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Dublin Core
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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
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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
Jane Ward
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Kieran Murphy
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
126 Minutes 10 Seconds
Location
The location of the interview
St Mary’s Primary Health Care Centre Gurranabraher
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 - 0.00.28</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>intro</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.28 - 0.02.41</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Growing Up in County Dublin </strong></p>
<p>Grew up in Balbriggan County Dublin, seaside town between Dublin and Drogheda. When growing up she was allowed to Drogheda to shop by herself but not to Dublin because Drogheda was considered a safer town. [Jane mentions that Drogheda is not considered safe at present this is an allusion to drug gang related violence in Drogheda which was in the news around the time of the interview.]</p>
<p>Also mentions Skerries as a seaside town in County Dublin. Went to school in Loreto Convent in Balbriggan at 4 and finished when 17 and refused the nuns’ offer to stay another year. Stayed in the same school for primary and secondary school, the benefit of which is having the same people with you.</p>
<p>Had a school reunion about a year previously. Some of her classmates she didn’t recognise, but some of their names she also didn’t recognise.</p>
<p>Says she loves Balbriggan.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.02.41 - 0.04.28</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Moving House as Child</strong></p>
<p>Balbriggan and Skerries were just 4 miles apart, moved to Skerries when a teenager but considers herself to be from Balbriggan. Rivalry between the two towns and Skerries is considered to be nicer.</p>
<p>Balbriggan was more “Wavin pipes”, more industry, Skerries was more for tourists. There was a holiday camp called Red Island that people in Dublin used to go to in Skerries. It was like the holiday camp in Dirty Dancing. [3:27-3:33 Aoife O’Brien who had been interviewed for the Grattan Street Project previously walks into the room at this point.]</p>
<p>Skerries would have considered itself snobby as it has a rugby and sailing club.</p>
<p>Even though she moved to Skerries she still went to school in Ballbriggan which was “not the done thing”. Her brothers went to school in Skerries and are married and live in Skerries.</p>
<p>Bracken Court Hotel in Balbriggan which has been there forever and she remembers going there for her Holy Communion breakfast.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.04.28 - 0.07.13</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Holy Communion Day</strong></p>
<p>It was a small group making their holy communion in the convent church rather than the town church. It was special in the sense that there were few children making their communion. Kathleen Gavin was given the wrong time for the communion and turned up an hour late and “the nuns ate her” and the nuns wouldn’t admit that they gave her the wrong time and she had to bring it in the next day to prove it to them. Kathleen still tells that story and is traumatised by it. She had to make her first holy communion by herself.</p>
<p>It was a lovely sunny day and they all stood on the steps of the convent for a photograph. Confirmation was made in town.</p>
<p>Now people will have a meal out after a communion or confirmation but in Jane’s time that was not always the case. But her aunt who lived next door brought her to the Grand Hotel (now the Bracken Court Hotel Balbriggan) for a lunch/brunch after the ceremony. And this was “a huge deal” because it was not a common occurrence at the time.</p>
<p>For confirmation there were a few schools being confirmed at once. And there was a line of boys and a line of girls being confirmed at the same time in the church. All the girls wanted to be kneeling beside John Conway a boy who everyone fancied.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.07.13 - 0.10.15</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Games when growing up</strong></p>
<p>She wasn’t big into sport. Lived in a big old haunted house which her grandmother left to her mother. It was near the sea. As children they were allowed onto the rocks by themselves.</p>
<p>She played basketball in school but was not very good at it. Didn’t like that kind of confrontation.</p>
<p>Played by the sea, it wasn’t a beach but rocks. Picnics and playing. Her dad built a ship in the garden, with a deck and sails. She was a big fan of Enid Blyton books as a child, especially the Secret Seven and the ‘Famous Five’ books. Her dad build them a Secret Seven type hut in the garden. As children they “went on mysteries”. They followed one man in imitation of the Enid Blyton books and decided that he was a smuggler. And they followed him up to a Martello Tower where he happened to be going to urinate.</p>
<p>They had more freedom then, allowed to leave in the morning and return in the evening. That was the norm and there wasn’t the supervision that is present today.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.10.15 - 0.16.01</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Old Family House</strong></p>
<p>Fancourt: big Georgian house. She hated leaving the house as a child. It was very expensive to keep the house and there were also rates to pay. In addition there were fees to pay for the convent school and there was five children going to school.</p>
<p>So they moved to a smaller house in Skerries.</p>
<p>Fancourt: Three storey, basement and land attached to it but there was more but it was sold to try to keep the house. Discusses the house and its jointly owned green area with the neighbouring houses.</p>
<p>Haunted house: where priests were staying which was her sister’s bedroom- she saw a ghost of a monk. Other stories of ghosts including knocking on doors and foxhunters.</p>
<p>Regrets the old furniture was sold, including servants bells. Jane is interested in auctions.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.16.01- 0.17.08</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>House in Skerries</strong></p>
<p>Small, terrace house. Skerries nice place to live by sea. Brother lived in Brambles estate and bought new house on the skerries terrace.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.17.08 - 0.23.13</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Secondary School</strong></p>
<p>Loved school. Regrets being too good and not being bold.</p>
<p>Wore green uniform. No street lights and was too far from town to meet friends after school at Loreto Convent. Loved the nuns though they were tough. Grateful to her parents for her education.</p>
<p>Loved her friends, the school and its old building. Felt safe. Describes herself as average student not into sports.</p>
<p>Few jobs for women when they finished school.</p>
<p>English was her favourite subject. Would love to be librarian. Prefers physical books to E-books/Kindle.</p>
<p>Pressure on students today at exam time. Criticises the Leaving Certificate points system where students opt for high points courses rather than one they are interested in.</p>
<p>Importance of working at something you like: “Hard work won’t kill you but work you hate will”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.23.13- 0.26.36</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Nursing Training & Hunger Strike Incident</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Jane’s mother had been a nurse. When she finished school there was a shortage of nurses. The applied directly to hospitals for nursing. But hospitals wanted trained staff rather than students.</span></p>
<p><span>Trained in Jervis Street Hospital where the shopping centre is in Dublin now was a general hospital.</span></p>
<p><span>Saying about nurses and Dublin hospitals: “Vincent’s snobs, Mater ladies and Jervis Nurses”</span></p>
<p><span>Recalls riots due to Hunger Strikes. A man pulled a gun on her on O’Connell Street. Night duty on ward on her own, 20-25 beds. 24 rioters and 1 Garda were in the same ward. </span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.26.36 - 0.31.48</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Wanting to be a Nurse & Early Nursing Experience</strong></p>
<p>Played hospital as a child. Always wanted to work in nursing. Has enjoyed much of it. Would not advise anyone to do nursing.</p>
<p>Recalls seeing a confused naked man on her first day.</p>
<p>Worried crying about giving the wrong medication to patient.</p>
<p>Nurse students were also staff.</p>
<p>Loved Irish nurses in America when she was their because their training was very practical.</p>
<p>Enjoyed her time in St Mary’s Hospital New Jersey USA.</p>
<p>Film “FX Murder by Illusion” features the hospital she worked in.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.31.48 - 0.34.50</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Hospital in USA and Differences in Immigrants’ Intention </strong></p>
