BY HARRYWALSH
THE Chairman of the Donegal Hospice voluntary committee has stepped down after eight years. Mr Noel O'Connell announced his retirement at the annual general meeting of Donegal Hospice Ltd. on Tuesday night. The new chairman is Mr Ken Sharpe.
The Hospice Committee reported another successful year, particularly in fund-raising. The audited accounts for the year ended May 31 show that over ¤1 million was raised while expenditure was approximately ¤600,000, leaving a surplus in excess of ¤400,000.
"It was a very good year by any standards and I feel that the time was right to stand aside and let others carry on the good work," Mr O'Connell said.
" I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the committee members for their continued help and support over the past eight years while I have been Chairman.
"I am of the view that the function of a chairman is to facilitate debate, control proceedings in an orderly fashion, listen to views of members and carry out decisions of the committee in full. I hope that I have achieved most of these objectives over my years in office," he said.
The Donegal Hospice, set up in 1988, currently employs five Homecare sisters who provide invaluable palliative care services to terminally ill patients throughout the county. This service is provided free of charge. The cost of all specialist equipment is provided by the Donegal Hospice which cost ¤150,000 this year.
Mr O'Connell told the AGM the Hospice Committee took the decision to provide funding to pay the full salaries of two additional Palliative Care Sisters for one year.
"This decision has been conveyed to the HSE on many occasions and pressure has been put on them to employ three two additional sisters in order to alleviate the present workload situation.
"However, there is still a recruitment embargo in the health service and, as a voluntary group, all that can be done is to continue to bring pressure to bear on the HSE," he said.
Another point raised was the need for a full time bereavement counsellor in the area.
At present, the Palliative Care Sisters provide this service along with staff attached to the Hospice, when they can.
"We have been trying for over two years to have a dedicated bereavement counsellor appointed to the Donegal Hospice but we have been unsuccessful to date," he added.
Donegal Hospice have undertaken to contribute twenty per cent of the total running cost of the Hospice in Knocknamona each year. They have agreed to provide ¤400,000 each year for 2006,'07 and '08.
Mr O'Connell paid special praise to the dedicated staff under the management of Ms Lucy McGettigan, all those involved in raising money for the Hospice and all those who gave so generously during the past twelve months.
He also paid tribute to his wife Angela for her help and understanding.
"I hope that I assisted in some small way to bring about the developments that have taken place in Hospice care over the past decade," he said.
"It was always my intention to step down once we got the new building up and running. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of effort people put in and the money that has been raised on a yearly basis. I wish Ken Shape and the new committee every success in the coming year. I'll take a break and we'll see what the New Year brings. I've one or two things in mind and I've a number of interesting queries to consider but I'll take some time out first. Alisha (daughter) started school in Woodland and no doubt I'll be needed to taxi her around the place," he laughed.
Ms Anne McGowan, PRO, said that Noel O'Connell had been a wonderful inspiration to its members, a great motivator and a skilled worker.
"Donegal Hospice successfully established itself over the years and is now a highly regarded institution within the community.
This is in no small measure down to the energy and effort invested in its development by the Donegal Hospice voluntary body under the chairmanship of Noel O'Connell. His visionary leadership and total commitment to this work will be sorely missed," Ms McGowan said.
The new officer board is: Chairman, Ken Sharpe; vice-chair, Grace Boyle; secretary, Mary McGarry; assistant sec., Carrie Harvey, treasurer, Angela Ward; PRO, Anne McGowan; assistant PRO, Stephen McVeigh; education officer, Dr Ann Callaghan; assistant education officer, Jean Crossan; fund-raising co-ordinator, Isobel Doherty. Committee: Dr James McDaid, Anne Condon, Eithne Diver, Mary Gallagher, Mary Kavanagh Chandler, Martin Giblin, Una McGlynn, Mary Service, Paddy Bonner, Paddy Mulligan and Brian Cannon.
