From a farming background in the townland of Bracklin, Castleplunkett, Co. Roscommon, Helen Dolan went from Dublin to London and as far afield as Bangladesh in Southern Asia in her nursing career. She started at four years of age in the local Enfield National School just across the road from where she lived. ‘My mother wanted to send me to school earlier, but they wouldn’t take me! I had an aunt living on her own and went to live with her while attending secondary school in Milltown, Dublin. After leaving there I spent a year in Miss O’Flanagan’s school (Mary O’s) in Castlerea. For Helen nursing loomed on the horizon as far back as the year 1974. ‘I started nurse training in Sligo General Hospital the year I left school. We were the first student nurses in Sligo Hospital and were considered to be minor celebrities in the town! I very much enjoyed the time I spent there. When I finished my training I worked in theatre in the hospital for a short period and then decided I would go to London to see what prospects were on offer there.’ This was a big challenge for Helen going through the doors of the Central Middlesex Hospital, London. ‘I spent a year there training in midwifery. It was a big change from what I was used to in Ireland but I settled in and loved it. It was also a great experience for me. It gave me the opportunity of meeting people from many different countries.’ ‘The maternity ward was full of African, Asian and Irish mothers and their babies. Everyone interacted and it was a very bright and cheerful place to be. It was fascinating and living in the nurses’ home was an experience in itself. I remember Yvonne, an African girl, who had a tiny room next door to me. She would have a party on a regular basis and people would be flocking up and down the corridor in their colourful clothing with reggae music blaring out from every crevice.’ Helen travelled for a while with a friend around Europe and then came back to Dublin. ‘I worked for a nursing agency for a few years in the Dublin hospitals. This was a good way of becoming familiar with the various hospitals. I worked in Mount Carmel and St Luke’s hospitals and for a time took care of clients in the home.’ However, there was other work that Helen was eager to participate in and wherein she could utilise the experience gained through her years in various hospital locations. ‘I had always wanted to work with the poor in the Third World so I applied to Concern.’ Helen found herself travelling much further afield. Now she had a mission, perhaps in some way she could help to relieve the poor, and so in 1986 she travelled to Bangladesh working there for two and a half years. ‘I was employed as Clinic Health Nurse and Manager of a Women’s Development Centre. I absolutely loved working there with the mothers and their children.’ ‘The first year I worked in a Women’s Development Centre we were involved in training the women in basic skills such as sewing, knitting, cooking, while the children attended school. About 300 women and their children of under five years of age would attend on a daily basis. There were some Bangladeshi helpers involved with me in the work there.’ ‘During my second year I moved to Khulna in South Bangladesh and worked totally in a nursing capacity with about 12 Bangladeshi health workers. We worked in village clinics and schools. Bangladesh is approximately one and a half times the size of Ireland with a population well over one hundred million.’ Helen was very much aware of the health needs of the women and children and all around her there was poverty. ‘It was harrowing to see the amount of poverty. The women whom I cared for on a daily basis had nothing except the clothes they wore (which would be a thin cotton sari), a few pots and pans and a couple of blankets. They were very brave, never complaining, and still able to laugh despite their circumstances.’ She witnessed at first hand the deplorable living conditions and hospitals full to capacity where people were expected to pay for their medicines. She had this to say: ‘It was very sad to see the poor living conditions, the unhygienic state of the hospitals and the manner in which the poor were expected to pay for their medicines. Sometimes people could not afford to pay for a full course of what was prescribed for them and so they went without. Shameful, when one sees the waste and over-indulgence on this side of the world.’ Bangladesh is one of the world’s poorest countries. The population is predominantly rural with approximately 85 percent of its 135 million people living in rural areas. Many of Bangladesh’s rural poor live in areas subject to extreme annual flooding which can destroy their crops, homes and livelihoods. Helen returned to Dublin and having worked previously in St Luke’s Hospital, in oncology, she decided to apply to St James’s Hospital for a position in oncology and haematology. ‘I worked in the oncology, haematology and bone marrow unit. In the beginning I found this area of nursing quite difficult emotionally and physically. It was probably the busiest hospital environment I ever worked in. It was very challenging but also rewarding.’ ‘I learned a lot about nursing and about life there. No matter who you are or what age you are everyone just wants good health. There was a fantastic team working in St James’s and this really accounted for the great atmosphere and the good care given to the patients.’ ‘While there I got leave to study and do an oncology course. I also went to Saudi Arabia for approximately two years. This also was an interesting experience. It was very strict for women there. We had to wear the ‘obaya’ when going out. However, there were lots of other westerners working there. The weather was great and I saved some money.’ Helen remained nursing in St James’s up until 2000 when she felt she wanted to leave her oncology work and so she moved on to Mount Carmel Hospital, Dublin, which is a private hospital. This again was a new experience for her. ‘It was very different work, busy but not in the same way as in St James’s. Patients were sick but not as ill as in St James’s. Admissions were elective so it was possible to be very organised and prepared. Here I would have nursed arthritic, cardiac, medical and surgical patients. I stayed working there for four years returning to St James’s Hospital.’ Remaining two years in St. James’s, Helen moved into another area of nursing. ‘I worked as Apheresis nurse, along with two other nurses. This work involved taking the blood stem cells from either a matched donor or the patient himself or herself (when they were in remission), for the treatment of haematological or oncological conditions.’ She was on the move again with many years of nursing experience, deciding now to work in the community. She talked about her role: ‘I work on a part-time basis in the community, working in the inner city and south side of Dublin. In the morning I go to the Health Centre and pick up my workload for the day. In our Health Centre there are two public health nurses, two full-time community nurses and two part-time community nurses. There is also an occupational therapist and physiotherapist, home help organiser and social welfare officer.’ ‘We all work together as a team in the interests of our clients within the community. Most of my work would be with elderly clients, applying dressings, giving injections, administering medicines, organising services that they may need.’ ‘I visit my clients on a regular basis and sometimes I may be the only caller. You get to know people and their needs and build up a very good relationship with them.’ Helen feels that the services could be improved where the majority of the elderly could remain at home in their own environment and with their family. ‘There is so much talk about keeping people at home, but very little money is being spent on services within the community.’ I asked her if there were any other areas that she would like to see improved. ‘I would like to see more emphasis and research on the prevention of cancer. Surely these researchers must have more to tell us than to stop smoking, watch our diet and exercise? Breast cancer has almost become an epidemic in this country and there is an urgent need to establish how we can prevent it.’ How does Helen unwind at the end of a busy day? ‘I enjoy socialising, reading, walking, going to the theatre and I have my holidays to look forward to. Favourite destinations I visited would probably be Florida and Scicily. In April I am planning to go to Krackow.’ And after Krackow, where I wonder will Nurse Helen Dolan go? Remain in Ireland or will she feel she wants to get up and go and explore some other culture? However, for now she is content doing her job, looking after the elderly, in the inner city and south side of Dublin. As she makes her many daily calls being greeted with an ‘hello’ and a smile makes her feel right now that this is where she belongs.
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