<p>AIDS was a big issue in the hospital in USA</p>
<p>Observes that most immigrant groups in USA wanted to stay there but Irish people wanted to return to Ireland.</p>
<p>Impact of Irish on the world St Patrick’s Day Parade. Thinks Irish people are patriotic abroad and keen to return home.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.34.50 - 0.37.43</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Discipline in Hospital</strong></p>
<p>Difficult senior nurses. The sense of hierarchy. Demeaning and mocking way junior nurses were spoken to was accepted. Jane was referred to as an “anencephalic”, a baby born without part of its head which will soon die.</p>
<p>When you knelt down your uniform had to touch the ground. Ward sister demanded to see under Jane’s uniform to see she was wearing a slip under her uniform.</p>
<p>Nurses were allowed to wear a cardigan at night but had to take it off in the morning.</p>
<p>A nurse went to Saudi Arabia where she was murdered.</p>
<p>Thinks they were strict about stupid things. Discipline was important. No one thought to question it.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.37.43 - 0.40.58</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Story of nurses boycotting nursing event</strong></p>
<p>Did midwifery in Rotunda. The Scottish matron didn’t hire any of the students but hired Scottish nurses.</p>
<p>Jane & fellow midwifery students boycotted the graduation event in protest at this. Matron spoke to them individually. A brave nurse refused to answer any questions unless her union representative. Jane’s class is the only one not to have a group photo because of the boycott.</p>
<p>People didn’t defy superiors at the time.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.40.58 - 0.42.32</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Effect of the Strict Discipline</strong></p>
<p>Some staff were panicky and nervous about making a mistake. May have incentivised people to cover up mistakes to avoid the repercussions instead of working something out.</p>
<p>Matron could make personal remarks about nurses without repercussions: telling a nurse to fix her crooked teeth.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.42.32 - 0.44.22</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Religion in Hospitals</strong></p>
<p>No MRSA in those days. Nuns ran a very clean and efficient hospital. Jervis was a Catholic hospital. Rotunda was a Protestant hospital, most of the staff were Catholic and they went to mass, then the Protestants went to service and were given tea and biscuits.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.44.22 - 0.50.00</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Working as a Nurse in USA: differences to Irish system</strong></p>
<p>Had to sit an exam before working as a nurse in USA.</p>
<p>VISA dependant on passing the exam. Irish nurses were not used to multiple choice exams at the time. They were also required to sit an English language examination to work as a nurse in the USA.</p>
<p>Rented houses were arranged for the nurses. Jane had a car and dated a man in Washington at the time. An exciting time.</p>
<p>Maximum was 2 patients to a room in USA vs larger wards in Ireland. In USA their reports were taken on a tape recorder rather than written.</p>
<p>Patient’s doctor would still be their doctor once they went to hospital.</p>
<p>DRG Diagnostic Related Grouping which was related to how many days insurance would be paid per patient per illness.</p>
<p>Good life and money in USA which allowed Jane to do the Public Health course in UCD.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.50.00 - 0.56.20</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Public Health Nursing</strong></p>
<p>Desire to come home.</p>
<p>Discusses her relationship with a reporter/journalist in USA which ended when she returned to Ireland.</p>
<p>Began work in Ballyfermot - highlight in public health career.</p>
<p>Started a needle exchange for drug addiction. Dynamic and progressive area. Rough area but felt you were making a difference. Didn’t feel the same way when she moved to Cork.</p>
<p>Public Health vs Hospital:</p>
<p>In hospital you pass the patient to the next shift, but in Public Health you are responsible for all of your cases.</p>
<p>Once her camera was stolen from her car when visiting a patient.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.56.20 - 1.00.49</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Coming to Cork</strong></p>
<p>Came to Cork because husband was working there.</p>
<p>Had to do an Irish oral exam to get the Public Health job in Cork.</p>
<p>November 1992 got job in Grattan Street Health Centre. Got married January 1993.</p>
<p>Staff had a lunch and cake in before her wedding, and a present even though she was only there for a month.</p>
<p>Admires architecture of Queens University Belfast, where she could have gone to work in the 1980s.</p>
<p>Remarks on the small decisions than influence one’s life and career.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.00.49 - 1.06.59</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Impressions of Grattan Street Health Centre Work as Public Health Nurse</strong></p>
<p>Parking problems in Grattan Street.</p>
<p>Met director in base Abbey Court House. “The one thing you learn in Grattan Street is how to park!” There was more space before the school [Educate Together]</p>
<p>Grattan Street was a welcoming place.</p>
<p>Public Health Nurse in Blackpool flats now demolished.</p>
<p>There was a brothel in one. Fantastic people.</p>
<p>Once left handbag behind in Blackpool.</p>
<p>Mixed work in Ballyfermot but all child welfare in Cork- visiting houses.</p>
<p>Discusses one case of child with broken leg where mother hadn’t done anything about it. So a social worker and Garda were needed to get the child to hospital. Jane had to go to court. The child was returned to the mother. Jane then had to still work with that mother subsequently.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.06.59 - 1.09.02</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Impression of Danger in Some Areas</strong></p>
<p>Worked with St Vincent de Paul in Knocknaheeny. Never felt threatened.</p>
<p>Privileged to get into flats that people would let no one else into.</p>
<p>If she saw suspected stolen goods she and they knew that she was not interested in anything other than child welfare.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.09.02 - 1.11.35</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Story of very Difficult Patient</strong></p>
<p>Hospitals can discharge patients but as PHN the patient can live in your area for decades.</p>
<p>Nurses shared a rota to look after this man because the heavy workload.</p>
<p>Digression to story about writing wrong date in calligraphy on a colleague’s wedding album.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.11.35 - 1.15.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>What makes a Good Public Health Nurse</strong></p>
<p>Get on with people. Make people relaxed. People need to trust you. Have to be honest. Not trying to be someone’s friend.</p>
<p>Assessment of patient is important.</p>
<p>Patients can become dependent on a particular PHN.</p>
<p>Privilege to enter other people’s homes, especially when they won’t let other people into their homes eg social workers or Gardaí</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.15.30 - 1.19.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Training and Meaning from Job</strong></p>
<p>Training didn’t prepare her for PHN. Compares it to jumping off a chair to train for parachute jump.</p>
<p>End of career now. Disappointed at choices she made. She is now doing more management and less hands-on.</p>
<p>Recalls times she felt she made a difference: making a joke with a terminal patient, assisting a family who had brought their father home to die to care for him when they were overwhelmed.</p>
<p>Doesn’t feel like she is making a difference any more.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.19.30 - 1.21.20</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Regrets the Management side of the Job</strong></p>
<p>As she was promoted she was had to do more management which she regrets.</p>
<p>Is considering retiring or changing career.</p>
<p>Would love to be a librarian or work with antiques or books. Discounts it as silly at this stage of her life.</p>
<p>Is unhappy with her current work. Her staff say she makes a difference but she is not sure. She took a career break and her staff missed her.</p>
<p>Feels too far away from where she started.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.21.20 - 1.26.40</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Promotion to Vaccine and Management Role</strong></p>
<p>1999 nursing strike.</p>
<p>Jane was on strike committee. Picketed Abbey Court House on Sulllivan’s Quay. Meeting with management to decide whether the strikers could use the toilets and canteen.</p>
<p>Outcome of the strike was that new job for a specialist in immunisation, vaccine. Jane was stabbed by a syringe by accident one day.</p>
