This article is from page 24 of the 2007-06-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 24 JPG
IRONY is lost on the ill. Joe Carey, Clare’s youngest deputy, sits up in his hospital bed in Ennis on Monday morning and takes another phone call. The mobile has been buzz- ing away these past few hours and a sharp dose of chicken pox isn’t an adequate excuse to turn his back to the world.
Last Tuesday, he woke with a hint of pain and it stole up on him through- out the day.
By evening, he was feeding himself with medicine and creams but neither seemed to work and, on Friday, his doctor referred him to Ennis General Hospital.
By now, he knows those three words like he knows his own breathing rhythms. And this week he knows a little more — the nuances of hospital life and the internal ward workings that can only be garnered from ac- tual experience.
One of the last motions Carey put forward as a Clare councillor was re- lated to the hospital. He looked for the protected status on the current building to be lifted and it received unanimous backing.
When he lands in Dublin on Thurs- day, for his first sitting as a Clare deputy, he reckons it won’t be too long until he brings the issue to the national stage.
He’s now recognised around Clare as the fresh-faced new deputy who could change the future of health services in Clare. Those photographs of him in a hospital bed surrounded by a bevvy of nurses and that one of him in a hard hat and a sledgeham- mer have struck their own chords.
In its own strange, gothic way, this
little stint in hospital completes the cycle. Provides the last ounce of background.
But by Thursday and the debut in the Dail, he should have regained most of his strength.
“In an ideal world, I’d be flying fit for the first day, but Il be going on a lot on adrenaline anyway, so it
shouldn’t be a problem. I’m looking forward to it and I’m planning to drive up on Thursday morning.” He’ll take the hopes of the county with him. Carey campaigned vigor- ously on the hospital issue and, over the course of his term in Dublin, he hopes to secure some concrete plans. Others who climbed that health bull
during their campaign were bucked off shortly after. Carey knows as much and is set to hit the ground uUbauenberee
A review of the Ennis and Environs plan is set to be completed in the coming months and he’s planning to make contact with councillors in a bid to prove that re-zoning the present site would create a potential cash cow for a new hospital.
“T’ve been saying it for a while but I really believe a greenfield site is the best way forward. I plan to push this all the way when I get to Dublin. If the hospital is re-zoned for houses, then we’re talking about a piece of eround that would increase dramati- cally in value. This would self-fi- nance a greenfield site. Then we’d have the space to develop and expand into a modern hospital with great ac- cess. That’s the target.”
From his hospital bed on Monday, he could see that bullseye down the line. In his dream world, a housing estate would occupy the space where his head rests. Five years to make it happen. The clock starts ticking on Thursday.