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St Luke’s long service awards
St Luke's Radiation Oncology Network honours staff with over 30 years of service
Agnes Murray, a Clinical Nurse Manager, has been with St Luke’s in Rathgar for over 31 years and ran the day ward up until last September.
“Because St Luke's is a small unit and specialises in cancer care, it makes it a special place to work. I have made lifelong friends, it's the sta and patients, it's like a family hub.” Down the years, as well as working in the hospital’s theatre, Agnes nursed cancer patients who were receiving radiation and chemotherapy treatments.
Agnes was one of 29 sta who received a special award for over 30 years of service to The St Luke's Radiation Oncology Network (SLRON). The Network’s General Manager Jacqueline Robinson explained the awards were a completely new initiative. “We have come through a really challenging period with the pandemic and then the cyberattack. We wanted to give something back to sta to show them how much we appreciate their contribution,” she said.
Two other sta who received awards are lifelong friends and colleagues Angela Martin and Jacqui Purcell who both started working at St Luke's in Rathgar in the same year, 1981.
Angela, who now works as a PA to the General Manager, remembers how delighted her parents were when she got the job after responding to a tiny ad in a national paper to cover a maternity leave. Looking back over her 40 years of service, Angela reflected, “I always got a positive response from people who gush with praise about what a wonderful hospital it is, how fantastic the sta are, how amazing our facilities and grounds are and this in spite of the trauma our vulnerable patients and families are going through.”
Angela experienced this first-hand when her father was treated at the hospital in 1994. “I know from personal experience the positive impact St Luke’s ethos and commitment has on patients and their families. When you have lived through the trauma of cancer treatment, either as a patient or a family member, you don’t forget that single act of kindness or support, which St Luke’s has in abundance and gives unconditionally.”
From left to right: Clare Faul, SLRON Network Director St Luke’s Radiation Oncology Network (SLRON) and Clinical Nurse Manager 3 Agnes Murray, Principal Clinical Engineer at SLRON Stephen Broderick and SLRON General Manager Jackie Robinson, Network Deputy Patient Manager at SLRON Jacqui Purcell and PA to the General Manager at SLRON Angela Martin, who have worked together for over 40 years at St Luke’s. Her good friend Jacqui Purcell began her career with St Luke's as a clerical o cer in the lab. Today Jacqui works as Network Deputy Patient Manager providing admin support to all patient services and says she has really enjoyed watching the St Luke’s network grow but smiles as she remembers the resistance some sta had to the introduction of computers as they tried to hang onto their old typewriters and quips “We’ve come along way since the nineties!” Of the past 34 years with SLRON, Clinical Engineer Stephen Broderick said, “I liked the variety, I feel like I have had three di erent careers and the job is not routine. One of my personal highlights is the people I work with and the fact among them there are lots of di erent disciplines and colleagues who are very technically gifted.”