<p>Overnight Jane became Assistant Director, and colleagues at same grade insisted on calling her Senior Public Health Nurse which was the previous title.</p>
<p>Recalls an Assistant Director who was victimised in a more severe way to Jane which went to mediation.</p>
<p>It went away but it was nasty at the time Jane says.</p>
<p>Jane was never invited to the Assistant Director Christmas lunch for years</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.26.40 - 1.29.26</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Change from Clinical to Managerial Role</strong></p>
<p>Her role was a clinical role with no staff, vaccines following up on defaulters. Croke Park and Haddington Road agreements changed her role.</p>
<p>Swine Flu vaccinating 1000 people a day in Neptune Stadium.</p>
<p>School public health nurses were backbone of system. And the management system was at cross purposes. These nurses eventually came under her remit. Realised that she didn’t like management- doesn’t like taking responsibility for the mistake of others.</p>
<p>Describes her management style as “Do it, do it, do it!” and she shouldn’t have to give a reason.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.29.26 - 1.33.20</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Building in Grattan Street compared to Gurranabraher</strong></p>
<p>Loves the building. Old Quaker Meeting House.</p>
<p>Graffiti of penis and scrotum that her elderly aunt was trying to figure out.</p>
<p>Would have preferred to stay in Grattan Street.</p>
<p>Recalls the old ventilation holes where pigeon droppings would land on your desk.</p>
<p>Location of Grattan Street is good for the public and services.</p>
<p>Grattan Street building requires work to maintain it.</p>
<p>Unsure if it’s a positive move for services to Gurranabraher.</p>
<p>Useful to be near Edel House [women’s shelter] and the Share Houses.</p>
<p>She has 7 staff but the new office is for 4 people which she thinks is insulting. Doesn’t believe hot desking works.</p>
<p>They are on a “room allocation review list”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.33.20 - 1.35.09</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Benefits of Grattan Street Health Centre</strong></p>
<p>Close to town- shops and the bank.</p>
<p>Part of the community in Grattan Street. Close to Mercy Hospital. Building has a good feel. Felt at home there. Lots of history.</p>
<p>The only thing people don’t miss in Grattan Street is the parking. Everyone went to the Grattan Street Christmas party.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.35.09 - 1.40.06</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Relationship with community in Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Animosity is with neighbours regarding parking.</p>
<p>Story about getting kitchen done by a man from Grattan Street and being concerned about parking.</p>
<p>School next door- issue with parking- children don’t live in the area. Tricky relationship with the school.</p>
<p>Story of previous principal of the school trying to get clampers to clamp all the cars belonging Grattan Street staff.</p>
<p>Other stories about the difficulties caused by parking and the uneasy relationship with the school.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.40.06 - 1.40.55</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Other Stories</strong></p>
<p>Mentions that there are stories about affairs in Grattan Street but doesn’t want to tell them.</p>
<p>Says Grattan Street was a good place to work.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.40.55 - 1.44.55</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Vaccine Storage Fridges Temperature Control</strong></p>
<p>Vaccines have to be kept in fridges between 2 degrees and 8 degrees. The Cold Chain- ensures that the vaccines are at the right temperature including when transported.</p>
<p>Vaccines have to be monitored and recorded twice a day.</p>
<p>Some people think Jane is over the top with her care of vaccines. She doesn’t think so. Vaccines are very expensive and important when going to school.</p>
<p>Found it hard being responsible for the vaccines even when not at work. Story that she called about the vaccines from a Gondola in Venice is not true!</p>
<p>Hundreds and thousands of euro worth of vaccines at a time when</p>
<p>Order through United Drug. She sees the price every time that she orders which is stressful to see the cost.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.44.55 - 1.44.55</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Difficulties Moving Vaccines to Gurranbraher</strong></p>
<p>Dreaded moving the vaccine in Grattan Street because there’s no lift.</p>
<p>Complications of moving vaccine fridges and the required procedure.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.44.55 - 1.44.55</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Funny story about Monitoring Electricity for Vaccine Fridges during Storm</strong></p>
<p>Electricity was to be cut off due to replacing telegraph poles.</p>
<p>Needed generator to keep electricity on for the vaccine fridges.</p>
<p>Jane had asked many times for a back-up generator but never received one.</p>
<p>Was asked by superior to protect the vaccine fridges from a storm, which had never been asked before.</p>
<p>Generator set up in Grattan Street yard. Jane inquired how the back-up would be physically changed if the power goes out? The solution was that the toilet light was to be left on and the electricity workers would see driving past if the power failed.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.49.55 - 1.51.51</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Moving Vaccines during Floods</strong></p>
<p>Older man told Jane that Grattan Street is in a depression and so there are never any power cuts.</p>
<p>One problem during big floods in Grattan Street when wall near Mercy broke. Jane was doing vaccines for Swine Flu in Neptune at the time.</p>
<p>With steps up to Grattan Street Health Centre and vaccines on top floor Jane thought they were safe.</p>
<p>She was informed an amphibious craft was to come to move the vaccines. A Ford Fiesta arrived. They were put in St. Finbarr’s Hospital for the night.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.51.51 - 1.54.25</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Future of Vaccines</strong></p>
<p>Takes the vaccine care very seriously so that it’s both safe and effective.</p>
<p>In third world vaccine storage is more complicated.</p>
<p>Tyndall Institute is developing a patch that will deliver vaccines rather than needles.</p>
<p>Makes comparison to Star Trek.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.54.25 - 2.01.07</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Vaccine Take Up and vaccination policies</strong></p>
<p>Is very pro-vaccine</p>
<p>Mentions problem with social media spreading misinformation about vaccines. And the damage that can cause.</p>
<p>Doesn’t argue with vaccines with friends and family.</p>
<p>Following up with child who had only received some of the required vaccine, the mother brought the child to an area with a measles epidemic.</p>
<p>Thinks more education is needed and PHNs need to be very positive about vaccines.</p>
<p>Thinks the HPV vaccine is a no-brainer.</p>
<p>Need to dispel vaccine myths.</p>
<p>Approximately 1500 euro to vaccinate a child fully. Wonders whether the fact the vaccination schemes are free of charge makes some people take it for granted and not value it.</p>
<p>Some countries have a no vaccination no school policy. Minister for Health at the time Simon Harris had been discussing a similar policy in Ireland.</p>
<p>In some countries there are penalties for not getting vaccinations eg withdrawal of Child Benefit.</p>
<p>In Ireland the decision is left to the individual.</p>
<p>Some parents think that because all other children are vaccinated that their child will be safe.</p>
<p>Story of an unvaccinated child whose mother with only let the child play with vaccinated children!</p>
<p>“Every vaccine is a little victory”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>2.01.07 - 2.01.54</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Opportunity for Interviewee to say anything not yet mentioned</strong></p>
<p>Describes the interview as better than a counselling session.</p>
<p>Reiterates that she has gone far away from where she started out in her career and it may be time to step back.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>2.01.54 - 2.05.57</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Hopes for Future of Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Doesn’t believe Grattan Street can be sold.</p>
<p>There was lots of pressure on them to move, which Jane felt was unnecessary.</p>
<p>Jane’s preference was to move in the summer when the schools are closed because there would be no need to do vaccinations, but they were forced to move during term time.</p>
<p>Is not sure what services are remaining in Grattan Street.</p>
<p>Mentions a piece of furniture that she would love to have from Grattan Street.</p>
<p>Hopes the future of Grattan Street will benefit the community.</p>
