. Thinks people like it because it’s small and lots of people know each other from having worked there together for a long time.</p>
<p>She thinks that people will miss the people not the building.</p>
<p>The building used to be the Dispensary which provided free healthcare she thinks. Her patients when she started used to tell her that. They told her the doctors were in the dispensary, she thinks it was free health care. They used to come to get medicine.</p>
<p>Quaker meeting house before that, and they left it to the HSE.</p>
<p>Marriage registry is also in Grattan Street but Imelda doesn’t know why anyone would want to get married there- thinks it’s horrendous! Sees people getting married and taking photographs while she is working and has to wait for them to finish.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.28.45 - 1.29.15</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Grandmother</strong><br />Grandmother’s name: Eileen Ahern maiden name who became Eileen O’Reily when she married.</p>
<p>“Drinking her tears” grand mother’s saying.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.29.15 - 1.32.23</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>State of Podiatry in Ireland and the Option of Private Practice</strong><br />Thinks that Grattan Street podiatry is the best podiatry service in the country, maybe outside of Galway because the school is there. Cork was the first place in the country to provide a podiatry service run by the HSE. </p>
<p>Services need to be expanded. They could retain staff if there was more scope- unless someone is interested in wound care they will enter private practice rather than staying in Grattan Street. Imelda has been tempted to enter private practice. Imelda has done private practice as well in the past. Imelda is now a manager and misses being a clinician because she thinks that is what she does best.</p>
<p>There was a podiatrist in Grattan Street while a patient had a cardiac arrest and the podiatrist got an ambulance and he/she was in such a flap and gave the patient’s home address and not the address for Grattan Street! Patient survived thankfully. And Grattan street now has an AED (Automated External Defibrillator).</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.32.23 - 1.33.10</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>What makes a good podiatrist.</strong></p>
<p>Have to be a good people person and be able to do a bit of social work. Have to be versatile. So many diverse different kinds of people come in. You have to adapt and try to relate to them as best you can. Good communication skills.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.33.10 - 1.37.21</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Would Imelda choose podiatry again?</strong></p>
<p>Thinks she would but then doubts herself. Has enjoyed being a podiatrist. Doesn’t think there is anything that she would prefer to do.</p>
<p>Podiatry takes a toll on your back partly due to poor posture and not having the correct equipment.</p>
<p>Remembers some of her old patients who were great characters. There was a man who lived across the road and was washed out of his house.</p>
<p>During the flood Imelda was in Neptune inoculating children against swine flu. Fiona Kelly was the secretary at the time and her husband’s car was swept away. People in the houses nearby had to live in a hotel for a while.</p>
<p>One of the patients would call her Miss Imelda and the other clinician Miss Vicky.</p>
<p>Learned that this area was the Middle Parish and funny that her great grandparents were born just up the road in James Street.</p>
<p>[Interviewer does the final outro here but there is another part to the interview which follows]</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.37.21 - 1.43.03</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Past Diseases and Vaccines</strong></p>
<p>Imelda didn’t see rickets in Cork even though she had seen a lot of it in Glasgow. “every second person who came into you had the wee bandy legs”. Lack of sunshine in Glasgow due to tenements and high rise.</p>
<p>Polio and TB were big in Cork. But TB was a bit comparable to Glasgow. Her dad had TB and her uncle in Dublin had TB as well.</p>
<p>People don’t remember what some of the diseases that can now be vaccinated for were actually like.</p>
<p>Polio can have long term effects such as deformity, muscle wastage, smaller limbs, leg length difference which requires large platform shoes to make up the difference in the leg length. Debilitating diseases so important to get vaccinations as a child. Especially for TB which Cork did not do regularly you had to request it which she did with her own children.</p>
<p>Her dad talks about when he got TB a lot because he missed a year of school due to it. He had to go to an asylum but his siblings didn’t get it.</p>
<p>Imelda still has patients who had polio. Shoe adaptations or splints are needed for them. It is debilitating and unnecessary.</p>
<p>Imelda thinks that some of her colleagues would have a different view to vaccinations than she would have.</p>
<p>Thinks that to encourage people to get vaccinated they could be shown pictures of things that can happen as a result of not getting your child vaccinated. If that’s the choice between a small chance there might be side effect versus an epidemic of children getting polio. It’s no contest.</p>
<p>Some colleagues might have sort of anti-vax [anti-vaccination] views. They may focus on the side-effects but not on the effects of getting the disease. She thinks it’s reasonable to weight up the facts and see that inoculation is safer. Thinks people have their free choice, although points out that there is talk of making it compulsory. Not certain that she agrees with whether it should be made compulsory or not. But thinks that new mothers have not seen any of these diseases and that they need to see them in action to realise that they do not want their children to have the disease.</p>
<p>Doesn’t agree with taking away freedom of choice. Cannot operate as a dictatorship.</p>
<p>[Interview Ends]</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Imelda Cunning: Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CFP_SR00714_Cunning_2019;
Relation
A related resource
<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>;
Language
A language of the resource
English
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
7 May 2019
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
3 .wav files
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Description
An account of the resource
<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>
Administration
Alcohol
Amputation
Area Medical Officer
Ballyphehane
Beach
Biomechanics
Camaraderie
Canteen
Car Park
Car Parking
Career
Childhood
Children
Children’s Games
Christmas
Client
Clients
Community
Cork
Corkbeg
