Aut Even hospital supports the cats
September 01, 2010In recent years, the visit of the Liam McCarthy Cup has become an annual highlight for the patients and staff of Aut Even Hospital in Kilkenny. And, by the sounds of it, they are already preparing for the latest visit of the most famous trophy in Irish sport.
"You can never to be sure of anything, but I'd be very surprised if Kilkenny don't win the five-in-a-row," says Aut Even Hospital chief executive officer Annette Jolly.
"They're a fantastic team and deserve all the success they've had, they've been on a winning streak since I joined the hospital in 2006 - a few of the players bring the McCarthy Cup in to us each year. They're so helpful and so humble I cannot praise them enough. Our kitchen staff always bake a cake for them and please God they'll be doing the same after this year's All-Ireland.
"This year we'll be putting a Kilkenny Special on our Coffee Dock Menu each day the week before the final with all the proceeds from the sale going to the players' fund."
A native of Norwich who arrived in Kilkenny via Cambridge, Annette has become an avid supporter of Brian Cody's team and admits she is "hooked" on the game of hurling.
"Hurling is a religion in Kilkenny as everybody knows, so it was impossible not to get hooked on it. I'm a Kilkenny season ticket holder and I'm counting down the days to the All-Ireland final. I suppose I have been spoilt in the sense that Kilkenny haven't been beaten since I came here."
With a significant number of the hospital's staff hailing for Tipperary, Annette says there is a "healthy banter" between the rival fans in the build-up to the final.
"Last year, the Tipperary staff kidnapped the Hospital Kilkenny Cat and held him hostage!" he jokes.
Such is Annette's enthusiasm for hurling that she jumped at the chance to enter into a three-year sponsorship deal with the local Dicksboro GAA club recently. The sponsorship, which covers all underage teams, was announced at a function in the Pembroke Hotel, Kilkenny on July 7 last.
"Aut Even Hospital is delighted to be associated with the Dicksboro GAA club," she enthuses.
"We recently reached an agreement with Dicksboro to sponsor all of their underage teams for the next three years and we hope to extend the arrangement when the current deal runs its course. The sponsorship came about after Niall Lacey, who does a lot of electrical repair work for us, asked me one day if the hospital would be interested in helping out, and we were delighted to do so.
"It made sense for us to get involved because Dicksboro are on our doorstep and we both have a lot in common. We are both passionate about what we do, we share similar goals and objectives, and we both have a strong sense of pride in the past with an openness to change. By that, I mean our past drives us forward to better things. It's a really good fit."
Founded in 1909, Dicksboro fields teams in intermediate hurling, senior football and in all the underage grades. It also boasts a thriving camogie section. Hilda Egan, a chef at Aut Even, plays camogie fro Dicksboro. The club won the All-Ireland intermediate club hurling championship in 2006 and recently captured the under 16 'A' hurling league title (looking resplendent in their new Aut Even Hospital-sponsored jerseys!) when they defeated city rivals James Stephens by 2-11 to 1-11.
Dicksboro's current well-being at underage level is reflected in the fact that they will have two players on the Kilkenny minor team that will face Clare in the All-Ireland final - team captain Killian Buckley and Ollie Walsh, whose father Michael is the current Kilkenny under 21 manager and was goalkeeper on Kilkenny's 1992 and '93 All-Ireland winning teams.
Part of the Mount Carmel Group which also includes Mount Carmel Hospital in Dublin and St.. Joseph's Hospital in Sligo, Aut Even is a private hospital set in 15 acres of landscaped grounds on the outskirts of Kilkenny city. The hospital was built in 1912 by Lady Ellen Odette Desart, wife of the 4th Earl of Desart, in memory of her brother-in-a-law, Captain the Honourable Otway Frederik Seymour Cuff, with whom the idea of a hospital at Talbot's Inch first originated. The hospital was designed by Albert Edward Murphy in the Arts and Crafts style.
Inspired by the work and philosophy of William Morris, Lady Desart and Otway Cuffe built the 26 cottages in the style of the Arts and Crafts movement. The village had a golf course, tennis court, library, shop and recreation hall. Following the death of Otway Cuffe in Australia in January 1911, Lady Desart took on the dream of a self-sufficient village, building a cottage hospital, a school for the village children and the only roofed handball alley in the country.
Lady Desart chose a beautiful site overlooking the River Nore as the location for the 12-bed cottage hospital which she named Aut Even after her own home. Aut Even is the anglicised version of the Irish words Ait Aoibhin, when translates 'a beautiful place'.
Following Lady Desart's death in June 1933, the Sisters of St. John of God brought the then 21-bed hospital. John of God was canonised a Saint on October 16 1690. In 1886, Pope Leo XII declared St. John of God, together with St. Camillus de Lellis, Patron of Hospitals and the Sick. In 1930, Pope Pius XI named St. John of God Patron of Nurses.
In 1966, the Sisters of St. John of God built a new 18-bed maternity unit and the hospital became well known for its maternity services. The hospital was expanded to its present size in 1982. To fund the cost of building the new hospital, the Sisters gave over their salaries and local people bought bricks at £5 each.
Today, Aut Even provides a wide range of medical and surgical services, including general surgery, ophthalmology, cardiology, rheumatology, gynaecology, ENT, orthopaedics, dermatology, vascular surgery and oral surgery. Some of the best doctors in Ireland practice there and are supported by excellent facilities and a dedicated nursing team. In total, the hospital employs 230 staff and 50 consultants.
Following its purchase by the Mount Carmel Medical Group in 2005, the new management team embarked on a €25 million investment programme. A major part of the refurbishment work has been completed, including a new twin theatre 18-bed day surgery with endoscopy suite, six ultra clean air main operating theatres, front entrance and main reception, an additional 137 parking spaces, Coffee Dock restaurant, in-patient bedrooms with en suite accommodation, new consultant out-patient clinic suites and a chapel.
Aut Even attracts patients from 25 of the 32 counties with 38 per cent of patients hailing from Co. Kilkenny and 47 per cent from the surrounding counties. Boasting 102 in-patients beds, Aut Even has the distinction of being ranked number one on www.ratemyhospital.ie and is the only hospital in Ireland with ultra clear air in all of its operating theatres. Tweet