<p>Discussion about Grattan Street being opened for heritage week or an open day but it never happened.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>2.05.57 - 2.06.10</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Outro.</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
Jane Ward: Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CFP_SR00717_Ward_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/246" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00714_Cunning_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
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
2 .wav files
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
4 June 2019
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Description
An account of the resource
<p><span>Jane grew up in Balbriggan and Skerries County Dublin. Describes her love of the Georgian house her family lived in and her love of old buildings and antiques before they moved to a smaller home.</span></p>
<p><span>Recalls her first holy communion where one girl arrived late and had to experience the ceremony on her own.</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks of some childhood games and playing and picnicking by the sea.</span></p>
<p><span>Enjoyed school at Loreto Convent Balbriggan even though the nuns were strict. English was her favourite subject.</span></p>
<p><span>Talks about her desire to become a nurse and her experiences in Dublin hospitals. Describes the strict discipline and hierarchy in hospitals including the way superiors exercised power over how nurses were required to dress and commented on their physical appearance with impunity. Jane outlines the negative impacts of this culture including fear of making a mistake and the incentive to cover up of mistakes. Outlines a rare challenge to authority when nurses boycotted a graduation ceremony. Mentions the role of religion in hospitals.</span></p>
<p><span>Outlines her time spend nursing in USA, a romantic relationship and her emigrant experience there before returning to Ireland to pursue Public Health Nursing (PHN), which she prefers as it feels she is making a difference.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses moving to Cork and her early positive impressions of Grattan Street Medical Centre and its staff. Speaks about the Grattan Street building itself, including its sense of history, graffiti on its outside walls, and its convenient location in the city centre and proximity to other services. Describes the problems with car parking and the resulting tensions with neighbours. </span></p>
<p><span>Jane speaks of her PHN work in Blackpool and a court case involving a child and social worker. Outlines the characteristic of a good PHN, and how much of the role is learned through experience. Regrets the turn her career has taken towards management and away from dealing with patients.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses the 1999 nursing strike which lead to a new role for an immunisation specialist which she was hired for. Describes how colleagues insisted on referring to her by her previous title, refusing to acknowledge her promotion and equal status. Describes her role including overseeing Swine Flu vaccinations.</span></p>
<p><span>Explains the vaccine cold storage system, the sense of responsibility for ordering them and overseeing them. Tells stories of when vaccines were relocated during a flood to protect them, and when the electricity was monitored during a storm in case the power was cut to the vaccine fridges. Mentions vaccine policies, myths and technological developments. </span></p>
<p><span>Outlines her preferred time to move services from Grattan Street to St Mary’s Primary Healthcare Centre Gurranabraher. </span></p>
Abbey Court House
America
Antique
Antiques
Apartments
Balbriggan
Ballyfermot
Belfast
Blackpool
Books
Boycott
Broken Leg
Buildings
Built Heritage
Car Park
Car Parking
Child
Childhood Games
Childhoood
Children
Children’s Health
Christmas Party
Co Dublin
Community
Confirmation
Cork
County Dublin
Court
Croke Park Agreement
Discipline
Drogheda
Dublin
Edel House
Emigrant
Emigrant Experience
Emigrants
Emigration
Enid Blyton
Family
Flats
Games
Garda
Georgian
ghost
Ghosts
Graffiti
Grattan Street
Grattan Street Health Centre
Gurranabraher
Haddington Road Agreement
Haunted house
Health
Hierarchy
Holy Communion
Holy Communion Breakfast
Home
Hospital
House
Housing
Hunger Strikes
Hygiene
Industry
Injection
Irish Language
Jervis Street Hospital
Knocknaheeny
Management
Martello Tower
Matron
Medical
Medicine
Medicines
Mercy Hospital
Midwife
Midwifery
MRSA
Needle
Needle Exchange
Neptune Stadium
Nun
Nuns
Nurse
Nursing
Nursing Training
Parking
PHN
Playing
Public Health
Public Health Nurse
Public Health Nursing
Quaker Meeting House
Quakers
Queens University Belfast
Reading
Regret
Regrets
Religion
Religion in Hospitals
Rent
Renting
Rotunda
Sea
Seaside
Shops
Siblings
Skerries
Social Work
St. Finbarr’s Hospital
St. Vincent de Paul
Storm
Swine Flu
Teenager
The Cold Chain
Trade Union
Trade Unions
Trades Union
Union
Unions
USA
Vaccination
vaccine
Vaccine Fridge
Vaccine Myths
Vaccine Storage
Vaccines
-
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/c1f71a078c71c139874eb8e72cd1b3b8.jpg
16b6240fed52be8092b29fd861fcf9ec
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/9d74501e15908e88b5a3f07d10be10c1.mp3
9dd7a1153be96f478650c1c28b360735
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
Eileen Kearney
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Kieran Murphy
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
89 Minutes 13 Seconds
Location
The location of the interview
St Mary’s Primary Care Centre, Gurranabraher
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 - 0.00.25</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Intro</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.25- 0.02.04</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Background</strong></p>
<p>Started in Grattan Street 2002 had been in different positions but haven been there full-time since 2012 as Assistant Director of Public Health Nursing. Covers the nursing staff for the City North-West area population 27,000. 10 area PHNs [Public Health Nurses] community RGN teams (Registered General Nurse). Eileen is PHN, RGN and registered mid-wife. You have to be an RGN to become a PHN.</p>
<p>Worked as an RGN first in the community in North Cork prior Grattan Street. Then did PHN course in Dublin UCD (University College Dublin). Returned to Grattan Street, work as PHN on the ground, in schools, preschools, inspecting in nursing homes, assistant director of PHN since 2009. She was in two other sectors before that. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.02.04 - 0.04.21</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Childhood in Waterford</strong></p>
<p>Born a long time ago! In Tallow west Waterford. From family of 7, has an older brother and four younger brothers and one younger sister. Father was a butcher, family business.</p>
<p>Went to school in Tallow, then Loreto in Fermoy and then to the Mercy Hospital and did RGN training, then Dublin to Hollis Street for midwifery training. [Eileen’s phone rings but she mutes or turns it off and continues the interview]</p>
<p>There were about four butchers in Tallow but now only a Supervalu. She remembers her dad singing and whistling below in the shop when she was in bed in the morning. He and his father were good singers and whistlers. Remembers sawdust in the shop and it going all over the house. Father and mother going to the marts getting sheep and animals coming to the back yard and into the slaughter house. Grew up with it so didn’t see anything unusual in it. Good happy childhood.</p>
<p>Brothers and her all involved in sport. She and parents played tennis. “We were brought up in a tennis court” played some hockey in school. Lots of sports, golf as well. But now doesn’t have time with work.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.04.21 - 0.06.36</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>House at Home Growing up</strong></p>
<p>Two storey house on the street. Shop was attached to it. Downstairs there was a living room, a kitchen and a back kitchen and a room off the shop and four bedrooms upstairs and a bathroom, a big garden, a shed and a slaughter house.</p>
<p>Grew up as an only girl, her sister is 14 years younger. She had gone to boarding school/secondary school by the time she was born. Had lots of friends in Tallow, still has them, still keep in touch. Did a lot of work in the house, as she tells her mother who’s now 92. They were all given jobs to do. She had to hoover the sawdust. She was involved in the weekly bath for her brothers, making sure their shoes were polished every Saturday evening. Thinks that today it is different, perhaps because of parenting. Dad died 10 years ago suddenly from a heart attack which she says was lovely for him. Siblings all alive, one in England. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.06.36 - 0.10.57</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Produce in the Butchers Drisheen, Tripe, Black Pudding. And the making of them.</strong></p>
