A nursing career which includes six
years spent as an outpost nurse in a nursing station catering for the people of
Northern Newfoundland and Labrador comes to an end shortly when Helen Dreelan
retires as matron of St. Vincent’s Hospital, Athy. Helen came to the position in St. Vincent’s
Hospital in 1999 and I met her soon afterwards as she was involved with a
number of Athy Lions Club fundraising events.
Always helpful and never less than cheerful Helen brought a keen sense
of shared responsibility and a wealth of experience to the profession of
nursing management.
Helen qualified as a registered
nurse in Dublin and later worked as a staff nurse in several different
hospitals in the capital city. She later
took charge as head nurse of the urology unit in Galway University
Hospital. In 1987 she joined the
Grenfell Regional Hospital services and spent the next six years as the nurse
in charge in Mary’s Harbour nursing station in southern Labrador. For the young Ballymore Eustace native, this
was an extraordinary change of working environment as she worked in sub-arctic
conditions where the temperature in winter times fell as low as minus thirty
degrees.
The Grenfell Regional Health Board
was established in 1981 to take over operational responsibility for the
delivery of health care and social services in Northern Newfoundland and
Labrador. William Grenfell, an English
doctor who first went to Newfoundland and Labrador in 1892 as part of the Royal
National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, opened cottage hospitals in the
villages scattered along the inhospitable coastline of Labrador. Mary’s Harbour was one of the small coastal
villages with a population of a couple of hundred people, situated in the south-east
coast of Labrador. In Labrador itself
there are three ethnic groups, the Inuit, the native Americans and descendants
of European origins. The village of
Mary’s Harbour has no roadwork to any of the other towns and villages on the
Labrador coast. The nearest village was
a 25 min. boat ride or a 10 min. plane trip away. Medical facilities in the sub-arctic
environment of Labrador village of Mary’s Harbour were provided by head nurse
Helen and another nurse whose day to day work was complemented by visits every
four or six weeks by the District Medical Officer and the District
Dentist.
Winter on the coast of Labrador
lasts from November to early May when temperatures can fall so sharply as to
freeze rivers and sea alike. Inshore cod
fishing, which is the principal occupation of the coastal villagers in Labrador
comes to a standstill in winter, resuming only in May each year. The summer fishing season is short but busy
and October sees the fishermen returning to Mary’s Harbour to prepare for the
winter. Life as an outpost nurse in the
Labrador coastal village, as one can imagine, can be extremely challenging. It was a challenge Helen Dreelan as a nurse
from Ireland found simulating during her six years there. She also found enormous job satisfaction in
providing a comprehensive medical service for a scattered community whose lives
are regulated by the harsh weather conditions which give a seemingly unending horizon
of frozen lakes, snow and ice.
Helen took up the position of matron
of St. Vincent’s Hospital in 1999 and now, in addition to that role, is also Director
of Nursing for the Kildare West Wicklow area.
St. Vincent’s Hospital which first opened as a workhouse in January 1844
has seen a large number of both lay and religious masters and matrons in its
173 years’ history. Many of us will
remember the legendary Sr. Dominic who for many years epitomised all that was
good in Irish religious life and whose charity earned for her the respect and
gratitude of many.
Plans for the building of a new 100
bed hospital unit has been developed and approved during Helen’s stewardship of
St. Vincent’s Hospital. That stewardship
has also been marked by many improvements to both the existing building and to
the system of care afforded to patients in St. Vincent’s Hospital. As a nurse manager and matron of the
hospital Helen Dreelan has demonstrated admirable management and leadership
skills. Looking back at the history of
nursing in Ireland we tend to overlook the enormous contribution made by the
religious orders to hospital management in the past. Helen was the first lay person in recent
years to take on the role of matron of St. Vincent’s Hospital and in remembering
her contribution we should also acknowledge and recall the contribution of the
Sisters of Mercy who first came to work in the former workhouse in the 1870s.
Our congratulations, best wishes and
thanks to Helen Dreelan who will be retiring on 30th June.
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