Corkbeg Beach
Counselling
Course
Deformity
Diabetes
Disease
Diseases
Dispensary
Doctor
Edinburgh
Employment
Family
Feet
Flood
Floods
Foot
Foot Care
Gangrene
Glasgow
GP
Grand-aunt
Grandfather
Grandmother
Grandparents
Grattan Street
Grattan Street Medical Centre
Greenmount
Gurranabraher
Health
Health Career
History Curriculum
Holiday
Holidays
HSE
Illness
Inch beach
Infection
Irish History
Irish Medicines Board
Job
Marriage Registrar
Marsh
Medical
Medicine
Middle Parish
Music
Nail Surgery
Nails
Neurovascular Disease
Optician
Optometrist
Parking
Patient
Patients
Playing
Podiatry
Polio
Prescription
Quakers
Refugees
Rickets
Roches Point
School
Scotland
Sickness
Ski
Skiing
Speech and Language
St. Mary’s Primary Care Centre
Staff
Surgery
Swine Flu
TB
Teacher
Teachers
The Marsh
The Middle Parish
Trabolgan
Training
Tuberculosis
Ulcer
University
Vaccination
vaccine
Vaccines
Whitegate
Work
Work Environment
Working life
-
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/e419d85b95cb03144f9b6f4f836603b6.jpg
e245f89b3e8cbbb2c200a3033ee23a69
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/d12fe1beff5d2f13851bd786dbf54f42.mp3
f89e223784f869b2f3c433e727fa8acb
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<p>Grattan Street Stories: Memory of Place</p>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Occupational Lore; Life History; Built Heritage; Health; Ireland; Cork; Middle Parish
Description
An account of the resource
<p>This collection focuses on a building on Grattan Street which has served as a Quaker Meeting House, a public Dispensary and as the Grattan Street Health Centre. The project was a collaboration between the CFP and the Cork North Community Work Department, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, Health Services Executive HSE. </p>
<p>The interviewees fall into two main groups: those who worked in the building and those who lived in the surrounding area and availed of the services provided in the building.</p>
<p>This project follows on from the collaboration with the HSE in the “<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>”. There is a further connection between the two projects as many of the staff and services once provided in the Grattan Street Health Centre have now relocated to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. This topic of the relocation of services is also covered in some staff interviews. <br /><br />To date (October 2021) 13 interviews have been completed for the project.<br /><br />Interviewees discuss the Grattan Street building itself in terms of its historic significance, its benefits and drawbacks as a workplace. Broader themes related to or inspired by the building are also touched on including: personal relationship with the building, staff camaraderie, the problems with parking, memorable incidents at work, patient experiences and descriptions of the people and services for which the building catered.<br /><br />Healthcare professional interviewees detail their training, career progression and comparisons between Grattan Street and other workplaces. Their testimonies also provide a link with the community of patients they served giving further insight into attitudes to healthcare, diseases, vaccines, description of social conditions and the changes in medicine and technology in their working lives.<br /><br />Non-healthcare professional interviewees describe childhood experiences in or around Grattan Street (The Marsh or The Middle Parish), the social, cultural and economic conditions of the area, tenements, businesses, attitudes to and experiences of healthcare, vaccines, diseases, medicines and medical professionals as well as observed changes in these areas over time.<br /><br />Interviewees also reflect on the possible future uses of the Grattan Street building.<br /><br /><strong>Related Reference Sources</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Barrington, R.<em> (</em>1987) <em>Health, medicine and politics in Ireland, 1900–1970</em>. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.</li>
<li><span>Butler D.M. (2004) <em>The Quaker meeting houses of Ireland</em></span>. Dublin : Irish Friends Historical Committee.</li>
<li><span>Byrne, J. (2004) <em>Byrne's dictionary of Irish local history.</em> Cork: Mercier Press.</span></li>
<li>Cooke, R. T. (1999) <em>My Home by the Lee</em>. Irish Millennium Publications: Cork.</li>
<li><span>Dempsey, P. J. & White, L. W. ‘Childers, Erskine Hamilton’. <em>Dictionary of Irish Biography</em> </span>[Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Harrison, R.S. (1991) <em>Cork City Quakers 1655-1939: A Brief History</em>. Cork.</li>
<li>Houston, M. (2004). ‘Life before the GP’. <em>The</em> <em>Irish Times. </em>Available at : <<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599">https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599</a> > [Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Keohane, F. (2020) <em>The Buildings of Ireland Cork City and County</em>. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.</li>
</ul>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-2020
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<p>Interviewees: Edith O’Regan, 'Mary', Sean Higgisson, Aoife O’Brien, Eileen Kearney, Imelda Cunning, Jane Ward, Liam Ó hUigín, Joe Scanlan, Mary Mulcahy, Philomena Cassidy, Don Morrissy, Derek O’Connell</p>
<p>Interviewer: <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=2&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Kieran+Murphy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kieran Murphy</a>, (<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a>)</p>
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
<p>Cork, Ireland 1940s-2020s; Waterford, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Limerick, Ireland;</p>
Relation
A related resource
<p><strong>Exhibition</strong></p>
<p>Artist Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave (also an interviewee for the project) created a visual artwork based around the Grattan Street Medical Centre building itself, as a workplace and health centre. The artwork incorporated direct quotations from the oral history interviews conducted for the project, and also included brief historical paragraphs about the building researched, written and edited by the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy. This exhibition was launched on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 in “St Peter’s” on the North Main Street where a “Listening Event” was also held to mark the occasion.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" alt="Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" /><br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"></p>
<p><strong>Presentation and Listening Event</strong></p>
