Cork’s Hidden Heroes honoured

TWO ‘Hidden Heroes’ from north Cork have been honoured for their outstanding achievements with a prestigious national award.

Val Keane from Kanturk and Declan Cahill from Mitchelstown were among 21 individuals and organisations from across the country honoured at the annual Hidden Heroes awards in Dublin last Monday night.

Hosted by Hidden Hearing, the awards were established in 2011 to honour those that have made a significant contribution to Irish society, their local community, family or workplace.

Val, a community pharmacist at Horgan’s Pharmacy in Kanturk, received a Special Recognition award in the ‘Healthcare Hero’ category for his quick thinking during a potentially fatal incident at the store last month.

He was on duty when a regular customer came into the shop after being stung by a wasp. Aware that the woman had a history of allergies Val contacted her GP and administered steroid medication prescribed by the doctor. Instead of allowed the lady to leave the shop Val insisted she wait for a few minutes – a decision was to safe her life.

Within 10-minutes her condition had deteriorated and she went into anaphylactic shock and Val sought and was granted permission by the GP to administer an Epipen adrenaline injection. By the time an ambulance had arrived the woman’s condition had stabilised and she was taken to the CUH.

She rang the pharmacy the following day to thank Val and his staff, saying that their prompt actions had saved her life.

Declan, a gifted musician, was awarded the Overall Deaf/Hard of Hearing Award. He started playing the piano at the age of eight reaching grade 8 and this year received an A2 in his leaving cert music exam.

His musical achievements are made all the more remarkable when you consider Declan is profoundly deaf in one ear and severely deaf in the other.

Declan, a first year finance student at UCC, also reached the final of the Munster Junior Dragon’s Den competition with his invention ‘Hear Phones’, head-phones designed specifically for hearing aid users.

Awards presenter, RTÉ’s Mary Kennedy, said Val, Declan and all of the other recipients thoroughly deserved their accolades.

“These awards are an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of people from all parts of the country and all walks of life who are quite simply helping others without expecting anything in return,” she said.

“We are delighted to have an opportunity to say, well done and thank you.”