<p>Meat was sold in the butchers and some onions. Mother made drisheen and black pudding every Thursday to be ready for Friday and Saturday. Sometimes she would get some tripe from the market in Cork and it would be sold in their shop. They didn’t make the tripe themselves but they did the drisheen and black puddings using the serum.</p>
<p>Serum from the blood and milk and pepper was used in it. It is supposedly good for you. And they ate that every Saturday night on top of sausages and rashers and they keep that tradition going but without the drisheen. Very mild flavour. It’s the frying that gives it a flavour. Maybe someone who wasn’t used to it might find a stronger flavour. Doesn’t remember the flavour of any herbs. It was a light grey colour in comparison to black pudding. Possibly some kind of sausage meat added to the black pudding. There was a machine where it would come from.</p>
<p>Serum is separation from the blood when it is allowed to settle and there is a strainer. You use what floats to the top and discard the rest.</p>
<p>Father and sister loved tripe but Eileen never “acquired the flavour for tripe” served “with boiled onions and milk”.</p>
<p>Eileen doesn’t remember the butcher shop selling pork. But she thinks she might be wrong about that because her father kept a pig and he won a trophy for his prize pig when Eileen was about 7.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.10.57 - 0.15.09</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>School, Corporal Punishment, going home for Dinner</strong></p>
<p>School in convent in Tallow. Carmelites enclosed order still in Tallow, they didn’t teach but it was in their area. Boys had a separate school at the time but now it is co-ed: boys and girls. Enjoyed school. Reasonably well-behaved because terrified. Teachers could slap you, corporal punishment. Eileen didn’t get slapped often because she was a good girl. Remembers a small ‘roundy’ stick which would be used to hit children around the knuckles. Some teachers had less patience than others and found it difficult but the students didn’t understand that. She is glad corporal punishment is gone because it lowered self-esteem, and put you at a disadvantage. It wasn’t just the slap, it was that someone had carried it out on you. You felt brutalised. It was very common, right up to the time her children were in primary school, some of the teachers at the ends of their careers there had a reputation for corporal punishment.</p>
<p>Would get a slap if they thought you weren’t paying attention or if you were talking to someone.</p>
<p>Spoke about corporal punishment with her friends subsequently. And she discovered terrible things that happened to people which she wasn’t aware about at the time. Slaps across the face, pulling of ears, hit on the head. “You were an easy target. They had the power.” It was difficult. She thinks that if you were involved in sport you were treated a bit differently, though not if you were academic.</p>
<p>They had outside toilets in primary school- “leaves and cold and wet”. Was able to go home at lunchtime and have dinner. “My wonderful mother had my dinner ready every day. For the nine of us.”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.15.09 - 0.15.48</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Dinner and Types of Foods</strong></p>
<p>For dinner they would meat that hadn’t been sold in the butcher’s shop. They might have steak for a treat on Thursday night but usually more reasonable cuts of beef and lamb. Always meat, vegetable and potatoes. Mother was a great cook and baker so they always had something sweet to eat as well. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.15.48 - 0.19.01</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Secondary School Boarding School</strong></p>
<p>Boarded in Loreto Fermoy, her brothers went to De la Salle in Waterford. Her parents worked hard to get them that education. Her mother had boarded but her father had left school early. Some of her friends from home went to Loreto as well and she also made new friends there. There for 5 years. Happy enough time. Initially allowed home every third weekend, eventually allowed home every weekend. As an only girl it was good to be around female company, she thinks she would have just been bossing the boys around at home.</p>
<p>First impression was of the structure of the place: all your recreation time was spent in the one place. And you were there with your class, it was all set out for you and you had to fall into line. “I wasn’t unhappy there.” Calls by day, hockey in afternoon- sometimes go to Cork for a match. Every Saturday they were not at home they went for walks, they walked through the town, on parade in their uniforms. Had music at night in the social room listening to records. Abiding memory is of seeing Dana winning the Eurovision. Maybe she saw something about Bloody Sunday as well.”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.19.01 - 0.20.36</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Career Choice. Nursing. Mother’s education. Role of Religion. Mercy Hospital</strong></p>
<p>“For some reason I always had nursing in my head.” Maybe because her mother said she would have done nursing if she could- she had left school after her Junior Cert and did a year in a technical school where she got her baking skills. Mom was a great worker so thinks she would have made a great matron rather than a nurse because she would have wanted everything done properly. Eileen says she may have some of those traits herself.</p>
<p>After Eileen’s training when she went into the hospital she felt claustrophobic “for some reason it didn’t sit well on me.” She did 3 years in the Mercy. There were nuns there at the time: “Great fun, hard work.”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.20.36 - 0.22.07</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Role of religion in the Mercy Hospital.</span></strong></p>
<p><span>The rosary was said every night on the wards. Had to go down on your knees at 6 o’clock and shout out the decades of the rosary. Biggest thing was that they had to know the joyful, glorious and sorrowful mysteries. They went to mass every morning around 7am when they stayed in the nurses home for the first year and a half. Nuns were strict. She was only 17 when she was there so she thinks it might have been good. She didn’t regret doing nursing but she didn’t take it too seriously either. </span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.22.07 - 0.23.18</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Nursing Training in Mercy Hospital</strong></p>
<p>Three years training but only got a certificate. Learned anatomy, physiology and putting it into practice and managing patients/clients, eventually managing a ward. Managing night-time with patients coming in. managing a children’s ward. Dealing with everything: clinical care, surgery, people dying. Children dying. Recalls children dying in St. Anne’s Ward that will never leave me. Delighted to see the Mercy is busy and expanding. She has fond memories of it.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.23.18 - 0.26.55</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Route to PHN and Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Did a little bit of work there wasn’t much work for qualified nurses at the time. Went to Fermoy Hospital, a community hospital. Worked there for a few months. Went to Hollis Street and spent a year there- very interesting. Opening into a different experience in the capital. She was madly in love at the time came home frequently. Eventually went back to Fermoy Hospital and got married at 23 in June, and by October of the following year she had her first son and so gave up nursing. Husband was self-employed and was often away and she felt one of them needed to be there they had three children. When the children got older she decided to do a course in fitness and taught exercise classes for 8 years. She had tried to get into PHN but hadn’t enough experience. She met a friend in Fermoy in 1998 and she said why not go into the community they are looking for RGNs in North Cork. She applied, got it and then “got the bug for the community” and applied twice to UCC for PHN course and they didn’t think she was suitable. She was accepted in Dublin and found it challenging. She was 47 at the time. She was up there for three week period. She came home every weekend. She came home on placement for a two week period placed in North Cork. That’s how it operated for the academic year. it was manageable and she had always wanted to do it.</p>
<p>She was going back into a group of nurses who had been working, who knew everything, who knew computers and Eileen could barely send a text message on a phone. She was accomplished at essays by the time she was finished. She entered Grattan Street 2002. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.26.55 - 0.28.25</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Public Health Nursing</strong></p>
<p>Eileen enjoyed the freedom of PHN, didn’t like the constraints of the hospital and the regimental nature of it. PHN suited her. Liked going into clients’ homes and fitting in with them rather than them fitting into a structure in a hospital.</p>