<p>To coincide with the launch of the Grattan Street Stories Exhibtion on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 a listening event and presentation of the history of the Grattan Street Medical Centre building and description of the project was given by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/427A7714-1.jpg" alt="427A7714-1.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Presentation</strong></p>
<p>In 2019 at the OHNI conference the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy discussed social media and oral history which included audio excerpts from the Grattan Street Stories Project along with photographs of the building.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" alt="Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Audio Visual Presentation</strong></p>
<p>An audio-visual slideshow was produced featuring oral testimony from the Grattan Street Stories Project and combined with suitable images of Grattan Street and from Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave’s exhibition. This was created by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnjEtQeOb3I&t=1s&ab_channel=CorkFolklore" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Audio Visual Presentation Available to listen and view here.</a>
<p><strong>Health and Vaccines Oral History Research<br /></strong><br />Many of the interviews conducted for the Grattan Street project formed an integral part of the testimonies and research for the innovative<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">'Catching Stories'<span> </span>of infectious disease in Ireland </a>project funded by the Irish Research Council.<br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" alt="Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Social Media</strong> <br /><br />Numerous suitable audio excerpts from the oral history interviews have been edited and shared on CFP's social media channels.<br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736</a>
<strong>Orthopaedic Hospital</strong><br />Cork Folklore Project in collaboration with the HSE conducted an oral history project focussing on the Orthapaedic Hospital in Gurranabraher. <br /><br /><span>Many of the staff and services once provided at the Grattan Street Health Centre site were moved to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. </span><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>
<strong>Swimming Article</strong><br /><br />Kieran Murphy and James Furey co-authored an article about<br /><a href="https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com/p/swim-city?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Swimming in Cork</a> which appeared in the online magazine Tripe + Drisheen. This article features a number of interview extracts collected as part of the Grattan Street Stories Project.
<strong>Related Interviews<br /><br /></strong>CFP_SR00756_Quilligan_2019;<br />CFP_SR00758_Broderick_2019;<br />CFP_SR00670_OShea_2018;<strong><br /><br /></strong>
Creator
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Cork Folklore Project
Source
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Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Publisher
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Cork Folklore Project
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Cork Folklore Project
Language
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English
Type
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Audio
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16 .wav Files
Oral History
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Interviewee
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Mary
Interviewer
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Kieran Murphy
Duration
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112 Minutes 13 Seconds
Location
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Bishopstown
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.wav
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24bit / 48kHz
Time Summary
A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.00 - 0.00.25</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Intro</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.25 - 0.02.29</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Background</strong></p>
<p>Grew up in County Limerick. Dad died when young. Early memory as 3 year old feeding a calf. Trained in St Johns Limerick, midwifery in Glasgow, 1975 went to Australia- Melbourne, Sidney, Brisbane. Returned after a year. Worked in Orthopaedic hospital in Croom, Limerick. Came to Cork, worked in Sarsfield’s Court [Glanmire] in the chest unit. Met a man which is why she stayed in Cork. Nursing involved night-duty and weekends, and "Mary" was thinking forward and did the Public Health Course to become PHN Public Health Nurse- first assignment was Middle Parish based in Grattan Street.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.02.29 - 0.05.26</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Early Memories: Father’s Death, Family</strong></p>
<p>Women with tea and USA biscuits. Seeing lines of men in the hay barn and animals coming out- must have been auction of the animals.</p>
<p>One older brother mentally & physically handicapped, 2 younger sisters. Mental Hospital St Joseph’s in Limerick rented land from their farm so there was an income coming in without the mother taking sole responsibility for running the farm. It was therapy for the patients working on the farm despite being out in all weather. "Mary" thinks that many of the male patients were there as a result of the war. One man was called Sergeant. "Mary's" family also got fresh vegetables from them.</p>
<p>Learning process for them, learned who they could trust and who not- “heightened our awareness of mankind”. Some people were fit and healthy and others had mental issues.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.05.26 - 0.09.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Memory of Smell of Tripe Cooking reminds of dad</strong></p>
<p>When in St Johns in 2<sup>nd</sup> year of training ages 19 or 20- she had a memory of a taste and smell. Walking on corridor in 1<sup>st</sup> floor she got the smell. Found her way to room 8 and a priest was having tripe and drisheen or tripe and packet as it’s called in Limerick.</p>
<p>You could get the smell passing Shaws abattoir on the way into Limerick City. They had a hooter which would sound at 1pm and 5pm or 6pm in the evening which could be heard by "Mary" at home.</p>
<p>Says that tripe is the lining of a sheep’s stomach. “Villi”- nooks and crannies. Still buys it in the English Market on the left hand-side when you enter from the Grand Parade- and there was someone in front of her in the queue so she wasn’t the only one buying it! Advises opening a window to let the small out!</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.09.30 - 0.10.35</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Typical Day on the Farm when Growing up- making bread</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>They had a cow on the farm. Woman called May who helped out their mother on the farm. They would put on their “busy coat” or “duds” to milk cow, bring in milk, make brown soda bread.</p>
