Anniversary of opening of Mayo's Sacred Heart Hospital

By Tom Gillespie

LAST Wednesday marked the 51st anniversary of the official opening of the Sacred Heart Hospital, Castlebar, by the then Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Brendan Corish.

The minister also opened an adjoining ambulance centre which operates from the Sacred Heart Hospital.

The 320-bed hospital, which cost £830,000, replaced the old workhouse, later converted into an old people’s home.

The original workhouse was opened in October 1842, at a time of great poverty in Ireland, with the coming Famine casting its shadow across the landscape.

At the opening ceremony, Mr. Corish said that provision was being made for elderly persons who did not need hospital care but nevertheless could not continue to live in the community, even with the support of community services.

Some people, he said, would find accommodation in welfare homes, removed from a hospital setting. Others would be looked after in their homes by the Health Boards.

The ambulance centre at the Sacred Heart Hospital cost £120,000 to build at the time and served the fleet of ambulances which operate out of Castlebar.

The chief ambulance officer was Mr. Joe Foy, a former Mayo football star, who, with his dedicated staff, had built up one of the most efficient ambulance services in the country.

In an ecumenical service, the new hospital and ambulance centre were blessed by Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Cunnane, Archbishop of Tuam, and by Rev. J.C. Duggan, Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry.

Both churchmen praised the commitment and dedication of the staff of the hospital, as did Mr. Eamon Hannan, chief executive, Western Health Board.

Matron at the hospital was Sister Dominic and there were two other sisters, both religious.

The patients at the hospital, those at the opening ceremony were told, were well looked after, the wards were clean, bright and airy.

Amusements and outings were arranged by the staff and the highlight that year (1973) was a cruise on the Corrib.

In 1922 the late Charlie Ryan resigned from the post as master of the workhouse, as it was then known.

The superior, Rev. Mother M. Teresa Ryan, Convent of Mercy, Castlebar, was asked for sisters to take charge of the institution.

Archdeacon John Fallon, who was then parish priest in Castlebar, was anxious that the nuns would join the staff. Some time later three sisters, Mother M. Gerard, Sister Mary Imelda and Sister M. Evangelist, were sent to the Mercy Hospital in Cork to train as nurses.

Some sisters from the Swinford community, Sister M. Berchmans, matron, and Sister M. Columba, who supervised the cooking, came in the interim.

At the entrance to the workhouse were the offices of the secretary, Mr. Paddy Cannon, Mr. John Corley, porter, and the storekeeper, Mr. Carroll.

Later Jim Halligan, William Jordan and George Rance, McHale Road, joined the staff. Jim Halligan’s son, Martin, and daughters Breege and Nora were also members of the staff for some years, while Walter Geraghty, St. Patrick’s Avenue, Castlebar, had retired.

The original structure was the old type poorhouse built in Famine days. It was a three-storey building and the conditions were primitive.

In the early years the main building catered for 500 inmates, including unmarried mothers and orphans. The latter often attended local schools.

The building also included a chapel, infirmary, kitchen and laundry. One section was known as the ‘Body’ of the house. On the same grounds, a few hundred yards away, was the Fever Hospital.

Dr. Hopkins was the visiting physician until 1923, when he was replaced by Dr. Eamonn Money. On his death in 1956, Dr. John Langan, Station Road, was appointed medical officer.

Mr. Tom Moylett, Davitt’s Terrace, was an official at the home for many years.

Because of the huge numbers of people seeking admission to the workhouse in the early years, potential inmates were very closely vetted.

One woman, Nancy Quinn, aged 40 years, seeking admission to the workhouse, said she was unmarried, and had lived in Castlebar for the previous five years.

Her mother and father were dead, and she could no longer support herself by labour, spinning and knitting. She was one of the lucky ones and was admitted.

Not so lucky was Pat Langan, a poor cripple, who was rejected as his wife did not accompany him. He stated as the reason why she did not: she had a child seven years of age and did not like going into the workhouse as she heard the child would not be left with her.

One woman who was admitted wanted to know if she could bring her dog with her as she was very fond of it. However, she was forced to leave the pet behind.

Around the same time a man named Foy from Breaffy dropped dead at the door of a cabin near Staball, Castlebar, in want of food. Rev. Geraghty, R.C.C., immediately hastened to the spot to give the poor man the last consolations of religion, but he died within minutes.

The Connaught Telegraph at the time reported a poor woman tramping the streets of Castlebar, carrying a dead child in her arms, begging alms to enable her to buy a coffin to bury the child who had died of starvation.

Today the Sacred Heart Hospital is a state-of-the-art institution and has been greatly renovated and upgraded in recent years.