<p>She wonders about the broad, complex, extended and manic nature of what is being attempted in the community now. She hasn’t been out working in 2009 but she has been working managing staff inside and supporting them in client management.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.28.25 - 0.33.06</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Role of Public Health Nurse</strong></p>
<p>Looking after clients from the ante-natal (pregnancy period) to the end of life care. Anything and everything in between that. A huge sphere. Looking after mums to be, babies, mums after birth, young children, acute discharges who need support around wound care, clients with mental health, addictions, disabilities, older adults, dying and palliative care. Thinks it’s now too broad now because the type of discharges are very complex, almost providing a hospital type care within the community. Sláinte Care- clients being discharged into the community. Eileen doesn’t think this can happen until they had sufficient resources to match the numbers being discharged to them, she needs an increased budget. City north west is an area of great disadvantage there are 20 DEDs (Electoral Divisions) in it 15 of which are designated as disadvantaged or very disadvantaged. Lots of complexities around parenting. This leads to children with behavioural issues. Eileen is always advocating for early interventions. Role of PHN was always health promotion and illness prevention. More hands on now doing clinical, assessments, referrals, ordering supplies, reviewing things. So what was formerly the PHN’s main role is no longer their main role. Early intervention is key, it would be very beneficial.</p>
<p>In the city northwest area there are many non-statutory bodies area-based childhood programme, (Atlantic Philanthropy was supporting this for a while now it’s Tusla) they support families, parents, teachers, childcare workers increasing capacity around infant mental health. Springboard run by Tusla which support families. “Niche” in Hollyhill a family support agencies, and Barnardos as well. Eileen is involved with all of them in child welfare and protection. Would like to get the issues resolved at child welfare stage. Everyone that comes to work here gets great experience but no one stays for very long. Lost two staff in April. 1.5 staff were on maternity leave and not replaces and another 2 going on maternity leave. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.33.06 - 0.35.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Turnover of Staff</strong></p>
<p>Turnover due to the challenging work. Often chasing people, offering them appointments to bring their children, but they don’t. When you go back they won’t answer the door, or their phone, and change their phone number, or don’t tell you that they’ve moved house.</p>
<p>Not all people they deal with are like that but a core group are because they have had no parenting themselves and the cycle continues of disadvantage, poverty, poor education and housing, unemployment. “Entitlement stage” their parents were entitled to everything. In PHN there is no entitlement which they try to get across.</p>
<p>Eileen thinks that people born and reared in poverty and with poor parenting have no chance of catching up because they don’t realise the level they are at. Eileen doesn’t know where to break that cycle though she thinks that PHN plays some role. Places in Dublin and Limerick also have areas of disadvantage.</p>
<p>Eileen think that sometimes her staff give people what they think the people need but it may not be what they really need and sometimes the staff can’t get that information from people. It’s all about building relationships but it’s hard to build that relationship when people don’t want what you have to offer people.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.35.30 - 0.40.25</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Child Development Problems- Multiple Causes, Complex Solutions</strong></p>
<p>Should they ensure that all children in primary school are fed? Or is that too late? An infant mental health specialist with young Knocknaheeny area child-based programme 0 to 2 years is pivotal in nurturing and bonding and if it doesn’t happen children end up with low self-esteem or behavioural problems. These become bigger problems later as the children have not developed skills in coping because they haven’t been shown them. And if it’s not there by age two they miss out on a lot. Ante-natal period classes with Young Knocknaheeny to build a relationship with the mothers when they have their babies which they have to see until they are 5.</p>
<p>There are a lot of services for people but sometimes they don’t want to be seen as a target for the services, they don’t want to be seen as different. Eileen was initially shocked by that attitude, someone said “another service being thrown at us” and maybe they were saturated with services and it wasn’t something they wanted at all.</p>
<p>If Eileen knew how to break that cycle she would patent it.</p>
<p>She read an article by someone in charge of Bessborough- how can we expect young mums to parent a child when they were never shown and they had no role model. How to build trust and build a relationship because they can be very wary and distrustful of services. Parents think that if they don’t do what the PHN says or thinks is right that there could be child protection issues involved because this happened a lot in the past and sometimes a child was removed. But for social workers the last resort is to remove a child- the child as almost always better with the parents from their point of view. Eileen thinks that approach is a bit unusual, especially if there is no bond between parents and the child.</p>
<p>Sometimes a child is removed for a period of time, and there are health professional meetings, case conferences, families come together and everything is discussed. Sometimes it doesn’t work but you have to try. In those cases there is a health professional meeting or a case conference meeting and the children go into foster care and maybe go back to the parents after a period. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.40.25 - 0.45.40</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Social and Medical Issues in North Cork Area</strong></p>
<p>Most of the moms are single with different partners for the different children. Housing is an issue, expenses for school, dependence on drugs, alcohol, polypharmacy, mental health, self-neglect. A number of clients are alcoholics who come home and expect the HSE to provide services. They can refer clients to the mental health services but the client has to agree to go. And there is a lot of that.</p>
<p>Lots of young people with disabilities which she was surprised at she felt she had been very “sheltered”. When she came from North Lee so many people had disabilities or something wrong with a lot of people. The stats are quite high. North Cork is rural but North Lee is exceptional.</p>
<p>One third fit into that category. Mental health and addiction issues are shocking. Grandparents are minding grandchildren because their children aren’t capable.</p>
<p>She had no exposure to this until she arrived and so she was unprepared for it.</p>
<p>Eileen could retire any time she wants but she likes the work but will retire in a few years. She tries to make a difference.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.45.40 - 0.49.40</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Compares Grattan Street to new St Mary’s Primary Care Centre. Car Park issues.</strong></p>
<p>Get pleasure from the new building in St Mary’s so different to Grattan Street. When in Grattan Street they loved it and linking in with the team and got stuck in the car park. Eileen had a database with all the cars and numbers and if anyone was in a parking space who wasn’t registered they would get a note on their car. The car park nearly broke their hearts. Eileen was in a 7:20 every morning to get the parking space and would dread having to go anywhere because your space would be gone.</p>
<p>When she went there as a novice PHN she didn’t like the outside of the building but once inside she felt comfortable there, and the staff were nice in there. They always knew if someone was sick or had a bereavement.</p>
<p>When she left Grattan Street she had a room there but it is now full with other things and incontinence wear. Jokingly blames Sean Higgisson the porter for this.</p>
<p>Some of the rooms in Grattan Street are beginning to look neglected and old.</p>
<p>Some of the team are not looking forward to moving up to St Mary’s. They are anxious about the move. But many with Eileen were as well before they moved but at least her team are all in the one place now. She feels they are well-settled in St Mary’s now and they like it and she told Sean the porter and Celine in admin this. They’re not really missing Grattan Street.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.49.40 - 0.57.13</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Typical Day in Grattan Street and Changes. Hospital Discharges.</strong></p>
<p>Arriving in Grattan Street first it was similar to what she had been used to in North Cork. (North Lee is from Youghal to Macroom) Was in Mayfield for a year. Was in Glanmire St Stephen’s for 2 years. 2012-2019 in Grattan Street.</p>