<p>Remembers mother making bread around 10am in an earthenware crock with sour milk in it which went into the Aga oven.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.10.35 - 0.13.05</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Learning about her Mother Remarrying</strong></p>
<p>Tom worked with the mental hospital and he would call in and there was a china cup for him. "Mary" asked her mother whether Tom slept in the house now, and previously asked May where her mother was and was told she was on holidays. Subsequently she realised that her mother had married Tom and they had been on honeymoon.</p>
<p>Reflects on how little information she was given about this change in situation and how it applies in her nursing role and thinks that sometimes less information is better when dealing with young children who may not fully understand everything.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.13.05- 0.16.00</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Typical Day on the Farm when Growing up</strong></p>
<p>In winter deal with the cow: hay, water, and muck out. Cow let out in the field in spring and summer. Dinner would be any time after the cake was made- ready about 12:30. Dinner usually bacon, cabbage, carrots, parsnips. As season moved on more turnips and potatoes. Seasonal. Started with Ker Pinks then Golden Wonders, didn’t like soapy Aran Banners. Then apple or rhubarb tarts. Supper at 5pm or 6pm: beans, bananas, eggs. They had hens which had to be fed.</p>
<p>Went to bed at 8pm or 9pm. In evening have to bring the cow back down and there might be 10 or 12 bullocks following you- nightmare that they would trample you to death?</p>
<p>Mother and May made the food. When "Mary" was 7 or 8 years old May was let go as "Mary" was considered old enough to help out.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.16.00- 0.17.57</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Interaction with the Patients of the Mental Hospital</strong></p>
<p>Looking out the window watching them. Sheep shearing and rolling of the wool. Taking off the “daggings” and rolling the wool into fleeces. Or bringing in the hay watching them piking and the change from horses to tractors.</p>
<p>There was an archway into their yard and it became harder to get larger machines through the arch over time.</p>
<p>Later on it became bales of hay rather than wines of hay (in Limerick) whereas in Cork they would call it trams.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.17.57 - 0.19.17</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Animals, Games and Mushrooms</span></strong></p>
<p><span>They prepared the animals with special soaps for the Limerick Show in August [Limerick Agricultural Show Society]. As children they would sit on the walls in the cow house (cowhouse) and use the chains as stirrups and pretend to be riding horses.</span></p>
<p><span>Picked mushrooms in fields often along the path the cows had made where you’d find mushrooms.</span><span> </span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.19.17- 0.21.36</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Going to School and Standing up for Yourself</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Walk across the fields to get to the road to school which was 2 miles away, wear wellies if raining. When older cycled to school. Had the younger sister in the carrier. Fell off the bike coming down Ryan’s Hill and the sister fell into the bushes and the nettles. Mother gave out to them for falling off the bike.</span></p>
<p><span>In 6<sup>th</sup> class coming up the hill on was home from school at cousin Mick Clancy’s hill boys thought it was fun to hold on to the carrier to hold them back. "Mary's" mother advised to throw a stone at the boys. The next time it happened she picked up a rock and the boys ran away. It was lesson for "Mary" for life to stand up for herself and that the threat was enough to work.</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.21.36- 0.25.44</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>School</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>5 years old when she started school, thinks it might have been around Easter time. Small two teacher school. Mrs McAvoy the principal of the school had taught her father, and was distantly related to "Mary". "Mary's" sister was put on the teacher’s desk to be admired because of her beautiful eyes and hair- which she disliked because she was being made to feel different. </p>
<p>6 pupils in her class in 5<sup>th</sup> class and they were given the choice to do History and Geography through English or Irish and they chose to do it through Irish. The teacher was from Dingle and from him they learned a “love and appreciation” for Irish.</p>
<p>Had good spoken Irish in a secondary school in Limerick City. Her knowledge of Irish helped later on as a PHN when she was assigned an area which had a Gaeltacht in it. Most Gaeltacht schools were insistent that the PHNs did use Irish.</p>
<p>"Mary" went to Secondary School in the Presentation in Sexton Street.<strong> </strong></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.25.44 - 0.27.57</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Neighbour’s House and JP McManus on a Bike</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>A little old lady, a spinster called Noni lived in road opposite them. She had old open fireplace with bellows, and thatched roof and two dogs. "Mary" had a step-brother and a step-sister. The step brother was quiet and calm in Noni’s house but he was cross and looking for attention when he was at home.</p>
<p>A guy in secondary school used to cycle past in a red bike and "Mary" later discovered it was JP McManus [businessman and racehorse owner] and her younger sister knew him.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.27.57 - 0.29.49</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Starting in Nursing after School</strong></p>
