Health « Thurles Information

Tipperary Women’s Mini Marathon 2012 Thurles

Last Sunday’s Tipperary Women’s Mini Marathon here in Thurles (European Town of Sport for 2012) was without doubt a resounding success.
The forecast of heavy rain & wind, accurately predicted by Met Eireann, arrived as expected somewhat spoiling the race warm up which began under the expert guidance of Thurles Leisure Centre fitness instructors Maria and Serena, in the grounds of LIT Tipperary. However this in no way dampened the spirits of the 1,246 women who gathered to enter the 2012 Tipperary Women’s Mini Marathon organised by North and South Tipperary Sports partnership here in Thurles. As the Moycarkey Pipe Band led the participants up to the ‘Start Arch,’ positioned on the Jimmy Doyle road, the rain cleared away and thankfully continued in that mode for the remaining part of the day.

Catherina McKiernan addressed the crowd just before the start, saying how delighted she was to be back in Tipperary for her second Tipperary Women’s Mini Marathon, and wished everybody the best of luck. Mayor of Thurles local Cllr Michael Cleary then welcomed everyone to Thurles while the Mayor of South Tipperary County Council, Cllr John Crosse also welcomed the runners and wished all participants the best of luck. North Tipperary Councillor, John Hogan, then blew the starting whistle to commence the 2012 Tipperary Women’s Mini Marathon.

Some thirty five minutes later the first runners were back and entering the grounds of LIT Tipperary. In first place was Nenagh’s Siobhan Doherty, in a chip time of 35.51 followed very quickly by Catherina McKiernan in a chip time of 36.14. Third place went to Clonmel AC’s Angela McCann in 37.58, while fourth position went to Claire Annan in a time of 39.47. In fifth position was Aine Roche in a time of 41.00 and in sixth place was Marie Fitzgibbon in just 41.06.

All commented that the route was very fair and much less hilly than the 2010 route used previously in Thurles.

All the participants taking part, between runners, joggers and walkers were back in a time of less than 2 hours and 5 mins, which is faster than previous years and perhaps an indication of the continued success of the ‘Meet and Train,’ groups around Co Tipperary.

The local Thurles Meet and Train group had a huge number of participants taking part on Sunday, and were very striking in their yellow NTSP tee shirts. This Meet and Train group was set up by the North Tipperary Sports Partnership (NTSP) in February 2012, in partnership with Thurles Crokes AC, with the aim of increasing the numbers of women jogging, running and getting fit in the Thurles area.

This was the first ever Mini Marathon for Thurles lady Margueritte Hayes aged 52, who trains with this Thurles group and she later commented “There was an absolutely cracking atmosphere at the event, and it was just great to be a part of it. From the send off to the finish line, it was just thoroughly enjoyable and I can’t thank all the organisers and the volunteers enough. I was delighted to finish with my training partner Maeve McKevitt in a time of 57.03. My thanks also to Marion Hughes who trains our group week in week out and to the North Tipperary Sports Partnership for their constant support. I’m looking out for my next 10k now.”

Carol O’Donovan from the Canon Hayes Meet & Train Group in Tipperary town also completed her first ever mini marathon in a time of 1.13.48. Carol commented “I am delighted to have completed my first 10k and it was not as gruelling as I had expected. As a first time participant I would highly recommend it, since I started training for the mini marathon, I feel better, toned up and lost over 8lbs. It wasn’t as daunting as I expected and I am so looking forward to doing my next 10k, thanks to the STSP for the support, Ruairi Davitt and the Meet n Train organisation in Tipperary Town.”

The 2012 Tipperary Mini Marathon was supported by a groundswell of local businesses and civic organisations. There was huge praise for the superb organisation and months of careful preparation from the hard working committee who were led by Elaine Cullinan and Valerie Connolly of NTSP and STSP. The organising committee included representatives from both Sport’s Partnerships, Thurles Town Council, LIT Tipperary, Thurles Gardaí, Tipperary County Athletics, Thurles Crokes AC, Tipp FM Radio and North Tipperary Civil Defence.

Elaine Cullinan, NTSP commented “From an organiser’s point of view we are delighted with how the event went today. Every single participant from a 35 min finish time to a 2 hour finishing time is leaving with a smile on their face and having had an enjoyable experience. A big thank you to the town of Thurles for really getting behind the event and to our many sponsors who gave so generously, Tom Harvey Motor Company Ltd, who provided the Lead Car, and provided the water and refreshments needed for the event. Thurles Fresh Milk provided all the milk at the finish line, as well as generously providing a sponsorship donation and Thurles European Town of Sport Committee also provided sponsorship. A host of local businesses provided items for the goody bags and spot prizes, and these are all listed on our website www.tippminimarathon.ie

All results and some photographs will be posted on this website very shortly. Thanks again to one and all who contributed to the biggest and most successful Tipp Mini Marathon we have staged to date, and how fitting that Thurles is also the first Irish town to be designated European Town of Sport for 2012.”

