A View From my Window..

Save Monaghan Hospital!!

A crowd of up to 7,000 people gathered on the outskirts of Monaghan town as part of a campaign to secure the future of the local hospital. Members of the Monaghan Community Alliance say the casualty unit in Monaghan is to close - a claim denied by the Health Service Executive. According to the HSE re-structuring will happening, yet we all know that this will ultimately result in closing our hospital! Thus we will have to travel to Cavan, Drogehda and Dublin for emergency services..

Already since the hospital has been off-call many people have died, Joe Walsh the last to be covered my the media, who died as a result of surgeons in Monaghan not being allowed to perform minor surgery due to HSE protocol .. Baby Bronagh Livingstone died because her mother was refused entry to Monaghan hospital had to give birth en-route to Cavan hospital, and there were complications .. and many many more have died and suffered needlessly..
Its disgraceful – as tax payers Monaghan people have as much a right to hospital services as others in the country. Can the HSE not understand that enabling local hospitals provide basic emergency services to their community will ultimately less the pressure on Dublin hospitals.. we are not seeking state of the art services, just basic A&E, before sending patients to specialised hospitals..

Today, the Ceann Chomhairle, Rory O'Hanlon had to be protected by gardaí when he arrived for the official opening of the new Monaghan bypass. The crowd barracked and jeered O'Hanlon and he had to be surrounded by up to eight gardaí as the crowd gathered around him. Rory O'Hanlon is supposedly one of our TD's representing the area (FF). Yet when he was Minister of Health did nothing to help the viability of the hospital, and has yet to support the voice of the people on this issue. Even more annoying is as Ceann Chomhairle, he automatically gets re-elected in the next General Election.

Monaghan has been a very self-sufficient town, with most industry being indigenous family-owned, therefore employment has always been fairly low … However, because of this Monaghan has suffered in national investmnet and development, and also because of the lack of appropriate political voice and representation..

Week 1 down..

Obstacle courses, gorge walking, kayaking and banana-boating – I had fun last week! ..had to go with a group of students on a team building course - I was there to supposedly supervise, but I had as much fun as them! ;) ..We went to Carlingford – it was really beautiful – the scenery, mountains, water etc.. across the water was Warrenpoint and Rostrevor.. really spectacular setting
Back to the grind at the moment, getting accustomed to new timetables, classes and faces.. am sure in a few weeks it will feel as if the summer was an eternity away..
..one week down, twelve to go!

Summer over - what a couple of weeks..

Well what can I say – it’s been fun! ;) ..really enjoyed the summer and being down in UL again.. Between coffee breaks, parties, bbq’s, salsa, tango, cinema-outings and all else, being a full-time student again has been fun! ;)
Parties all round with Niall+co’s one week, then Mike+John’s bbq another week (both were fun and was lovely to meet Jamie and Hillary at said bbq..), goodbye bbq, crashing parties thanks to Colm, arriving home at 5am, swimming in Killaloe, bowling, salsa again, tango party, weddings, new friends, dates and dinners.. the summer has been enjoyable! ;)
Obviously at times its difficult to keep the work going, but got some work done and planned what has to done in the coming few months….
Fitted in aerobics, gym, a few ‘light’ runs and early morning swims thanks to the ‘Ironmen’.. so all in all training and fitness is slowly getting back on track..
A big thanks to everyone .. looking forward to my next trip down.. ;)