<p>Always in the back of her mind to do nursing. Did leaving cert when 17 and did interview for nursing. Had started a commercial course. The Blue Nuns ran St. John’s Hospital and knew she was due to start in February. Millford House in Castletroy was run by Blue Nuns and they had a nursing home and "Mary" dropped the commercial course and worked there as a nurses aid. It was a good introduction and confidence building exercise for her. "Mary" thinks that for the nuns patient care was paramount and the written work less important but it is almost the reverse today.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.29.49 - 0.34.51</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Decision to do Nursing and Other Career Options</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Looking at magazines and what nursing involved. Career guidance consisted of blue leaflets. Through the commercial course "Mary" heard about the Junior X course to get into the civil service and the ESB jobs which she hadn’t been aware of through school. Travel was something that she considered and nursing catered for that. The nurses who had lived abroad were easier to work with they had a broader perspective on life and “didn’t sweat the small stuff”.</p>
<p>When you started nursing you got to see the different fields and "Mary" liked theatre work and enjoyed the labour ward when she was doing midwifery. Matron had said to her that she should considered doing the tutoring course. Thinks this is because she was questioning what her tutor was reading out of textbooks. </p>
<p>She applied for the tutoring course. But she while she had anatomy and biology for the leaving cert but not chemistry and physics. So she did leaving cert physics and chemistry that year but dropped the physics because she had also taken on introduction to psychology. But she had already gotten the Public Health so she chose that.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.34.51 - 0.43.07</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Public Health Nurse: Role and Duties</strong></p>
<p>PHN you are on your own to some extent you can plan your day, assess the patient. Communicate with the patient GP and hospital. You were independent to a large extent. Had continuity you could see things improving or ‘disimproving’.</p>
<p>House visits, vaccination clinics as part of a team, coffee or lunch in Grattan Street where you met other disciplines not just nursing. A mix.</p>
<p>Could be rostered for a dressings clinic in Grattan Street. They might have been referred after discharge from the Mercy Hospital. Now the Mercy would have its own dressings clinic. </p>
<p>Going to schools dealing with healthy children and teachers. Originally had an admin person with them but now just a doctor and nurse when going to vaccinate in schools. </p>
<p>HPV vaccination a big team goes to try to get the first years done in one go. </p>
<p>Health promotion going into houses and dealing with young mums. Private houses, corporation houses built in 1950s and 1960s, apartments or flats as they called them then. Leave a note for someone who you couldn’t find in a flat. Maybe a baby that wasn’t feeding very well. Hear that the mother has moved house and start detective work to track her down asking neighbours. And the nurse in their new area would be informed. </p>
<p>Write letters to council about the poor conditions of housing. And then neighbours would ask for letters then as well.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.43.07 - 0.51.42</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Perspective & Expectations of Patients on Healthcare</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Most people were welcoming and giving you tea that you didn’t want. A few were trying to get the PHN to adapt too much to their own schedules.</p>
<p>For patients the PHN came at the beginning of life and at the end of life. Would be asked “do you think it’s better today nurse?” and trying to read the emotions of the other family members.</p>
<p>Understanding with the GP about what the family situation was. Some people would ask for everything they thought they could get other families would never ask for anything. </p>
<p>PHN has to decide how necessary a request is or how much someone needs to be persuaded.</p>
<p>Try to stay on side and be persistent.</p>
<p>Older people at the time had the idea that you only left a hospital in a box. So it could be hard to persuade them to go to hospital. Fear of lack of independence as well. </p>
<p>Reflect on how nursing training prepares PHN for these situations. "Tread wearily" and "feel the vibes" when entering a new patient environment. </p>
<p>Privilege to be with people in their time of need because you felt that you were doing something and you were a support to the family especially in the time before morphine pumps. Even saying “I don’t think anything is going to happen tonight” might be the simple reassurance that the family wants. </p>
<p>Fear with a bedbound patient is that they would get pressure sores. One of the ways to avoid this is to change their position. And there was some education involved in ensuring whoever was moving the patient when the PHN isn’t there was doing it correctly. Extended family would assist with a patient in a way less common today. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.51.42 - 0.55.45</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Memories of mothers and their babies and music</strong></p>
<p>Remembers a family who lived in one of the lanes off North Main Street. “me mam” was what the family called the beautiful mother who had a lame leg, she had grey-blond hair. One of the daughters had a baby that had a life-limited condition. The whole family were supporting them. They were always well made-up and the sick baby was in the middle. The baby didn’t survive only lived for 8 or 9 months. The family used to sing “Brown Girl in the Ring” by Boney M and the baby used to recognise it and respond. </p>
<p>Sleet and rain coming up North Main Street. Pound shop maybe called Powers Jim Reeves and Bing Crosby singing White Christmas which lifted her heart. Streets were full at Christmastime.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.55.45 - 1.01.36</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Patients and Cases and conditions in the Grattan Street/ Middle Parish Area</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Remembers rickety stairs leading to flats above shops which you wouldn’t realise were there.<span> </span></p>
<p><strong>Old man lived in laneway off Grattan Street</strong> in a tenement house like those in Glasgow she had seen near York Hill, with red sandstone buildings. Went to this man on a quick “social visit” and he had rasping breath. Just “kippins” or laths on the fire. No electricity. Waiting two hours for ambulance to come. Man didn’t survive. Something else in place of the building now. There may not have been a door on the house you could just walk straight in.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.55.45 - 0.58.18</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Patients and Cases and conditions in the Grattan Street/ Middle Parish Area- difficulties of nursing and dealing with different agencies.</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Woman with dementia in 1970s </strong>one room flat in warm house. Bathroom outside. Wasn’t able to look after herself. Had the newspapers stored on top of the electric cooker. GP trying to get her somewhere. Woman would lock herself out. Half naked walking across Sheare’s Street. "Mary" put her in own car and brought her to Our Lady’s Hospital to be seen by psychiatrist. They wouldn’t take her because of her age. Arranged geriatrician appointment who wouldn’t take her because she was psychiatric. A “street woman” (homeless woman) moved in with her and was able to make sure the house wouldn’t be set on fire. Meals on Wheels or Penny Dinners sharing the one meal. "Mary's" frustration with the bureaucracy.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.58.18 - 1.05.20</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Woman with Flea Bites/ Flea Marks</strong></p>