Valerie Connolly, STSP thanked all the Volunteers who helped out saying “Volunteers are essential for any successful event. Without the 70 people who volunteered, this wouldn’t have been the great success it was today. We are delighted with the numbers of women who participated this year, and with the success of the many Meet and Train groups around the county, that have all fed into this event in huge numbers.”
If you are interested in taking part next year get started now, with helpful advice to be found HERE

For further details on these groups in North and South Tipperary, do check out www.ntsp.ie and www.stsp.ie

Tipperary AMD Free Eye Tests

Every September, leading sight charities and organisations come together to help raise awareness of Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness among adults over fifty years old here in Ireland and which affects one in every ten people.

Members of the Association of Optometrists are offering free eye tests during AMD Week and you can find a list of optometrists around Tipperary offering the test on the Association of Optometrists own website simply by clicking HERE

For our many readers outside Tipperary, note:– Free AMD screening will be available through a mobile testing unit, which will visit the cities of Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Dublin and Cork during AMD Week, at Golf Clubs & Libraries. (Galway: 25th September – Limerick: 26th September – Waterford: 27th September – Dublin: 28th September – Cork: 29th September.)

AMD Awareness Week 2012 began on September 22nd & will finish on September 30th 2012, so if you have an elderly parent or grandparent who is not computer literate, please do inform them ASAP.

Are Our Private Nursing Homes Up To Standard?

Several private nursing homes here in County Tipperary have been closed by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) over the past two year’s, to date.
Details and analysis of HIQA visits have been published, & it is now likely that even more establishments will close later this year throughout Ireland. According to reports, the number of regulation breaches found in these now closed homes are considerable. Each of the centres received, on average, five inspections before facing such closure and despite being given agreed action plans and considerable time to improve their standards, an average of 17 months from their first inspection, these centres still failed to improve adequately.

The inspections found amongst other problems:- (1) Residents living in cold rooms. (2) Bad medication management. (3) Breaches of fire safety. (4) Elderly people being cared for by inadequate numbers of staff or unqualified persons. (5) Residents suffering from significant weight loss because of inadequate diet. (6) Staff sleeping on their watch, while on night duty. (7) Residents being manually handled without proper due care and attention. (8) Inappropriate language and terminology being used during this care.

Perhaps I am being a bit extreme, but having read some of these HIQA reports, on some of these now closed establishments, one cannot be but reminded of Auschwitz, Treblinka, Theresienstadt, Sachsenhausen, Dachau, Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen where the weak and the aged were seen to have little or no value. Similar thoughts crossed my mind, as I observed people, suffering disabilities, forced to camp out overnight, outside the gates of our Irish Parliament, seeking the return of Personal Assistant Hours removed, without consultation, by the Health Service Executive, earlier in the week. One cannot help but wonder, however, why these nursing home problems are not being recognised by those of us who visit their elderly relatives, in these same private and quite often expensive now private institutions?

I came across this poem recently. Reputedly, it was written by a ‘Dementia Care Patient,’ in Aberdeen, Scotland and the poem was found by nurses, who were clearing out his locker after he had passed away. This poem hopefully will make us all pause for a little reflection and bring a shade of sadness and a blush of shame to the faces of our present leadership.

What Do You See

What do you see nurses, what do you see, what are you thinking when you’re looking at me?
A cranky old man, not very wise, uncertain of habit with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food and makes no reply, when you say in a loud voice ‘I do wish you’d try!’
Who seems not to notice the things that you do, & forever is losing a sock or a shoe?
Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will, with bathing and feeding, the long day to fill.
Is that what you’re thinking, is that what you see? Then open your eyes nurse, you’re not looking at me.

I’ll tell you who I am, as I sit here so still, as I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of ten with a father and mother, brothers and sisters, who love one another.
A young boy of sixteen, with wings on his feet, dreaming that soon now a lover he’ll meet.
A groom soon at twenty, my heart gives a leap, remembering the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty five, now I have young of my own, who need me to guide and a secure happy home.
A man of thirty, my young now grown fast, bound to each other with ties that should last.

At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone, but my woman is beside me to see I don’t mourn.
At fifty, once more, babies play round my knee, again we know children, my loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me, my wife is now dead, I look at the future I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing young of their own & I think of the years & the love that I’ve known.
I’m now an old man and nature is cruel, it’s jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body it crumbles, grace and vigour depart, there is now a stone where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass a young man still dwells & now and again my battered heart swells
I remember the joys, I remember the pain & I’m loving and living life over again.
I think of the years, all too few gone too fast & accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
So open your eyes people, open and see, not a cranky old man, look closer … see ME!

Because of the Health Information and Quality Authority, hopefully good services & standards are now being recognised and nursing homes that continue to breach basic expected regulations will be closed.

