This article is from page 3 of the 2008-02-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
THE need for a maternity unit and a proper ambulance service for the county came to a head this week When three babies were born in GE TKcmeE-AWE WAS RO)ONMMalom Kcr LUBDRSLO Mpa eTorO ce ical services.
As the HSE prepares to centralise its services to centres of excellence, the mothers of Clare have called for the one service that 1s already cen- tralised to be decentralised back to the county.
Following years of campaigning amid claims that west Clare has been under resourced, political figures and young mothers are now demand- ing an emergency unit in the region.
During the early hours of Monday morning last, first time mother Mary O’Gorman discovered first hand the shortfall in the ambulance services when she went into labour.
An ambulance was called at 3.45am for the terrified Kilrush woman but failed to arrive in time and baby Brooke was born with the assist-
ance of her aunt and grandmother at 4.20am on the family’s couch.
Mary’s father, local town council- lor Stephen O’Gorman (FF) said that the ambulance eventually arrived at 5.05 am. Shannondoc, the out-of- hours GP service, was contacted by the family at 3.45am but arrived just minutes before the ambulance.
Cllr O’Gorman believes that the ambulance that arrived to bring his daughter and granddaughter to hos- pital would have been even later if another young woman from the area
who was also in labour had not can- celled it and risked the long journey to hospital by car.
That new mum – Anna Jenkins – was just a short while in hospital when her baby was born.
“There was no ambulance coverage in west Clare from Saturday night to Tuesday. That 1s a disgrace,” said Cllr O’Gorman.
“We need a mid-wife service in Kilrush and a unit that people can avail of in emergencies and a proper ambulance service. The coverage 1n
west Clare is not good enough. We are looking at fatalities in the fu- ture,” he said.
Fine Gael Deputy Joe Carey, said that the nearest ambulance available for the O’Gorman baby had to come from Limerick.
“It’s just not possible for it to be able to respond to emergencies hav- ing to cover that distance. A 24-hour fully equipped fully staffed A&E is essential for Clare people. We also need 24 hour ambulance cover to support this service,’ he said.