<p>"Mary" being polite said told her it was a rash but the woman had no qualms about calling them fleabites. "Mary" got temporary eviction order to clean out her flat. Process was traumatic for "Mary" & the woman. Woman spent her time in St Francis Church while her flat was being cleaned. The woman had collected things from bins and stored them in her house in case she might use them and they removed 57 bags of rubbish. Found a beautiful photograph album. Mounds of rubbish as high as the bed. Bucket to empty into the toilet. Candles in danger of burning the house down. The woman was upset that her stuff had been taken but they had put her things in storage in case she wanted them. As PHN you can wear your own clothes but "Mary"wore white uniform in case of infestation in the flat. Man from environmental health section sprayed the flat. "Mary" counted 57 dead fleas on her uniform when she took it off in the bath when she got home.</p>
<p>Later with her boyfriend at the time the same woman shouted “Hello nurse!” at her.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.05.20 - 1.18.38</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Vaccines, Vaccination and the anti-vaccination</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>People were pro vaccinate after 1956 polio outbreak in Cork. Many people would have been familiar with Polio, its devastating affect and that you can be vaccinated against it. People had to come to the clinic 3 or 4 times with a baby which might be difficult for families with many children and buggies. Remembers vulnerable family in Knocknaheeney. The mother was poor with keeping appointments and she came in the pouring rain with 4 or 5 children. Cost of taxi was 11 pounds or euro even though she had to live on social welfare. The staff suggested that she could get a bus. But she pointed out that one of her children was ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and that he would be climbing on the bus stop. "Mary" says the woman deserved a medal and reflects that they as staff had been judging her for her predicament.</p>
<p>Crowds of people and buggies. Role of extended family in assisting with child rearing. Some children may be difficult to deal with. Obstacles to families getting children vaccinated. </p>
<p>Vaccination card files. Brought from City Hall to the place of vaccination and not locked. Vaccines were taken from a fridge in City Hall and brought in a biscuit tin along with adrenaline in case someone had a reaction. Compares this to the modern method of cold-chain. </p>
<p>After Professor Wakefield made an association between MMR vaccine and autism the vaccination uptake reduced and it’s been an uphill battle since to reverse it. </p>
<p>In 1970s and 1980s there was memory of measles, mumps, meningitis and polio. </p>
<p>"Mary" worked in a school where a child refused vaccinations in junior infants in the early 1980s. That child got measles, encephalitis and was in a wheelchair by 1<sup>st</sup> class and by age 8 or 9 she was dead. HCA (Handicapped Childrens Allowance) allowance handicapped children’s allowance financial support for the extra care that was needed for the child. Thinks of the scaremongering about vaccines and the consciences of those people if they knew what the result of not getting vaccinated was. That incident happened in the early 1980s. </p>
<p>Worked with a doctor who had difficulty walking after he had got polio in the 1950s. </p>
<p>Young mothers in 1970s and 1980s had mothers who influenced them based on their accounts in the diseases in 1950s.</p>
<p>Rural approach to vaccines: if you eat healthy and are healthy then you won’t contract the disease. "Mary" says that while a weaker person succumbs to a disease faster it’s not a protection against a disease. Rural culture which still exists of “I don’t believe in vaccines”.</p>
<p>HPV vaccines. With all vaccines certain percentage of risk even though it is very rare. Weigh up the advantages versus the risk of something happening.</p>
<p>Vaccine cold chain from manufacturer to the administering to the child is much more streamlined.</p>
<p>Incidence of polio came down so vaccines were effective. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.18.38 - 1.21.46</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Earliest Memories of Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Waiting room now it’s opened up with pillars and a balcony. When "Mary" started it had a ceiling and so was enclosed and it had a wooden floor where you could hear the “clip clop” of people walking across it echoing. They didn’t have access to the upstairs with stores and pigeons. According to Anne [a friend who worked there] there were stores of the things leftover from when Grattan Street was used as a dispensary/pharmacy/chemist. Old fashioned metal chairs with a timber seat.</p>
<p>Queue in the mornings for the dressing, older people with big swollen legs.</p>
<p>Mr Hart and Mr Condon were the social welfare officers and they would have clinics which had crowds of people waiting for them. People would receive bed linen or washing machines.</p>
<p>Mr Hart advised "Mary" once that when he started out he was given a sob story and he got someone a number of beds and later he saw them being sold on the Coal Quay!</p>
<p>Smoking was allowed at the time so there was the smell and fog of smoke.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.21.46 - 1.23.14</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Repairs and Revamp/ Refurbishment of Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Transferred to the City Hall while there was revamping or refurbishing of Grattan Street. Once they returned one of the admin staff noticed that a there was some dry rot on part of the wood in the jam of the door and more repairs had to be done.</p>
<p>Beautiful once the repairs were done. Opened up the ceiling with the balcony. The big tea room could be used for meetings and there was a fridge and kettle- luxury!</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.23.14 - 1.27.35</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Grattan Street as a Workplace</strong></p>