Meanwhile, well known Cork story teller, Pat Speight, will visit Thurles Library on Friday October 5th for some intergenerational storytelling. This event is for grandparents and their grandchildren, and for anyone else who just loves a good story! Presented by Europe Direct Thurles for Positive Ageing Week, there will be two sessions at 11.00a.m. and 2.00p.m. Schools will be invited, but the event is open to the general public too. As with all library events, it is FREE. You can get a flavour of Pat’s story telling on his website www.patspeight.com

Nenagh Hospital Tipperary Further Downgraded

Yesterday it was the closure of St Patrick’s College, Thurles, today according to the Health Service Executive (HSE), emergency treatments for patients at Nenagh General Hospital, Co Tipperary, will cease later this month.

Patients will now have to travel to the emergency department of the Mid-West Regional Hospital in Limerick to be assessed and treated. Any coronary related referrals from Doctors will now be directed to Limerick, thus cancelling all Coronary Care promised through Nenagh, despite €4 million having been secured for the hospital during the term of the last Fianna Fáil led Government. Limerick Regional is one of the hospitals with a severe budget overrun of around €10m and will have to close beds in the coming months to save money.

Emergency 999 calls from Tipperary will go direct to Limerick.

With effect from September 17th, a local injuries unit will only operate in Nenagh from 8.00am to 8.00pm. This will deal with adults and children over the age of five years, treating cases such as wounds, broken bones & other soft tissue injuries.

Nenagh has already lost its 24-hour emergency department since April of 2009, when it was downgraded to the status of a 12-hour local emergency centre.

Add these two recently announced issues to the closure of the Garda Training College in Templemore, failure to restore beds in Thurles Hospital of the Assumption, and an ugly picture quickly emerges of the sheer neglect of North Tipperary by our three TD’s, namely Lowry, (See Here ) Coonan, (See Here ) & Kelly, two of which, if we are to believe recent press reports, do not work full-time anymore in Dail Eireann.

Staff, Doctors, Patient Groups and Public Representatives are being briefed on the development so expect the “gombeen,” political press releases from our political representatives again tomorrow.

An example of “gombeen,” political press releases appeared this morning regarding St Patricks College.

Alan Kelly: “They (St Patrick’s College) and Alan Kelly are collectively working to see if St Patrick’s can come under the remit of the Limerick Centre for Teacher Training.” Readers Note: Starting from September 2011, teaching degree programmes at St. Patrick’s College have been accredited by the University of Limerick, and graduates from this year onwards are being awarded degrees from same University. Students attending St Patricks from Tipperary, many have had their education grants cut by €2,000, because they travel from home each day to the college.

Noel Coonan: “Has contacted Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister of State Ciaran Cannon on this issue.” You old name dropper you. Wonder did you Phone, Email, or Fax. Two things are obvious, (A) You was not made aware of the closure prior to Minister Ruairí Quinn’s announcement & (B) You were not talking to him at a coffee break on any recent Friday.

Enda Kenny: May 25th 2012, “The prospectus for Thurles should be as fine as anywhere else and I will take Deputy Coonan up on his offer to come back to Thurles with positive news for the town.” Thurles waits patiently Taoiseach, even a bit of Mayo National Lottery Funding would assist. It would appear “the silly season,” is just beginning.

Michael Lowry: No one tells Lowry anything in the Dáil either “Deputy Michael Lowry has welcomed the announcement that a planned €200 million investment will be made to LIT Limerick and Tipperary campuses over the coming number of years as part of LIT’s Campus Masterplan 2030”. He made this statement public today, Thursday 6th Sept 2012, with no mention of the proposed closure of St Patrick’s College.

Do we have any communication between TDs whatsoever, in our lower house of the Oireachtas. It would appear that Matthew 6: Verse 3, “Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth,” takes on a whole new meaning for our North Tipperary elected representatives.

Please comment hereunder and express your feelings before North Tipperary is laid totally waste.

Fine Gael U Turn On Cuts To Personal Assistant Hours

The Minister for Health James Reilly has been forced, after a storm of protests and debate at Cabinet today, to do a U turn on his proposed cuts to personal assistant hours. This climbdown will come as some relief to many people suffering disabilities here in Thurles & Co. Tipperary. However the Department of Health said the Health Service Executive (HSE) would continue to assess people’s needs “on an individual basis.”

The Health Service Executive will now instead, be directed to achieve savings by cutting Administration, Travel Costs & Training, while introducing a better cash management structure in other related agencies.

The cuts to Personal Assistant hours, together with other savage cuts totalling in all an estimated €130 million, had been previously agreed between the HSE and the Department of Health. Following this announcement a group of people with disabilities came out protesting this afternoon outside of Government Buildings, prepared to camp overnight until these plans were reversed. They claimed today that this decision to withdraw Personal Assistant and Home Help services from people will prevent disabled and older people from living independently in their own homes.