THE KERRYMAN I Wednesday, December 6, 2017
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HISTORY
Dedication to patient care at the core of hospital’s ethos THE Bon Secours Hospital has been the cornerstone of healthcare in Tralee and Kerry for almost 100 years during which time it has manged to expand its range of services to become one of the most advanced medical care centres in the country. But a true measure of success is one that maintains the core standards of care. As a leader in healthcare, the Mission of Bon Secours Hospital, Tralee is to care for the sick, the dying and their families within a Catholic ethos. To this end it is the policy of the hospital to provide holistic care for all its patients, the families of patients, and its staff.
“AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE BON SECOURS MISSION, VALUES AND ETHOS, IS TO PROMOTE CARE FOR THE WHOLE PERSON IN BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT,” SAID OWEN MCCARTHY, HOSPITAL MISSION LEADER. The hospital recognises the dignity of each person and respects each person’s right to individual religious freedom, personal convictions and culture. In responding to the individual needs of patients, families of patients, and staff, the Bon Secours Hospital welcome clergy of all religious denominations and leaders/representatives of faith/spiritual/ philosophical/ideological traditions to visit and support members of the hospital community of their own faith tradition and belief system. The core values of the hospital express how staff and management translate the mission of the hospital into every day action, namely, through respect, justice, integrity, stewardship, innovation, compassion and quality. The hospital’s Values Ambassador Award, jointly co-ordinated by Owen McCarthy, Hospital Mission Leader and Breda Doyle, Quality & Risk Manager, provides an innovative opportunity to recognise and acknowledge the outstanding professionalism and care provided by its valued staff on a daily basis, and to celebrate and share all that is best in the hospital.
“EACH MONTH THE HOSPITAL COMMUNITY, INCLUDING ITS STAFF, PATIENTS, THEIR FAMILIES AND VISITORS ARE INVITED TO NOMINATE A COLLEAGUE/MEMBER OF STAFF FOR ITS VALUES AMBASSADOR AWARD,” SAID OWEN. When speaking with some of the staff, consultants and management at the facility, it
is evident just how integral the idea of care is at the hospital. The story of the Bon Secours has always been one of faith, courage, determination, vision, and a willingness to adapt to the needs of the times. The staff appreciate and fully understand this important link in the continuation of what has been a successful story. As custodians of this legacy, the ethos of delivering help to patients through ‘Advanced Medicine and Exceptional Care’ is augmented by a caring atmosphere throughout the hospital, and its various clinics. The Bon Secours Health System is the largest private healthcare provider in Ireland and with this comes the responsibility of ensuring the important values surrounding patient care are not lost in the advance of new specialist treatments and modern facilities. This is a standard the Bon Secours Hospital has proudly maintained. Moreover, it is a not-forprofit organisation. Shareholders are not paid a dividend; instead, profits are reinvested directly back into its five acute hospitals and one healthcare village for the benefit of the communities they serve.
A brief history of the Bon Secours ON September 8, 1879 at the invitation of Lady Donovan, four Bon Secours Sisters with their distinctive headdress came to live in Tralee to care for the poor. Their names were Sisters Marine, Hilary, Ferdinand and Catherine, and today their legacy is a modern, state-of-the art healthcare facility serving the people of Kerry, Cork and beyond. The Sisters first lived in Denny Street and later moved to a larger house on Strand Street in 1882 which was paid for by the generosity of the Catholic and Protestant townspeople in Tralee. This Convent is still occupied by the Sisters today. In 1921 the Bon Secours Sisters purchased another large private residence with eight acres of land a short distance from the convent on Strand Street and this became the nucleus of the present hospital. It opened its doors to the first patients in 1922 and was known as Bon Secours Nursing Home. Since that date, each decade has seen upgrading and re-furbishing of the building which today is a 150 bed acute hospital employing approximately 550 people offering a wide range of medical and surgical consultancy services. Between 1902 and 1937, at the request of the local health authorities, the Bon Secours Sisters cared for the sick in the town’s Infirmary (also located close to Strand Street), as well as in their own homes. Between 1937 and 1987 the Sisters ran Edenburn - first as a unit for patients suffering from TB, and later as a home for the elderly. The hospital management and staff are extremely proud of the Bon Secours and its unwavering service for close to a century in Tralee. Its motto of ‘good help to those in need’ is truly one that can be said to have endured through the ages as the hospital continues to make enormous strides to develop and enhance patient care and its hospital facilities for the future. Bon Secours sisters; front row left to right – Sr Concepta O’Connell and Sr Anselm Whelton, second row left to right – Sr Agnes McCarthy and Sr Aidan O’Brien.