<p>“You could never call it glamorous!”. Bars on the windows. Hose reel for the fire. For fire drills the bars on some windows could be opened. The people to work with were fabulous. Dave in podiatry said ‘the building was crap but the people were lovely’. Building was fine, serviceable. "Mary" had a sense of history of the building and that it was privilege to work in it. Beautiful cut limestone blocks. Appreciated that and the big windows.</p>
<p>Anne set off the alarm once when she went out the back door.</p>
<p>There was once a mix up with the keys. The cleaners would lock up and throw the keys in the letter box and someone else would open up in the morning with another set of keys. But somehow both sets of keys were in the letter box. "Mary" climbed in through a window that was opened and was able to open the door from the inside! Sean the porter would remember this story and Pam from the eye clinic would remember it as well.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.27.35 - 1.30.11</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Description of Grattan Street </strong></p>
<p>Historic, homely, old grandeur, comfortable but uncomfortable, people are willing to work and find solutions. Nice building at one level but primitive at another level.</p>
<p>Staff were always lovely and gelled. Started with 3 disciplines and that expanded. People were caring and good sense of comradery, work spirit and work ethic.</p>
<p>Old photocopier that was there for 20-30 years which was always breaking down. They used to repair it themselves. When they asked for a new one they were told “it’s not pride is making ye ask for a new one!”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.30.11 - 1.31.23</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>The Effect of the Mix of Disciplines</strong></p>
<p>Levelling effect. Nobody thought they were above anyone. Meet people from other disciples who could make exceptions or give advice- could tic-tac with one another. It was very personal. You weren’t going into someone else’s territory through some doors. They all met in the tea rom.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.31.23 - 1.33.08</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Car Park</strong></p>
<p>No car parking when "Mary" began. Staff and outsiders could park there. There was some kind of grandfather clause which allowed non-staff to park there. There used to be agro between the staff about it until they realised they were all in the same boat. Then the Educate Together School opened up and they were trying to park their cars there too. It’s hassle. Manic at times. Compares it to Mr Bean. Residents had parking.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.33.08 - 1.35.46</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Child Welfare Case</strong></p>
<p>Child welfare issue was brought in front of Judge Clifford. The mother had issues with alcohol and depression (those problems could affect children not getting vaccines as well). "Mary" remembers child or 4 or 5 years of age with bottle in their mouth and the bottle had whiskey in it. The fridge had one tomato in it. What should the staff wear to court- should they wear a hat? "Mary" was obliged to call to the house as a result of the case. And the child was eventually fostered.</p>
<p>Wheelchairs and how tough it was for families and children growing up and needing bigger wheelchairs. Makes you think how lucky you are according to "Mary".</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.35.46 - 1.37.39</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Curiosities and Quirks of Grattan Street Building</strong></p>
<p>Pigeons could be heard upstairs and the exterminator came. Plaster crumbling off the walls in Grattan Street.</p>
<p>Paperwork and records. New letterheads and they were ordered to dump things while people downstairs were looking for things but there was money being wasted on paperwork being thrown out.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.37.39 - 1.41.50</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Floods 2010 and Transporting Vaccines</strong></p>
<p>Vaccines were stored in a special room with fridges wired directly to the mains, there was a fear the power would be lost. Water was at the door. Vaccines should be transferred to St Finbarr’s hospital. "Mary" and Sean the porter waited for a van to come to transport them. Eventually a fiesta arrived with 2 big men. They had 20-30 boxes like cool boxes. They made two trips in "Mary's" car to bring the vaccines across town through the floods. Describes herself as a determined person.</p>
<p>Onetime borrowed waders from Meitheal Mara on Crosses Green and walked to Grattan Street in them.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.41.50 - 1.43.18</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Future of Grattan Street Building</strong></p>
<p>Historical connection with William Penn. Would like to see Grattan Street be a visitor centre or a place for weddings. Could have a little garden or courtyard.</p>
<p>Current waiting room could be used.</p>
<p>Catering could be provided there as well.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.43.18 - 1.46.50</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Hopes for St. Mary’s Primary Care Centre</strong></p>
<p>Hopes there is suitable parking. And tied up thinking from the planning department and developers. Encouraging people to go green and use bicycles etc. is fine but closing parking isn’t the place to start.</p>
<p>There should be a place to make a cup of tea yourself.</p>
<p>Good service for people who need it and people feel they can access it.</p>
<p>Hope it isn’t too big, and there won’t be sections that you will never meet.</p>
<p>A central meeting place is desirable where you could meet someone you don’t directly work with.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.46.50 - 1.48.40</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Making the Building Approachable</strong></p>
<p>Easy access. Does there need to be a service for mothers to get up the hill to the health centre? Will there be a place for children to play in?</p>
<p>People should be given specific individual appointments not 20 appointments sent out for 2pm. Access to water like a watercooler.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.48.40 - 1.52.00</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Decision to Become a Nurse</strong></p>
<p>Would choose to be a nurse if she had the option over again. Has enjoyed life and had a good home life. Have had lots of opportunities.</p>
<p>Could have become pigeonholed in one area. In one way "Mary" feels she has cut herself off from other aspects of nursing that she was interested in- clinical and theatre related work.</p>
