The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
St Mary of the Angels will continue to thrive for generations to come
CLAIRE O’Dwyer is the General Manager of St. John of God Kerry Services and is based at St Mary of the Angels, Beaufort. She explains that the Golden Jubilee celebrations mark a momentous occasion for everyone involved, past and present, in what is a fantastic resource for people with intellectual disabilities and their families.
“It’s a great time for us to reflect on the history and impact the service has had on so many people, and for the families who have entrusted their family members to the service. For us, it’s very important to highlight just how far the service has progressed both in terms of the campus, and across the wider county,” Claire said.
Services have continued to evolve over the years with recognition that the traditional model of people travelling to a centralised location for either a day or residential service was not in keeping with their needs and did not reflect the geographical need for distributed centres where individuals could avail of services in their own locality.
“We decided this is not the way life should be and thanks to support from local communities and the creativeness of our own team, services continue to be set up right across County Kerry which enable the people we support to live, work, socialise and be part of their local community,” Claire said.
Claire and staff are very proud that the St. Mary of the Angels’ campus will soon be registered with HIQA, which reflects its place in the community and in the hearts of the people of Kerry. In terms of supporting men, women and children with intellectual disabilities in Kerry, there is still a deficiency in adequate services available to them. However, the continued vision of the Service is to work collaboratively with other agencies to see how services can best be tailored.
“While funding will always be a huge challenge, the key to our success is the community that embraces our goals and ethos,” Claire said.
“The community has been a key support in sustaining service delivery over many years across County Kerry. From our perspective we feel we have accomplished a lot over the last 50 years in helping people to realise their full potential. But what matters most is what we do next. St. Mary of the Angels has been a progressive, hardworking and caring service in the past and we will continue to remain committed to our residents and service users for generations to come.”