As preparations were coming to a head last week for the Love the Downe march and rally, a Newcastle family were still poignantly remembering their beloved mother who died in the Downe Hospital last August.
The tribute from the Carolan family is an extremely generous, moving and heart-felt plea to the health administrators of the South Eastern HSC Trust who manage the Downe Hospital to secure the hospital’s future. Their honest and kind words are a sincere thank you to the nurses who cared for their mother in her last days and who were very attentive to the family members as a whole.
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A Newcastle family has paid tribute to the nursing staff at the Downe Hospital following the sad death of their mother.[/caption]
Niall Carolan explained to Down News that he decided to speak out and thank the nursing staff at the Downe Hospital on behalf of his family for their extraordinary professionalism, care and  sensitivity.
He said: “The staff at the Downe Hospital are the best and most accommodating I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with. Our mother recently passed away and spent her last week alive on this earth in the Downe, and I can honestly say hand on heart there was no better place she could have been for those final days.
“The whole time we were there, up to twenty members of the family, most days including all the children and our partners, uncles, aunties and grand-children, Â we never wanted for a thing. Out of everyone coming to visit, we all drove there for some distance and stayed around the clock, with no one paying a penny in car parking charges. It would have cost hundreds per day if there was a charge.
“To the nurses, our family’s main thanks go to Joanne Miles and Margaret Grant. They could not do enough for us to the point they went over and above the call of duty. We as a family were given the keys to the kitchen for any tea or coffee making we wanted to do, and we were given beds and rooms to stay overnight as none of us, understandably, wanted to leave. They allowed us, again all 20 or more of us, to spend as much time as possible with our mum without restriction. They were  very accommodating and we really appreciated this.
“The level of care afforded to our mum was second to none and something she never would have received even if  she had been in private care, and we wouldn’t have changed it for a second.
“The nurses in the Downe really cared and that shone through in everything they did.
“The most important thing in that last week that we as a family were concerned with was making mum comfortable and the nurses managed that immensely. We will forever be indebted to them for that, but, more than that, they helped out each and everyone of us with what we were going through without a second thought for themselves often spending more time there than they they their rota allowed for and spending time crying and hugging with my whole family at the end.
“I personally cannot thank each and every person in the Downe for everything they did for me singularly and my family as a whole.
“This is an invaluable service that WE as a community cannot afford to lose. The nurses there all care about the patients, helping OUR COMMUNITY. They really want to do the jobs they were trained to do and help as many people as they possibly can.
“We therefore need to fight for, not only the retention of services at the Downe, but for further funding, help and everything else they need there to do what they should be doing…….serving OUR community with a second-to-none level of service that none of my family, friends nor our mum would ever forget,” added Niall.
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