<p>A typical day in Grattan Street was getting there early to park the car to be able to get out quickly. When traffic in Grattan Street became one way it really affected staff in Grattan Street- previously they were able to leave and go up Shandon Street but now they have to turn through narrow streets. Doesn’t feel they were told or consulted about that change.</p>
<p>After getting their early she went for a walk because initially she didn’t have a key to the health centre. Walk to the quays, North Main Street into St Francis Church to pray for everyone (and for herself not to kill anyone). Back to Grattan Street, Sean would be there, have coffee, reply to emails, manage staff annual leave, sick leave professional development, pre-discharge meetings. She is on various boards and bodies which entailed various meetings. Would go St Finbarr’s [Hospital] head office once a week. Busy. Trying to find solutions to problems. Would think of something in bed at night but forget it by the time morning comes. Sometimes write a note in the phone and go back to sleep.</p>
<p>In Grattan Street working with clients, working through correspondence, going to meetings: multi-disciplinary teams with more views, suggestions and options. Could be about a client having issues with self-neglecting, a client who deteriorated and needed extra supports.</p>
<p>Mercy today for pre-discharge meeting for a very complicated case coming home. Previously the person had been discharge and within 36 hours he was found on the floor and the door had to be broken down- required the Gardaí, ambulance, nurse and home help. He refused to go to hospital. The following morning he was unwell again and he was sent to hospital. Now they want to send him home again.</p>
<p>Many complexities come from not having next of kin and the nurse shouldn’t have to take on that responsibility.</p>
<p>Capacity bill. Not always safe discharges.</p>
<p>Reiterates connections with Young Knocknaheeny, Niche, Barnardos, Springboard. Try to link in with other groups and social work but feels they need to focus on their own work. Their cases are too big to be involved. Feels pulled and dragged a lot. As a PHN you are a manager of an area of 3,000 population which isn’t huge but the complexities make it hard. In a rural area there might be a population of about 5,000 but they wouldn’t all be active.</p>
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<p><strong>0.57.13 - 1.01.40</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Social Aspect</strong></p>
<p>Aoife O’Brien is great to get people together, comes up with idea, advertise, follow up, plan order things, get back to people and doesn’t force people and takes photos. Eileen takes pride in the Christmas party and restarting it. It’s the only time they really had events in Grattan Street.</p>
<p>Allows you to have fun, eating and relaxing and speaking about plans. Someone made punch but with the change in driving laws and when that woman left they didn’t have it anymore. Lots of young people in Grattan Street now who go out after work to a bar but Eileen wouldn’t have done that. There was a lot of moving or transferring staff and they would do something for them like a lunch. Mixed well with admin, nursing, podiatry, school nurses, ophthalmology. Everyone knew where everyone was.</p>
<p>When they came to St Mary’s first in early February (5<sup>th</sup> & 6<sup>th</sup> of February after the nurses strike) they really missed the other teams. Expected the other to follow shortly after but they haven’t. When meeting people in the corridor in St Marys there might not be eye contact and they aren’t used to that coming from St Mary’s. Now they are smiling and saying hello. They are integrating into the new building. When people finally come up from Grattan Street it might be easier for them now that Eileen’s team has managed the transition.</p>
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<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.01.40 - 1.07.10</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Everyone loves Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Some people wanted to leave but only for parking. Grattan Street reversing out and cars double parked on both sides. Saw a lorry bringing in windows for a school extension. People in the school sometimes try to take their spaces. The lorry reversed in- surprised how good a driver he was.</p>
<p>Teams close together in Grattan Street but separated now in St Mary’s. Podiatry will come up. Home Support Service is in St Marys. PHN have rooms for clients downstairs. While everyone is in St Mary’s they are separate. They are beginning to get used to all the space.</p>
<p>Thinks it’s more productive in St Marys.</p>
<p>Sector 4- City Northwest touches on the Mardyke and Western Road a bit but most of it is on the Northside. It made no sense for staff to be based in town and come up to the Northside and then back down. Grattan Street Health Centre is part of Mayfield Sector 3- City North East. So really they were in temporarily lodgings there. In St Mary’s can respond to thinks more quickly, nurses can do their calls more easily. Can’t think of negative things, maybe the room with 20 of the nurses instead of 2 to 5 people. But people are getting used to it.</p>
<p>Some health centres have a mix of disciplines but in St Mary’s it’s all nursing which Eileen prefers.</p>
<p>Canteen in Grattan Street was homely and functional. But in St Mary’s it’s clinical, not big and equipment is ok but it’s very loud. Eileen goes there when it’s quiet and looks out the window at the trees which has a preservation order on them.</p>
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<td>
<p><strong>1.07.10 - 1.11.08</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Interaction with Surrounding Grattan Street Community </strong></p>
<p>Fraught interaction with the surrounding area in Grattan Street to do with the car park. There’s 6 parking spaces for anyone. And the ones at the back wall and the other side area for HSE. There might not be enough space for residents. And HSE staff would try to get in early enough for a space. They had a good relationship with the school [Education Together] until they started taking the HSE parking spaces. Sean had a good relationship with the school and the locals because he would have more dealings with them. Only the back door of people’s houses were connected with the car park their front doors faced elsewhere. There was a hall. And the area in which Grattan Street is located isn’t covered by the PHN area that Eileen was in, it was covered by Mayfield. So Eileen feels they were a bit disconnected from the Marsh.</p>
<p>Not much interaction with shops.</p>
<p>Raised blood pressure due to the car parking and arguments and they nearly shot each other over it!</p>
<p>Eileen told someone that they couldn’t park there because they weren’t working there and she was shocked at the angry verbal abuse she got after it. Sometimes arguments would start badly but in the end they would be smiling and wondering what all the fuss was about.</p>
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<p><strong>1.11.08 - 1.14.18</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Describe Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>A happy place to work. Liked the building and its peculiarities, its rattling windows. Arguing to get a new window where the bottom part was falling out and tin foil was blocking the gap. In her room the wind was coming in and the window wasn’t replaced. Bars on the window. And obscure glass so you could only see out when you open the top.</p>
<p>Thought that the two stairs going to the 2<sup>nd</sup> floor in Grattan Street was cool when she was there first and the gallery all around and the open space it created. An old quaint building being pushed into something it was never meant to house. Glad to hear that there is talk of people going in there.</p>
<p>The gallery made things different. And you could see if someone was waiting for you and have a bit of craic. An opportunistic up and down conversation. Not as easy to catch people in St Mary’s. “We will always have happy memories of Grattan Street. Always. And I’m sure it will become even more embellished with time.”</p>
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<p><strong>1.14.18 - 1.18.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Why do people like Grattan Street?</strong></p>
<p>Eileen thinks it’s partly because of the people working there. The building lends itself to that. They got something good from the building.</p>
<p>When you entered the building there were no lights on you had to go to the reception area to turn them on.</p>
<p>One morning she heard something flush when she went in. She locked herself in her office. And called Sean (Higgisson the porter) who said the toilet just flushed itself- another peculiarity.</p>
<p>Sometimes people were difficult in Grattan Street and Sean was calm and dealt with it.</p>
<p>Being near town gave you lots of options for places to go which isn’t the case in St Marys.</p>
