Twenty years of nursing home care at Knockeen
THE residents and staff of Knockeen Nursing Home celebrated 20 years in business by hosting an open day and a coffee morning fundraiser for Wexford Hospice Homecare.
The staff raised €2,000 for the local Wexford Hospice and donated the money on the day of their celebration.
Cyril Darcy and Mary Doran planned and opened Knockeen twenty years ago at a time when Wexford town and district lacked such a facility. Both nurses, Cyril and Mary had worked together for three years in St Senan’s Hospital in the late seventies, and had remained in contact with each other.
They are now retired but are still heavily involved in a voluntary capacity. The business has now been passed down to the next generation and is in the capable hands of Nicola Doran, Mary’s daughter and Eimear Kiely, Cyril’s daughter.
When the nursing home started in 1997 it had only had 25 bedrooms. Two years later an extra twelve were added and today the home has 49 bedrooms and extra space for activities.
All of the bedrooms have a single bed and an en-suite, and the nursing home is now at full capacity.
‘What started out as a dream has become a great fulfilment for us beyond our expectations,’ said Cyril.
Within the nursing home, two bedrooms are available for palliative care services, on behalf of the HSE and Hospice Homecare team. Mary and Cyril are both very grateful for the support they have received over the years from residents, families, volunteers, statutory services, the HSE, general practitioners and public health nurses as they all helped make Knockeen a success.
Mary said the voluntary organisations and the local clergy are very committed to the residents in the home and ‘it is great to have their support’.
Both Mary and Cyril would like to acknowledge the wonderful staff at Knockeen and also the number of staff that started out with them 20 years ago who are still there today.