<p>Rewarding helping mothers and children with bed wetting issues.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.52.00- End</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Outro. Interview ends 1.52.13</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
"Mary": Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
Subject
The topic of the resource
<span>Ireland; Cork; Limerick; Middle Parish; The Marsh; Grattan Street; Occupational Lore;</span>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
14 March 2019
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CFP_SR00704_Collins_2019
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Cork, Limerick, Ireland, 1960s-2010s
Relation
A related resource
<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/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>;
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
1 .wav file
Description
An account of the resource
<p><span>‘Mary’ grew up on a farm in county Limerick, part of which was rented to a mental hospital to be worked by patients. By interacting with these patients she quickly learned who you could trust and who you couldn’t. </span></p>
<p><span>Mentions her brother’s physical and mental disability.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses how the smell of tripe and drisheen reminds of father who died when she was young</span></p>
<p><span>Recounts her surprise and confusion as a child learning that her mother had remarried and her new husband was to live in the family home.</span></p>
<p><span>Outlines the routine on farm including looking after the cows, feeding hens, making bread, and how their dinner changed with seasonal availability of produce.</span></p>
<p><span>Talks about her commute to school on a bicycle with sister and standing up to boys who hassled them. Learned some subjects through Irish. Recalls her sister disliking being singled out by teacher because of her attractive eyes and hair.</span></p>
<p><span>Remembers seeing a young JP McManus cycling.</span></p>
<p><span>Explains how she always considered becoming a nurse. Discusses training and hospital experiences including with nuns. Believes that nurses who had worked abroad had a broader perspective on life. </span></p>
<p><span>Outlines the role of the Public Health Nurse which required entering patients’ houses and assisting them with births and deaths. Other features included the need to be able to read emotions and build trust with others and managing your work largely independently. </span></p>
<p><span>Describes some memorable cases as a PHN. A family singing Boney M to a baby with a severely lif-limiting condition. Waiting for an ambulance for a man struggling to breathe who lived without electricity. Trying to find help for an older woman struggling with dementia who was being passed from one agency to another without resolution. Fumigating a woman’s accommodation to rid it of fleas, the poor living conditions she found there and the ambivalent reaction of the woman to this health intervention.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses vaccines, their role in eliminating polio and the varying attitudes to vaccination.</span></p>
<p><span>Recounts the story of social welfare officers in Grattan Street providing a bed to a woman who promptly sold it on the Coal Quay.</span></p>
<p><span>Reflects on the mutually beneficial mix of medical disciplines in Grattan Street and the positive relations between the staff. </span></p>
<p><span>Outlines the problems, changes and tensions relating to the car parking situation for Grattan Street staff and others in the surrounding community.</span></p>
<p><span>Talks about a child welfare issue where she had to attend court as a PHN.</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks of the deficiencies of the Grattan Street building including plaster falling off walls, the waste of paperwork, dry rot, bars on windows and a very out-of-date photocopier. Suggests future uses for the building. </span></p>
<p><span>Tells the story of the 2010 floods when the vaccines had to transferred with difficulty to St Finbarr’s Hospital for safety.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses the desirable feature of the new building in Gurranbraher including it having a central meeting area and parking as well as being of a manageable size, accessible and approachable.</span></p>
<p><span>Reflects on how she found her career of helping others rewarding. </span></p>
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
Accommodation
ADHD
Ambulance
Animals
Anti-Vax
Australia
Babies
Baby
Bales of Hay
Bed Wetting
Bedtime
Bicycle
Bicycles
Bicycling
Bike
Bike. Bikes
Birth
Bread
bread and breadmaking
Breadmaking
Building
Buildings
Built Heritage
Bullying
Bureaucracy
Bus
Calf
Camaraderie
Candle
Candles
Canteen
Car Park
Car Parking
Career
Career Choice
Career Decision
Career Guidance
Career Path
Careers
Castletroy
Change
Chemist
Child Welfare
Childhood
Childhood Games
Children
Christmas
City Hall
Cleaners
Clinic
Clinics
Clothes
Clothing
Co. Limerick. County Limerick
Coal Quay
Colleagues
Community
Community Welfare
Cooking
Cork
Cork city
Court
Court Case
Cow
Death
Decision
Dementia
Disability
Disease
Diseases
Dispensary
Disrepair
Dressings
Drisheen
Duties
Educate Together
Electricity
Emigration
English market
Family
Family Life
Farm
Farming
Farmlife
Father
Flats
Fleas
Flooding
Floods
Food
Frustration
Games
Glasgow
GP
Grattan Street
Hay
Health
Health Promotion
Health Services
Healthcare
Healthy
Hens
History
Hoarding
Home
Hospital
House
Houses
Housing
HPV
HPV Vaccine
HSE
Hygiene
Illness
Illnesses
Income
Irish Language
Kitchen
Knocknaheeney
Labour Ward
Lane
Laneway
Learning
Limerick
Limerick city
Marriage
Marsh
Meals
Medicine
Medicines
Memories
Memory
Mental Hospital
Mental Issues
Mercy Hospital
Middle Parish
Midwife
Midwifery
MMR
Mother
Mushrooms
Music
Night Work
North Main Street
Nun
Nuns
Nurse
Nurse Training
Nurses
Nursing
Nursing Home
Nursing Training
Orthopaedic
Our Lady’s Hospital
Paperwork
Parents
Parking
Patient
Patient Care
Patient Environment
Patients
Pharmacy
PHN
Polio
Pop Music
Porter
Potatoes
Priest
Public Health Nurse
Public Health Nursing. PHNs
Public Transport
Quakers
Religion
Remarriage
Rent
Role of Women
Routine
Sarsfield Court
Sarsfield’s Court
School
Schooldays
Sheares Street
Shift Work
Siblings
Sickness
Singing
Smell
Smells
smoking
Social Conditions
Songs
Spinster
St Francis Church
St Mary's Health Campus
St. Mary’s Primary Care Centre
Staff Canteen
Tea
Tea Room
Teacher
Teachers
Tenements
Textbooks
Thatch
The Marsh
The Middle Parish
Traditional Food
Transport
Tripe
Tripe and Drisheen
Uniform
USA Biscuits
Vaccination
Vaccinations
vaccine
Vaccines
Vegetables
Vocation
Ward
Wastage
Waste
Wheelchair
Winter
Women
Women's Lives
Work
Work Colleagues
Working
Working life
Worklife
Workplace
York Hill