<p>Someone could come in shouting and verbally abusive and demanding to see someone.</p>
<p>Someone collapsed once and Sean had to get him to the Mercy Hospital in wheelchair.</p>
<p>Try to diffuse the difficult person- Sean would be good at that and might get someone else to assist. Sean gives a relaxed attitude and talks to people. He would keep it from escalating. Eileen thinks she might not be so calm!</p>
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<p><strong>1.18.30 - 1.20.02</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Varying Views of Grattan Street Medical Centre</strong></p>
<p>Other people who came to Grattan Street may see it as shabby, or somewhere they didn’t get what they wanted. Or there was no proper queue or waiting too long for something. They might have had trouble parking.</p>
<p>Another person might think it’s convenient in the city centre and an interesting unusual space. “But they won’t ever see it the way we saw it. We felt we owned it. Or it owned us, you know that kind of way. Sometimes it just felt like something wrapped around you.” Felt good there. “Everyone loves Grattan Street. Put that on my epitaph.”</p>
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<p><strong>1.20.02 - 1.21.00</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Definition of Patients and Clients </strong></p>
<p>Call people clients when working with them in the community. Patients in the hospital. Clients because they have some need but it is not always an illness. It’s always been like that in the community setting.</p>
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<td>
<p><strong>1.21.00 - 1.23.15</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Anything you would change about Grattan Street besides the carpark?</strong></p>
<p>Could have been painted. Paint the door. Make it more attractive people to get a better sense of the place before entering. Improve the exterior to make people aware they were going someplace nice. The building needs it. Down and outs sleep out the back of it so there is lots of rubbish out there. Some clear glass in the office and take away the bars. Improve the canteen a bit.</p>
<p>St Marys is fresh, new and practical.</p>
<p>Grattan Street not much can be done with it.</p>
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<td>
<p><strong>1.23.15 - 1.24.28</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Unexpected Responsibilities and Workload</strong></p>
<p>Eileen didn’t expect when she started out to be working so hard and carrying so many responsibilities at the age she is now. There was no reflection on where you were going at the time she started.</p>
<p>She always wanted to work in community not hospital.</p>
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<td>
<p><strong>1.24.28 - 1.26.15</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Future of Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Would like to see it occupied and whoever was in there was happy in there and the building was looked after. Nearly better to close off the car park. Eileen thinks it can never be sold off. And she would like services to be in there because it is an ideal central location.</p>
<p>H111 European Health Insurance Card is done in Grattan Street. There’s a box shaped reception which was thrown up and is not in keeping with the building she would like to see that changed. Plaster on the walls. Holes in the ceiling.</p>
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<td>
<p><strong>1.26.15 - 1.29.13</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Vaccines, School Nurse, Grattan Street Ghost.</strong></p>
<p>Vaccines- had to mind the fridges when she was a schools nurse. School nurses had to deal with AMO Area Medical Officer now called Community Medical Doctors. The room the fridges were in had no air-conditioning or coolant and sometimes the temperature would get too high.</p>
<p>As a school nurse she would have to take the vaccines in and out and maintain the cold chain in the transfer of the vaccines. In St Mary’s there will be a cold room for those fridges.</p>
<p>Never saw the ghost. And she had plenty of time to appear when she was there alone in the morning.</p>
<p>Grattan Street was special. Met people with different problems.</p>
<p>Outro. Interview ends.</p>
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</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
Eileen Kearney: Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CFP_SR00713_Kearney_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/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>;
Language
A language of the resource
English
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
3 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
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Sound
Format
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.wav
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Description
An account of the resource
<p><span>Eileen grew up in Tallow in west Waterford in a family of seven. Her father ran the family butcher business attached to the house. She recalls him singing and whistling, and the sawdust on the shop floor. Recalls meat and tripe being sold and drisheen being made by her mother, explains this process. </span></p>
<p><span>Describes the family home and routine chores. Speaks about the importance of sport especially tennis in her family upbringing.</span></p>
<p><span>Recalls her school days including instances of corporal punishment and the negative effects it had on people. Went home for lunch, mother prepared their dinner using meat from their butcher shop.</span></p>
<p><span>Describes secondary boarding school in Loreto Fermoy, especially the structure it imposed. </span></p>
<p><span>Speaks of how she had always intended to become a nurse. May have learned traits and habits useful for her career from her mother’s work ethic. Describes her nursing training in the Mercy Hospital and how the rosary was said there every night. </span></p>
<p><span>Describes her path to Public Health Nurse training in Dublin. Talks about her desire to work in the community rather than in the constraints of a hospital. Describes the wide range of PHN duties from pregnancies, births, infants, acute injury support, addiction, disability, older adults to dying and palliative care.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses her current role as Assistant Director of Public Health Nursing where she advocates for early intervention to prevent behavioural issues in children. Mentions the large staff turnover due to the difficulties of the work. Much of the work involves building relationships.</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks about how poverty, social disadvantage, addiction, alcoholism affect children’s health and create a negative cycle which PHNs have a role in breaking. Speaks of how difficult it is for someone who hasn’t had parental role model to function as a parent themselves.</span></p>
<p><span>Talks about the move from Grattan Street to St. Mary’s Primary Care Centre and how she misses the other medical teams. </span></p>
<p><span>Describes Grattan Street as happy place to work, enjoyed the building and its quirks such as the gallery which facilitated casual conversation and the rattling windows. Believes people enjoyed working there because they got something positive from the building. Mentions the difficulties with parking there and its impact on the wider community. Feels that the building owned them.</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks of her hopes for the future of Grattan Street building once services move out.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses caring for and moving vaccines as a School Nurse. </span></p>
<p><span>States that Grattan Street was a special place.</span></p>
Acute Care
Addiction
Admin
Administration
Alcohol
Alcoholics
Alcoholism
Animals
Ante-natal
Barnardos
Behavioural Issues
Black Pudding
Boarding School
Building
Building Maintenance
Buildings
Built Heritage
Butchers
Camaraderie
Car Park
Car Parking
Care of Children
Carmelites
Change
Child
Child Protection
Child Welfare
Childhood
Children
Christmas
Christmas Party
Client
Clients
Colleagues
Community
Cooking
Cork
Corporal Punishment
Deprivation
Dinner
Disabilities
Disability
Drisheen
Education
European Health Insurance
Family Support
Farm
Fermoy
Fermoy Hospital
Food
Grandparents
Grattan Street
Happy Memories
Hockey
Hollis Street Hospital
Hollyhill
Home
Hospital
Hospital Ward
Hospitals
House
Housing
HSE
Junior Cert
Kitchen
Knocknaheeny
Loreto College Fermoy
Love
Maintenance
Management
Mart
Marts
Meal
Meals
Meat
Memories
Mental Health
Mercy Hospital
Midwife
Midwifery
Motherhood
North Cork
North Lee
Northside
Nurse
Nursing
Nursing Training
Parents
Patient
Patients
People
PHN
Playing
Polypharmacy
Pregnancy
Public Health Nursing
Religion
Religion in Medicine
Role of Religion
Rosary
School
School Expenses
Self-neglect
Shop
Siblings
Single Mothers
Sláinte Care
Slaughter House
Social
Social Conditions
Social Disadvantage
Sport
St Francis Church
St. Mary’s Primary Care Centre
Staff
Staff Turnover
Strike
Tallow
Training
Tripe
Tusla
Unemployment
Vaccines
Ward
Waterford
Work
Workers
Working
Workplace